WindRiver Brewing Internet Newsletter

WindRiver Brewing Internet August Newsletter

Hello everyone,

This is our 3rd internet newsletter and features some articles to get those early Fall beer ready. If you would like to be removed from this list just email us back and ask to be removed the email newsletter list.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SEASON OF FRUIT HARVESTS BY MAKING A FRUIT BEER (THEY'RE EVEN ON SALE THIS MONTH!)

As we all know, summer is the best of time of year for consuming fresh fruit. Nothing tastes quite as good as enjoying your favorite fruit on a hot summer day. Why not try pairing your favorite fruit with your favorite beer?

You can add small amounts of fruit to just about any beer. Many of our customers have added fruit to our Black Bear Brown Ale, Gopher Pale Ale and many other beer kits.

So what is the best way to go about adding fresh fruit to your favorite homebrew recipe? There are 2 basic techniques. The first, and easiest is to steep the fresh or frozen fruit in your brew pot after you have shut the heat off for about 20 minutes. You do not want to boil the fruit as this will set the pectin, resulting in a hazy beer that never clears (but don't worry too much about this since you can add Pectic Enzyme to the beer to clarify it). Just make sure that the fruit steeps between 170 and 180 F for 20 minutes to ensure that the fruit is pasteurized. Although this method works easily enough, you tend to lose a lot of fruit aroma during the primary fermentation. For this reason, most experienced brewers prefer to add fresh or frozen fruit directly to the secondary fermenter, resulting in a much fresher fruit flavor and aroma. Because the yeast has already consumed most of the fermentable sugars in the beer, you do not have to worry about pasteurizing the fruit before adding it to your secondary fermenter. Some experienced brewers like to freeze the fruit before adding it to the fermenter, as the freezing process bursts the cell walls of the fruit, allowing its flavor to emerge more easily.

If all this seems like a bit too much work, you can always use fruit essences. Although they generally will not produce the same complexity or depth of flavor, they will impart a pleasant aroma and a mild fruit flavor. We have found that the best way to use fruit essences is to add them either to the secondary fermenter or at bottling time. If you add the fruit essence during primary fermentation, much of the flavor and aroma will have dissipated by the time you bottle the beer.

TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET SOME FRUIT BEERS READY FOR FALL, WE ARE OFFERING A 15% DISCOUNT ON ALL OF OUR FRUIT BEER KITS:

CRANBERRY BOG ALE: The cranberry is a very American fruit and we have coupled the flavor of this berry with an outstanding ale. The all natural cranberry extract adds a little twang and tartness. This is a refreshing beer to serve after dinner. Now $19.49, $23.49 with Wyeast American Ale 1056.

CHERRY TREE STOUT: Now you know why George Washington cut down the cherry tree, in order to get enough cherries to make this fabulous dark cherry stout. This is a fantastic dessert beer that has the sweetness of the stout with a hint of cherries in the aroma and flavor. This will make a great compliment to a cherry cheese cake, or served just by itself after dinner. Now $21.19, $25.19 with Wyeast London Ale 1028.

RASPBERRY HARVEST WHEAT BEER: A classic fruit beer. A refreshing taste after an afternoon of mowing the grass, raking leaves, or picking tomatoes out of the garden. Our most popular summertime beer. Now $20.35, $24.35 with Wyeast Weihenstephan Wheat 3068.

CHERRY WHEAT BEER: This is a new beer kit, sort of. We have always carried the cherry extract, and many of our customers have added it to our Walleye Weizen Wheat beer kit. The cherry adds a pleasant tartness to the natural flavor of the wheat beer. Now $20.35, $24.35 with Wyeast Weihenstephan Wheat 3068.

ADD SPICE TO YOUR BEER WITH DRY HOPPING

Another great way to add extra flavor to your beer is to start experimenting with dry hops. This is the best way to get an aroma that will just about knock you down. And the best part is that you can add dry hops to just about any beer.

Dry-Hopping is best done in your secondary fermenter, and most people generally add 1 - 2 ounces of fresh or plug hops. Although you can use pellets, we have found that the flavor obtained by fresh or plug hops is much more refined and delicate than that you will get by dry hopping with hop pellets. The easiest way to dry hop is to put your hops in several cheese cloth bags and put a sanitized marble in each muslin bag so that the hops sink to the bottom of the fermenter. Then, allow the hops to remain in the beer for 1 - 2 weeks depending upon the intensity of hop flavor and aroma desired. The longer you allow the hops to steep in the beer, the more flavor you will get.

If you are kegging your beer, you can use a nylon hop bag to dry hop inside of the keg. Just make sure that the top of the hop bad is tightly closed, and wedge the bag between the keg wall and the liquid out dip tube. This will give you maximum dry hop flavor.

It is important to note that dry hops should NEVER be added to your primary fermenter. Although hops are a natural antibacterial, it is possible for any germs or other little nasty buggies on the hop leaves to cause a bacterial infection if dry hops are added to a primary fermenter, especially if they are added before the yeast has begun to ferment the beer. Dry hops can be safely added during secondary fermentation because: 1). the yeast has already fermented the beer and the alcohol in the beer acts as an anti-bacterial agent; 2). the fermentation process has lowered the pH of the wort, making it a relatively inhospitable climate for bacteria to thrive; 3). the beer yeast has consumed the vast majority of fermentable sugars, thus depriving bacteria of the food they need to really get established.

As far as what varieties of hops to use, that is up to your personal taste. Generally, only the most aromatic hops are added. For pale ales, Cascade and East Kent Goldings are the most popular varieties. For lagers Hallertau and Saaz are the most popular varieties for dry hopping.

MENTION THIS ARTICLE AND RECEIVE 15% OFF 1/2 LB OF FRESH LOOSE HOPS: CASCADE ($5/HALF POUND) AND HALLERTAU ($6/HALF POUND)

ASK DR. ZOOT, YOUR BREWING QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Dr. Zoot,
Q. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO AERATE MY BEER AND HOW IMPORTANT IS IT?

A. There has been a lot of confusion on this point. When Dr. Zoot began brewing beer, all of the homebrew authorities said that it was OK to aerate the hot wort by pouring it directly into a fermenter with about 3 gallons of cold water. Since then, it has been found that aerating hot wort can cause a series of oxidizing reactions that can impart unpleasant flavors in your prized nectar. For this reason, I now pre-chill my wort either using an immersion wort chiller or by immersing the brew pot in a sink of cold water for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then, I aerate the cold wort after I pour it into the fermenter using a sanitized mash paddle to vigorously stir the wort. Even though pouring the wort into the fermenter does create some aeration, it is still necessary to vigorously stir the wort after you have topped off your fermenter with cold water.

As far as how important aeration is, it is hard to undervalue the importance of a well-aerated wort. Oxygen provides the yeast with enough energy to complete the fermentation process quickly and eifficiently. Underaerated worts tend to finish off with far too much sweetness. This is doubly important for strong beers (those with an original gravity over 1.060) and lagers.

Q. HOW SHOULD I STORE MY WINDRIVER BREWING INGREDIENT KITS?

A. Storage of WindRiver Brewing kits is crucial since they contain natural, unpasteurized malt extract (this means it has a shelf life). For this reason, our ingredient kits should be brewed as quickly as possible. For prolonged storage the malt extract should be refrigerated or frozen. The yeast pack should be refrigerated but not frozen, and the hops should be refrigerated or frozen. Grains should be stored at a moderate temperature in a dry environment.

Q. HOW CAN I IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MY BEER?

A. Brewing is actually a pretty simple process, so there are just a few keys to consistently making outstanding beer everytime. First, always use liquid yeast. although dry yeast works, it tends to produce more of a yeasty/fruit flavor in your beer. It is not so much that the beer will turn out bad, but the flavor just isn't as smooth. In addition, beers made with liquid yeast tend to improve more steadily and consistently over time than those made with dry yeast. Another trick is to boil as much wort as you can. The best choice would be to start out with about 6 gallons of wort which would boil down to 5 gallons. But most homebrewers do not have a large enough stock pot for this to be a feasible option. Adding less water to top up your fermenter will give you a much more consistent and smooth product. And always make sure to use UNCHLORINATED water (spring or filtered water are always good options). Perhaps the most crucial variable is controlling the fermentation temperature. For ales, if you want to make a beer with a very clean flavor profile, keep the fermentation temperature between 60 and 65 F. For a fruitier flavor profile, keep the fermentation temperature between 65 and 70 F. Lagers should always be fermented between 45 and 55 F, and so-called "steam" beers should be fermented in the primary between 62 and 70 F followed by traditional lager temperatures (45 - 55 F.) Beers that are fermented at too high of a temperature sometimes have flavors reminiscent of bacterially infected batches. You can use a wet towel wrapped around your fermenter to lower the fermentation temperature (the evaporation process will lower the temperature inside of your fermenter by 4 - 6 degrees). Just make sure that the towel constantly stays wet. If the towel dries out, there will be no cooling effect from evaporation. Another obvious point is to make sure that your brewing ingredients are fresh. It is not a good idea to store crushed grains and hops for too long at room temperature. It only takes a few hours to make a batch, so try to find time in your schedule to brew after you have crushed your grains and made other preparations to brew. Your beer will thank you. Finally, if you do some experimenting, try to only change one thing at a time. For example, if you want to see what the effect of using a different yeast strain is, use that strain on a recipe you have made several times before. When experimenting with different ingredients it is also a good idea to keep records of your brews.

Good Brewing!
WindRiver Brewing
http://www/windriverbrew.com
windrvr@bitstream.net