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Home Story Index Projects and Equipment

More Gear for Beer

Author Craig Hartinger

Issue November 2001

Online Date Wednesday, 17 October 2001

Adding equipment to your home brewery does more than just boost the economy andprovide topics for articles: new gear allows more control over your brew, saves time, canreduce stress, and can allow you to try new variations or larger batches. Often, equipmentcan help you narrow down onto a specific flavor and then duplicate it with confidence infuture batches. In order of the brewing process, heres the general range of goodies andupgrades without too much discussion of techniques. Milling and mashing are specific forall-grain brewers, but a mill could certainly be used for specialty grains in an extract batch.

Grain Milling

Many of us are content to let the homebrew supplier mill our grain, and usually suppliershave an adequate mill. However, barleycorns that have been milled will absorb somemoisture from the atmosphere, and the quality of pre-milled grain does degrade over time.Grist that has been exposed to air for weeks tastes stale, but if a brewer waited a day ortwo between bringing milled grain home and using it in a brew, any quality drop would

probably not be noticed in the final product even by tasters with great palettes andexperience.

However, the brewer would know. Many choose to mill grain at home, right before themash, for ultimate freshness to the grist. Other brewers who must mail order supplies thatwill take days to arrive should consider a mill, because we dont always brew the exactmoment the shipment arrives.

Generic "cereal-grain" mills do offer the option of freshly-cracked grist, but the millingpace is slow and the grist comes out with a wide variation of sizes some of the grainssneak past without being adequately cracked, and others get pulverized too fine. The well-

known Corona, which looks like a meat grinder and screws to the edge of a tabletop, can
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sometimes be found used for $20 and should be under $50 new.

A roller mill most models are under $200 produces a more even, regular grist bypassing all the kernels between two rollers that are just a little closer together than the size

of a kernel. The Phil Mill from Listermann uses one roller and one fixed plate to produce agood crack and is half the price of the Schmidling. The regularity of the crack from thesemills will provide better extraction to the brewer, and mashes will also be easier to lauter

because there wont be tiny shattered pieces that can get gooey. In most models the gapbetween rollers can be adjusted to crack different grains rye, for example, has a muchsmaller kernel than barley. Roller mills can also be permanently motorized with a belt andan electric motor by the fully obsessive just look for a quarter-horse electric motor atyour local industrial supply or glean the blower motor when your neighbor replaces thehome furnace. A good compromise requiring less work is to tighten the chuck of yourelectric drill to the mill.

Mashing

For most all-grain brewers, their first mash pot (or mash tun) is their brewkettle. First all-grain batches tend to be on the small side 5 gallons yield or even smaller and a smallermash tun will cool quickly due to its smaller mass. A brewkettle makes a great startermash tun when the heat drops, it can go right on the heat source to be brought back upinto the correct range. Stir continually with a big wooden spoon as you heat. When thekettle is off the heat, a lid is vital to help keep the temperature from dropping too rapidly.After the mash period, the brewer transfers the mash into a separate lauter tun, the vesselthat strains the wort away from the grain husks.

An accurate thermometer makes mashing possible the thermometer is popped into themash frequently for readings. Glass "dairy style" thermometers are accurate and less thana ten-spot in cost, but take up to two minutes to display the reading and can also break ifdropped. Dial thermometers show a reading very quickly and break less easily if youhave a choice go for a larger dial that you can read through wort-splattered, steamed-upeyeglasses. Some dial thermometers come with a clip for the edge of the kettle, so thethermometer can stay in the mash while the brewer uses both hands to stir or move thekettle. dial thermometers can also be calibrated (or un-calibrated by accident)

A 4- gallon kettle, like the classic 16-qt. enamel "canner," seems to be a common size for

a first kettle, and brewers can yield 5 gallons from this size by boiling a concentrated wort.This size will be adequate to mash the grains for a 5 gallon batch of even a high gravity

beer. When the time comes for the first kettle upgrade, get one of at least 7.5 gallons to doa full-wort boil of a five gallon batch, and this kettle could someday become yourdedicated mash tun even if you go up to a 12- or 15- gallon brewkettle. Stainless steelremains a great choice for toughness and ability to be welded: someday you will be likelyto add a spigot through the wall.


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Larger mashes hold their heat better. Brewers who reach the 10-gallon batch size, with a

15-gallon kettle, can usually get the mash to the proper temperature, then leave it alone for90 minutes and get an acceptably small temperature drop at room temperature. Mashes for5-gallon batches or smaller usually require some kind of insulation, and sometimes

brewers drop their entire kettle right into a Styrofoam insulated box like seafood issometimes shipped in, or devise their own insulated box. Others buy a ready-made mash

jacket that covers the entire kettle.

But with good insulation, there will be no need to add heat to a single infusion mash . . .and brewers often already own one: a beverage or picnic cooler works as a great ready-made solution. Add water and grain in a cylindrical or rectangular cooler, check thetemperature and adjust, and close the lid. As you check the mash temperature over a

typical 90-minute mash, youll find that a 5-gallon batch will typically only lose three orfour degrees F., even outside on a cool day. At the end of the mash period, transfer themash to a separate lauter tun, like the bag or bucket lauter described below.

Lautering

This process, where wort is gently drawn off the barley husks, requires a grain vessel withsome kind of false bottom. The false bottom is not really a filter the grain itself acts as afilter but it does allow wort to be drawn out the bottom as water is sprinkled on the top.The simplest lauter tun is a mesh bag in a bucket, with a drain hole in the bucket; similar isa pair of buckets, nested, with lots of hole drilled in the top bucket and a drain hole on the

side of the lower bucket the famous "Zapap" lauter tun popularized by Charlie Papazian.In each case, the brewer installs a hose with a shut off clamp to control the outflow.


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To use a bag-in-a-bucket or double-bucket lauter, the brewer must transfer the mash to thelauter vessel. Apart from the mess of dripping mash all over during the transfer there arethe real risks of aerating the mash, which risks hot side aeration; and, of dropping themash temperature and adding another undesirable variable. Wouldnt it be nice to lauterright out of the mashing vessel, with no transfer?

This is all fine, but when you lauter in the mash vessel you are limited to single-temperature mashing. Multi-temp mashes require mash transfer. The previous paragraphgives the reader the impression that mash transfer is sure to ruin the batch via hot-sideaeration.

Mashers can do this easily: the mash vessel is insulated to retain heat during the mash, andthe false bottom is built right in to the mash vessel. Then we call it a mash/lauter tun.

While obsessive mashers could build a double walled mash/lauter vessel, they probablyalready have one at home. An insulated cooler, whether a cylindrical beverage cooler or arectangular ice chest, is perfect. For a cylindrical cooler, Listermann makes a well-designed "Phils Phalse Bottom" for both 5-gallon and 10-gallon sizes. The outflow hosegoes out through the drain valve, although some brewers remove the valve completely to

put in a larger outflow hose. A drilled rubber stopper, with the hose running through themiddle, makes a tight wort-proof seal.


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But for someone who wants to build it all from scratch, a very efficient false bottom for arectangular cooler can be made from plastic piping: get enough one-half-inch CPVC pipeor copper tubing, elbows, end caps and tees to build a four-arm "fork shape" in the bottomof the rectangular cooler. Make saw cuts are every half-inch of the "fork arms," about

halfway through the CPVC pipe, and the "handle" of the fork will lead out the drain hole.As with the round beverage cooler, some mashers remove the valve completely, insert arubber stopper, and run the CPVC right through the stopper and out. Which way to aim thesaw cuts up towards the mash or down towards the bottom of the cooler? The debatecontinues, so try it each way and make your choice.

Brewing: Kettles and Heat Source

For the brewer looking to make only minimal equipment upgrades, a large kettle and ahigh-powered heat source are great choices.

The brewer making five-gallon batches with the largest kettle they already had, like thefour-gallon enamel canning kettle, has to make a concentrated wort two to three gallonstotal boiled, with water added later after the boil. Some memorable beers can be brewedthis way, but a brewer who steps up to a 7.5 or 8 gallon kettle (which leaves enough roomto start with five and a half or six gallons of wort and boil down to five) will reap several

benefits: in a thinner, lower-gravity wort hops are utilized more efficiently; the wort willtend to clear better due to a better protein coagulation called the"hot break"; there isreduced hassle of pre-boiling and cooling the makeup water (or worrying about infection ifyou dont pre-boil). Also, brewers who use a minimal-sized kettle just seem driven to fillthem right to the brim, where the boilover incidence rises. Nothing like chiseling burned-on wort off your range top . . .

Another enhancement to a large kettle is a spigot and ball valve, placed on one side rightat the bottom. Spigots allow brewer to use gravity to empty their kettle, a huge plus forsomebody using a counterflow chiller and nearly a requirement for somebody using ahopback.

If you do move to a 7.5 gallon kettle or larger, your kitchen range will probably not havethe horsepower to bring a boil in a reasonable time period. Heat sources are sometimesmeasured in British Thermal Units per hour, which can help offer some scale: one BTU isroughly the heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit; an electricrange may have a 10,000 BTU burner; a gas-ring type propane or natural gas burner likethe classic Superb may produce 45,000 BTU; and a venturi-type propane or gas burner(the kind with a rocket-ship roar, like a Cajun Cooker) might produce 100,000 BTU or


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even more.

Propane cookers are relatively inexpensive, and once you own one you will probablywonder how you survived without it before. After heating dinner on it via candlelight

during your next power outage you might even begin to consider owning a backup, and asmentioned earlier the ideal three-vessel system has three burners. But do remember to treat

propane with respect: it is heavier than air, and a leak could lead to a dangerous pool ofgas in your home if you bring it inside. Tanks should always be stored outside. Burners arerecommended for outside use only, too, and that means that even if you use it in to yourgarage you leave the garage door open. Even in the winter.

While many brewers dont ever feel a need to move on beyond the picnic cooler systemand the single kettle, the classic three-vessel system is a delight to use and does allowmore control and options over the process. Briefly, the three-vessel system is:

1. A kettle, with heat source under it that it used to heat sparge water and backupmash water. Only water will go in this tank never grain or wort and it is known

as the hot liquor tank or HLT. (Liquor in this sense roughly translates as "water tobe used in the brewing process"). On the side a dial thermometer with a probeleading into the kettle shows water temperature; right at the bottom 90* away fromthe thermometer is a spigot and valve that leads to some kind of sprinkler it can

be a copper coil with holes, or a rotating arm, or a big old shower head anythingthat keeps the stream of sparge water from disrupting the grain bed below. In theideal three-vessel system, the HLT also has piping that allows fresh water in to thevessel with the turn of a handle. It may also have a sight tube, which is an externalglass tube mounted via an elbow that goes through the kettle near the bottom. Thelevel of water in the sight tube indicates the level of water in the kettle, helpful

because the HLT is often up so high that the brewer cant see into the top.2. The mash/lauter tun is the second kettle, positioned with the top edge lower than

the bottom of the HLT and also with a burner underneath. Heres where the grist


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and hot liquor are combined to make a mash. This vessel will have a false bottom,in this scenario usually perforated stainless steel; it will also have a spigot andvalve; and ideally it will have a permanently-mounted dial thermometer to keepclose track of the mash temperature. Brewers who wish to use step mashing can doso with this system by applying heat and stirring with a mash paddle, which looks

like a small wooden canoe paddle. Careful you dont hit the thermometer probe asyou stir! I agree that some brewers do heat the mash in the mash/lauter, but this isnot ideal since the false bottom makes uniform heating below the screenimpossible and stirring the mash above the screen can clog the screen with grain.Very, very few commercial brewers do this.

3. Below the mash/lauter is the brewkettle, with a spigot. Brewkettles generally donthave a thermometer mounted on them but they may have a false bottom or ahopback mounted right upstream from the outlet. Ideally, the brewkettle output isstill high enough above the ground to use gravity to get the wort through the chillerand in to the fermenter.

The three vessels are all mounted on a framework strong enough to hold all the heavyliquids, sometimes with permanent gas and water piping attached. 15-gallon kettles areabout right for 10-gallon batches; a "half-barrel" system (15.5 gallons) will require kettlesof at least 20 gallon size. Stainless kettles of this size are not pocket change, especiallyafter added spigots, false bottoms, and thermometers, but the brewer will own a tool thatwill provide great beer in party volumes for many years.

A quick word about a term that has entered the homebrewing world over the last fewyears: RIMS. A recirculating infusion mash system is a closed mash vessel system that

pumps the mash wort is pumped, not the mash past a heater and a thermometer. It is notexposed to air, so the risk of hot-side aeration is low, and the temperature can be kept very

precise throughout the mash.

Hopbacks

A hopback offers a great way to add real fresh-hop character you know that great smellof late addition hops? Did it occur to you that every whiff you get is hops that are leavingyour wort?

A hopback is a way to run newly boiled wort right through fresh finishing hops, usuallyright between the kettle and the chiller. The simplest take a handful of hops and wrap it

in a stainless steel "choreboy" made of coarse steel wool. Hold this down at the bottom ofyou kettle with the tip of your siphon when you siphon hot wort out, or put it rightupstream of your spigot in the bottom of your kettle. The wort will flow through thechoreboy and the fresh hops, then right out to the chiller. A hopback can also be madefrom a square box of perforated steel, or can be made from a mason jar and put outside thekettle before the chiller. Hopbacks also serve to help strain some spent boiling hops and

protein out of the wort.

Wort Cooling

The first way many brewers cool their wort is just . . . waiting for it to cool down. A sink

full or bathtub full of icewater helps, too, and a snowbank is pretty good. But a real chillerprovides regular control and some time savings to boot. There are two basic kinds, either


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of which can be bought or made.

An immersion chiller is a coil of copper tubing, usually 25 feet or more in length andcommonly 3/8" diameter, that has a hose fitting on the "input" end and a loop that aims outof the kettle at the "output" end. The brewer attaches a garden hose upstream and throwsthe coil into the wort at the end of the boil for a couple of minutes (to sanitize it) then turns

the heat off and turns the cold water on. The cold water flowing through the tubing willcool the wort fairly quickly maybe from boiling to pitching in 15-20 minutes; a littlefaster if the brewer swirls it around in the wort. Then, when the wort is cool, the brewertransfers it to the fermenter via siphon or via funnel. As a side benefit to the immersionchiller, the water coming out of the output side of the chiller is preheated so you can cleanup your mash/lauter tun! Copper tubing is easy to find, and the only other parts needed area female garden hose fitting with a barbed 3/8" end; some 3/8" vinyl tubing; and two smallhose clamps to hold them together.

A counterflow chiller takes an additional step: instead of running cold water through atube immersed in wort, which in an immersion chiller provides pretty good heat transfer,


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the wort runs through a copper coil that is jacketed by a larger flexible hose that has coolwater flowing in the opposite direction. The heat transfer is dramatic and efficient byadjusting the speed of the water flow, the wort can be cooled to pitching temperature in thetime it takes to run the whole kettle through. Counterflow chillers must be cleaned well

and sanitized carefully, and are not quite as easy to make, but with copper tubing, and oldhose, and Phils Phittings from Listermann even a non-handy brewer can own an excellentcounterflow chiller.

Aerating Wort

After years of shaking carboys to mix vital air into the cooled wort, brewers now canactually purchase pure oxygen to bubble through their wort. The Oxynator works verywell and consists of an oxygen tank about a foot tall, a regulator with a dial, a length ofvinyl hose and a steel aeration stone with dozens of tiny holes. The stone is attached to thehose, sanitized, and dropped into the cooled wort; the brewer opens the valve and pure

oxygen bubbles through the wort. The Oxynator costs the better part of a hundred bucks,but will provide oxygen for dozens of batches and replacement tanks are available.

Some brewers use an aquarium pump and a stainless steel aerating stone to pump airthrough the wort, but sanitation can be a challenge here because aquarium pumps useroom air. To improvise this setup, just run the "out" line from the pump to an aerationstone, sanitize the stone and the potion of the line that will touch or get near the wort, dropthe stone in the wort and turn the pump on. Because air contains a little less than 20%oxygen, run it for five minutes or more total, and be ready to pause during this time whenthe wort foams up. An inline air filter, if you can find one, may reduce the chance ofinfection by airborne nasties. These filters DO reduce the chance of contamination and can

be purchased from homebrew supply companies.

Fermenters and Fermetation


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Covered plastic buckets have surely fermented some of the worlds great beers, but glasscarboys do offer the option of seeing the process and many brewers feel more confidentabout their ability to clean and sanitize glass. Move to a 6.8 gallon "acid carboy" for betteryield and less volume loss due to blowoff. These 25-liter carboys originated with chemical

suppliers, but homebrew shops often do carry them.

The next step up in fermentation, the cylindro-conical fermenter, offersfantastic options at a cost, at least in commitment to sanitation and maybe to dollars aswell. They are a flat-topped, cylindrical vessel with a 60 degree conical base, and some

kind of legs or stand. They are filled with cooled wort through a port in the top, and theyhave at least one valve on the bottom to run the finished beer out. They also have a portused to harvest yeast for storage or for the next batch. Brewers can aerate by running air oroxygen through the drain port, they can harvest yeast at the perfect moment duringfermentation, and can transfer finished beer into packaging with ease, because cylindro-conical fermenters stand on legs. These fermenters are available in plastic for a couplehundred dollars, or in stainless for much more. Before you buy a stainless fermenter,educate yourself to what a "sanitary weld" looks like: all welds should be absolutelysmooth and finished, so no micro-organisms or rogue yeasts can hide out in the crack andavoid your sanitizing solution.

And every fermenter should have a liquid crystal thermometer attached. These are flexibleadhesive strips that will show the vessels temperature within a couple of degreesFarenheit and cost a couple bucks. Mount it low on your fermenter so you can get areading before the fermenter fills very far that way you have an opportunity to changethe temperature of the wort by lowering or raising the temp of the incoming wort. With acounterflow chiller, this just means turning the cooling water pressure up or down.

Some brewers cherish a dedicated fridge for lagering beer, and Johnson Controls makes atricky device that will allow the brewer to set temperatures different than the typical rangeon a fridge or freezer if a particular lager yeast wants 56 deg. F, a standard fridge will beunable to run at that high. The item is called the Controller, less than $100, and consists ofa temperature probe that goes in the fridge; a control box with a setting dial; and a plug.The brewer just sets the desired temperature, puts the probe inside the fridge or freezer,


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closes the door over the wire, and hangs the box out side the fridge. Then the fridge isplugged into the controller and the controller is plugged into the wall. When thecompressor in the fridge brings the temp down to the desired spot, the Controller shuts offthe fridges compressor. It works equally well on freezers or fridges and keeps within a

three or four degree range.

Tools and Gadgets

While a mash tends to land in the correct pH range naturally, a digital pH meters areavailable. Because mashing and brewing water from different classic regions does vary,some brewers alter the pH of their brewing liquor and of their mash to brew different beerstyles. Disposable test strips are available too, and the cost of a digital meter might beequal to a multi-year supply of them, but they just arent as cool as the electronic meterand the range they measure is not usually as wide.

A hydrometer is pretty much a necessity to fine-tune your technique and reproduce greatbeers, but consider the professional set that comes as a pair: one might read up to 1.060,and the other from 1.060 to 1.130 or so. They are a delight to use because thedemarcations are so wide that you can really tell 1.048 from 1.049.

A steel or copper racking cane brings some nice options to brewers: they can be used torack (siphon) right out of a hot brewkettle, for those who want to use a counterflow chiller

but dont have a spigot in their kettle, but they also can be sanitized with heat, unlike aplastic racking cane. And dont forget to replace your vinyl racking hose frequently,because its cheap and can harbor microorganisms that could lead to nasty flavors.

Microscopes may the one tool that brings yeast and the brewer to final intimacy. You mayknow your favorite yeasts habits, temperature range, smell, and taste . . . but you mayhave never actually seen a yeast cell. The treat of viewing a yeast cell may not be worththe price of a new, lab-quality microsope to all brewers, but keep an eye peeled at garagesales. Will a scope make your beer better? Not necessarily, but you fell better Sure,

because you will feel better knowing that your ale yeast cells are cute little ovals, livingtheir lives, fermenting your beer.

Packaging


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For bottling, brewers can choose from the inexpensive wing capper(easy to store, and less than $20 sometimes) or a bench capper. The bench-style capper hasa time tested design that allows one-handed operation the other hand can move the bottleright into the case and reach for the next capping candidate. For the brewer who bottlesmany bottles, the bench capper will save time. A bottle-drying rack will also help withspeed, because the brewer can reach more empty bottles easily when the beer is flowingand is less likely to knock bottles over. Many brewers also like to use a bottling bucketwith a spigot, because they dont have to start a siphon that way. To use a bottling bucket,install a plastic spigot through a hole at the bottom of a bucket, slip a bottle-long length oftubing over the outside of the spout, and sanitize. Then fill the bucket with finished,

primed beer and pull the first sanitized bottle of your rack, running it up the tubing until

the bottom of the tube reaches the bottom of the bottle. Open the spigot, fill, close thespigot, and go on to the next bottle. The piece of tubing is necessary if the beer were justto run down the side of the bottle, it would be exposed to so much air that oxidation would

become a great risk and shelf life would be shortened.

For the brewer who decides to go draft, Cornelius kegsare a popular option due to ease and availability. Kegging systems require a CO2 reservetank; a regulator with at least one gauge to show keg pressure; at least one keg; beer line,

gas line, a "cobra head" to dispense from, miscellaneous disconnects, and hose clamps. Asyou look at kegging systems, keep an awareness of several things: one, that there are two


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basic styles of keg connecting systems (ball-lock and pin-lock) and that they are mostdefinitely NOT interchangeable; two, replacement parts for kegs are not cheap and a supercheap dented keg is no bargain if all the parts need replacing; and three, you may not havea way to cool down the keg before drinking it unless you have a dedicated beer fridge. The

setup cost could rise to hundreds of dollars, but over the years the time saved pays theinvestment back dramatically.

Bottles and kegs both work well as storing and serving vessels, and counterpressurebottling right from the keg is great as long as the brewer is doing enough bottles to makethe setup worthwhile. A counterpressure filler can range from $70 to a couple hundreddollars and requires some practice to use properly.

Mini-kegs offer another slick packaging option. These come in a few models, from the2.25-gallon Party Pig to little metal kegs that hold 1 1/3 gallons and either use air-pumpsor co2 regulators to dispense the beer. These will run you less than $50.

Whether served from a bottle or a keg, remember the final important brewers tool: thebeer glass. After all the money you've just spent, you deserve a well-poured pint.

Homebrew Lab Equipment

Homebrew Lab Equipment

Author Chris Colby

Issue December 2000

Online Date Sunday, 08 July 2001

Homebrewing can be as simple or as complex as you make it. Some brewers just followthe directions on their extract kit. Others make up their own recipes and fine-tune their

brewing procedures in an effort to brew superior beer. Whatever your attitude towardsbrewing, there is a set of lab equipment for you.

Having the proper instruments to measure key brewing variables allows you to repeatedlybrew great beer. Equipping your lab can cost as little as $15 for the essentials, or hundredsof dollars for a full-blown mad scientist set-up.


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Lab Equipment for Every Brewer

There are three tools every brewer should use every brewing session: a hydrometer, athermometer and a brewing notebook. Without them, it would be difficult to consistently

brew good beer.

Hydrometer

A hydrometer is a floating instrument that measures the density of a solution. Brewinghydrometers typically give units of specific gravity, degrees Balling, and potential alcohol.To measure specific gravity, the hydrometer is floated in a test cylinder with the solutionto be tested. The hydrometer is read by determining what the scale reads at the level of theliquid.

The wort or beer sample should be at 60 F when a reading is taken. If you have a beer

pitcher handy on brewing day, fill it with ice water and use it to quickly cool down wortsamples. If the wort is hotter than 60 F, the hydrometer will sink farther than normal intothe wort and give a lowered gravity reading. If the wort is too cold, the hydrometer willride high and give a high reading. There are conversion charts that correct for temperature;ask at your local homebrew shop.

If bubbles stick to the hydrometer, they will cause it to ride high, giving a high reading. Toget rid of bubbles on the hydrometer, just give it a spin. The bubbles should fly off theglass. If you are measuring the gravity of a finished beer, bubbles can be a major problem.To deal with bubbles in a finished beer, you should decarbonate it first. The AmericanSociety of Brewing Chemists recommends this method: Pour the beer back and forth

between two containers (like a pitcher) a total of eight times.

There are several times during a brew session when taking a gravity reading is useful. Forall-grain brewers, measuring the gravity of the final runnings can tell you when to stopsparging. The general rule of thumb is to stop before the gravity drops below 1.010 or1.008. Below this gravity, tannins are extracted. Excess tannins in your wort can makeyour beer taste astringent. Taking the gravity of your wort before the boil starts can tellyou if you will hit your target gravity. To estimate your original gravity at the beginning ofthe boil, use this equation:

Original Gravity Equation

OG (original gravity) = [BBG (before boil gravity) * BBV (before boil volume)]/ABV(after boil volume)

Use only the decimal portion of the gravities when using this equation; for example, use55 for a beer with an original gravity of 1.055. When using this equation, you willslightly overestimate your OG. The OG is overestimated because dissolved proteins andlipids figure into the pre-boil gravity. These compounds, however, sediment out of thewort during boiling. This results in a lower gravity than you estimated.

If your gravity is too low, you can add malt extract. 13/4 ounces of dried malt extract willraise the gravity of five gallons of wort by approximately one gravity point. If your gravity


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is too high, you can decide to make the batch size larger by adding water. Alternately, youcan adjust the hop addition to compensate for the heavier wort.

Its always best to check any piece of brewing equipment to see that it is reading right. At

60 F in pure water, the hydrometer should read 1.000. If it does not read 1.000, note howfar its off and take that into account when taking your readings. For example, if thehydrometer reads 0.098 in water at 60 degrees, add 0.002 to all your gravity readings.

Thermometer

Thermometers come in many shapes and sizes. There are bimetal dial thermometers,liquid (mercury or alcohol) probe thermometers, digital thermometers, and temperaturestrips that change color. Although different in form, they all do the same thing measuretemperature.

Like hydrometer readings, there are several times in a brewing session when it is useful totake a temperature reading. For all-grain brewers, the temperature of each mash rest isimportant.

If the mash is not at the correct temperature during the starch conversion rest, the amountof sugars extracted from the grain will be significantly lowered. (If the conversiontemperature is between 150 and 158 F, the yield should be normal.)

The temperature of the sparge water should also be taken. If it is too hot (over 170 F),tannins will be leached out the grains, causing astringency. All brewers should monitortheir fermentation temperature and keep it within its proper range. Usually, ales arefermented at 60 to 72 F, lagers at 45 to 55 F. To monitor fermentation temperatures,the brewer should use a thermometer that measures the temperature of the wort, not theambient temperature of the surroundings. The wort in a carboy can be as much as 10 Fhigherthan ambient temperature at the peak of fermentation. Using a temperature stripsimilar to those used on aquariums is a great way to measure temperatures.

Brewers should test all their thermometers for accuracy. The easiest way to do this is tomeasure the temperature of boiling water and ice water. Boiling water should be 212 F(100 C) at sea level; ice water should be 32 F (0 C). Of course, some thermometers donot cover either of these ranges.

To calibrate a thermometer whose range doesnt cross 32 F or 212 F, get a good-qualitylaboratory thermometer. Use the good thermometer to take the temperature of a liquid.Then, measure the temperature of the liquid with your other thermometers. If the readingsdont agree, add or subtract the amount of error when using your everyday thermometers.In addition, some electronic thermometers have calibration screws. Whenever takingthermometer readings, be sure to wait until the reading has stabilized before recording it.Few thermometers give instant measurements.

Brewing Notebook

Without a notebook to record the results of tests and experiments, lab equipment isuseless. Every brewer should keep a brewing notebook and record his recipes, procedure


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and tasting notes. It is more important to record how your brewing session actually wentthan to record the original plan for your brew. If the recipe is altered in any way forexample if you run out of one type of hops and substitute another you should recordthis. If you goof up one of your procedures, you should record this as well. With this, you

will be able to distinguish between inconsequential deviations in brewing procedures anderrors that may cause serious problems.

Your detailed brew-day and fermentation notes should be complemented by extensive andfocused tasting notes. It doesnt make any sense to record your recipes and procedures ifyou dont correlate them with the finished product. One of the simplest ways to ensure thatyou are taking complete tasting notes is to fill out a homebrew contest judging form foreach of your beers. Most homebrew books have examples of contest forms. You can alsodownload beer judging forms from the Beer Judge Certification Program website atwww.bjcp.org. These forms have spaces for comments on appearance, smell and taste ofyour beer.

Although your impression of each isolated sensory element is important, it is alsoimportant to record your overall impression of the beer. Beers with easily detected faultsare usually not very good; however, a beer without faults may still not be very good. Youroverall impression is as important, perhaps more so, that your element-by-element analysisof your beer.

Lab Equipment for the Serious Brewer

The equipment in this section is for serious brewers, especially those who are using all-grain techniques. Using these gadgets, a homebrewer can focus on consistently brewinggood beer and also can troubleshoot a variety of common brewing problems that mayarise.

Iodine and Test Plate

The iodine test detects the presence of starch in a solution. The only equipment you needis a dropper full of iodine solution and a light-colored dish or test plate. To perform theiodine test, a brewer simply adds a drop of iodine solution to a small volume of wort.Usually the wort is on a light-colored plate or in a specialized test dish with multiple littlereservoirs to hold liquid. (If you use a dinner plate, dont use it for food after iodine has

been on it. This is a bit paranoid, but its better to be safe than sorry.) If starch is present,the wort and iodine solution turns purple or black. If there is no starch, there is no colorchange. Note: It is very important to cool the wort sample before performing the test.

All-grain brewers use the iodine test to assess the success of their mash. If a mash wassuccessful, all the starch in the grains will have been converted to sugar. The iodine test isdone only once per brewing session, unless the test is positive. If the test is positive, the

brewer should extend the time of the mash, or correct the mash temperature, until starchconversion is correct.

If an incomplete starch conversion is not detected and corrected, the resulting beer may

suffer from starch haze. Many all-grain brewers use the iodine test when they first startmashing or try a new type of mashing like decoction mashing or a multi-step mash regime.


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After becoming more experienced at mashing, however, many quit doing the iodine test.

pH meter

A pH meter measures how acidic or basic a solution is. Some meters are designed to sit ona benchtop, while others are hand-held meters. To measure pH, a small sample of the beeror wort is taken and cooled down. Some pH meters only give accurate readings at a singletemp (often 60 F). Others automatically compensate for temperatures within a givenrange. Even with a temperature-compensating model, you should cool the wort down

before taking a reading. The electrodes on pH meters burn out much faster if used at hightemperatures. To save wear and tear on the electrode, cool down your wort beforemeasuring pH.

To get the most out of your pH meter, you should keep your electrode clean and free fromscratches. It should be stored in electrode storage solution. Whenever the pH meter is

reading, the electrode should be immersed in liquid. And, before every reading, rinse theelectrode in water and swirl it around in the solution to be tested for a few seconds beforetaking the reading.

There are many times during a brewing session when taking a pH measurement isvaluable. The pH of the mash should be taken, to determine if it is in the optimal range(pH 5.2 to 5.4). If the pH is too high, it should be adjusted downward by adding acid orcalcium sulfate. The pH of the final runnings can be taken; you should stop sparging

before the pH exceeds 6.0 or youll risk extracting tannins.

The pH of the wort should also be taken. Wort pH should be 5.0 to 5.5. This can beadjusted with acid if it is too high. There is usually never a problem with wort pH if themash pH was O.K. unless the brewing water is very hard. The pH of your finished beershould also be taken. Often, the pH of the final beer describes how lively a beer is. Anotherwise well-brewed beer can taste lackluster if the pH is too high. And, high wort pHduring boiling can cause a harsh hop bitterness. Most finished beers have a pH of 4.0 to4.6.

To calibrate your pH meter, you will need two solutions of known pH. Buffers of pH 4, 7and 10 are the most commonly used known solutions. Brewers should use pH 4 and pH 7

buffers to calibrate their pH meter. How exactly you calibrate the meter varies; the

instructions to will tell you how to do this.

For all-grain brewers, a pH meter is very useful. This is especially true for all-grainbrewers with hard water. When using hard water, the proper mash pH does notautomatically establish itself. Therefore, pH adjustments must be made by adding acid orcalcium sulfate (gypsum).

Kitchen Scale or Lab Balance

There are a lot of different types of scales or balances available. Most hombrewers use aspring scale or an electronic kitchen scale. Some may own, or have access to, a laboratory

balance. To measure weight on a scale, weigh the empty container your ingredients will goin. Then weigh the ingredients and the container. Subtract the weight of the container to


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get the weight of the ingredients.

To measure weight on a balance, place the container that will hold your ingredients in thepan and press on or tare. The balance should then read 0. Next, weigh out your

ingredients; the scale will automatically subtract the weight of the container from theweight displayed on the screen.

If you have a scale, you can buy your brewing ingredients in bulk and weigh out as muchas you need each time. You no longer need to rely on pre-weighed sacks of grain or hopadditions from beer kits.

You should calibrate your scale using a known weight if at all possible. The scalesavailable to homebrewers or cooks can be off as much as 20 percent.

Microscope & Hemacytometer

A typical laboratory-quality microscope allows us to see objects up to 1000X smaller thanwe can see with the naked eye. This is powerful enough to see individual yeast cells. Infact, brewers can use a microscope to count yeast cells and bacteria in their wort or beer.

Counting yeast cells allows brewers to accurately determine their pitching rates. Theoptimal pitching rates are 1 million cells per milliliter per degree Plato (roughly fourgravity points). In order to count yeast cells, a brewer must use a hemacytometer. Ahemacytometer is a microscope slide that traps an exact amount of liquid under the coverslip. The slide itself is striated so that, when looking through the scope, the brewer sees acheckerboard arrangement. On top of each square of the checkerboard, a known volume ofliquid is trapped. A small amount of liquid from the yeast starter is diluted and a drop is

put on the hemacytometer. By counting the number of cells in one square, the brewerdetermines how many yeast cells are in the small volume above that square. The brewercan then calculate the concentration of yeast in his starter from the number of yeast cells inthe square, the dilution factor of the sample, and the volume of liquid enclosed in thesquare.

With the proper staining, yeast health can also be ascertained with the use of a microscope.Dead cells stain blue, while living cells remain colorless. By counting the number of clearcells and the number of dead blue cells, the brewer can determine the number of healthy

cells. Usually, brewers want over 95% of the cells to be healthy. Otherwise, initialfermentation can be sluggish and the dead yeast can taint the wort with off flavors.

The key to viewing yeast cells, or any opaque objects, with a microscope is to limit theamount of light shining through your sample. Most microscopes have a dimmer to thelight source. Most also have a diaphragm under the stage you can open or close to adjustthe light level. If you keep the light levels low you will easily be able to see the yeast cells.They are clearly visible using a 40X objective. (This actually equals a 400x magnification,

because the eyepiece has a 10X magnification).

And in Conclusion...

For me, part of the fun of brewing is taking a bunch of readings and manipulating brewing


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variables to produce good beer. But I try not to forget that brewing gadgets are just tools touse when crafting a beer, not an end to themselves. Dont let secondary measures of

brewing success like hitting the right pH become your focus. Your palate willalways be your most important brewing gadget.

Chris Colby is a frequent contributor to BYO. He lives in Texas.

Illustration by Don Martin

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