All

Grain Brewing Demystified

Mark Grostick

2013 Dotbrigade Press, Ventura, California

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Table of Contents
The Brewing Process in Short ............................................................................................. 1
Equipment .................................................................................................................................. 2
Grain ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Mashing ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Lautering .................................................................................................................................... 8
Boiling ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Fermentation ......................................................................................................................... 11
Packaging ................................................................................................................................ 15
Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 17

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So youre ready to make the leap to all grain brewing. Where to start? One thing I
hated about embarking upon the path of all grain brewing was not the lack of
information out there, but that the information was hard to understand. So many
terms and techniques that brewers take for granted most people do not understand
or are somewhat confusing. Take grain for example. Why is barley primarily used in
brewing instead of wheat? Whats lautering? Sparging? Are they the same? The list
could on but you get the idea.

Ive compiled a short guide in laymens terms on how to brew all grain. Its by no
means exhaustive or complete, but it will give you a good idea of the process from
start to finish. We will start out by going over the minimum of equipment you will
need. Then we will explore the mysteries of grains and adjuncts, move on to
mashing and sparging, cover the basics of boiling and scheduling and finish with
fermentation, such as cooling and creating yeast starters. The last thing we will
cover is packing up the beer for consumption.

One thing I wont cover is recipe design and style guidelines. This could be a book in
itself and there are plenty of great books out there on the subject. The assumption
here is that you have all grain recipes and you need to execute them.

The Brewing Process in Short

Beer is a fermented beverage created when sugars derived from grain are
metabolized by yeast. One of the happy byproducts of this metabolism is ethanol or
more commonly know by its Arabic derived name alcohol. Most beers we think of
are brewed in the European style with barley as the main grain, although beer can
be made, and has been made from anything producing starch.

These are the basic processes in all grain brewing:

Mashing
Mashing is the process of adding crushed grain to water at a specific temperature to
convert the starch in the malt into a more easily fermentable sugar. This sweet
fermentable liquid is called wort (pronounced vurt).

Lautering
Lautering is a process where the sweet wort is removed from the grains of the mash.
There are three steps in lautering: mash out, recirculation, and sparging, with
sparging being the most important.

Boiling
Once sparging is complete the wort is boiled to sanitize it, breakdown proteins, off
gas unwanted flavors and aromas, and to extract flavors and oils from added spicing
most commonly consisting of hops.

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Fermentation
Once the wort has cooled it is transferred into a vessel and the yeast is pitched
(added) to the wort. Once fermentation begins it usually lasts from 5 10 days
depending on the amount of sugars in the wort.

Packaging
The finished beer needs to be packaged and carbonated. There are two main
choices. Kegging and force carbonating with bottled CO2, or bottling and adding
priming sugar for the remaining yeast to eat and create CO2.

Equipment

For all grain brewing youre going to need a bit more equipment than extract
brewing. For starters, its almost impossible to mash on a stovetop, so having a good
propane burner setup is essential. Youre going to need to a minimum of three
vessels one to mash in, one to boil in, and one to ferment in. The ideal setup is
having four vessels one to mash, one to heat water, one to boil, and one to ferment.
My suggestion is to start minimally with the equipment but buy quality and sizes
that allow you to scale up when you want to brew bigger batches. You can always
add more equipment when you get more comfortable brewing on your setup.

Below is a list of the basics and a short explanation.

Mash Tun
A mash tun is a vessel where you extract the sugars from grain. It should be able to
retain heat or have a way to heat it to maintain a stable temperature. Common
vessels for mashing are 15 gallon brew pots, large picnic coolers, and converted
kegs. All have spigots to allow for drainage. Brew pots and converted kegs are
directly fired so you heat your mash water in them. With picnic coolers, youll have
to heat your water in another vessel and add it to the cooler. A lauter tun is a vessel
that allows you to lauter, that is, rinse the grains of the mash of its sugar. Almost all
home brewers lauter in their mash tun. Only commercial breweries have lauter
tuns.

Brew Pot
This is the vessel you boil in. Large stainless steel pots are the most common and
work great. 8 gallons is probably the minimum size for doing 5 gallon batches. Its
always good to have a ball valve on your brew pot.

Hot Liquor Tank
Liquor is actually an English brewing term for water used in brewing. All a hot
liquor tank is used for is heating water. This water can be used in the mash and the
sparge. Not all home brew setups have a hot liquor tank - some brewers heat sparge
water in their brew pot and mash water directly in the mash tun.

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Burners
High BTU propane burners are the best for heating water and wort rapidly. There
are all sorts of options out there. The turkey fryer setups are affordable and work
well.

Chillers
5 gallons plus of boiling wort is difficult to cool rapidly. Chillers help expedite the
process. There are three main types of chillers:
1) Immersion chillers
Coiled copper tubing that is submerged in the brew pot and cool water is
flowed through it cooling the wort through heat exchange
2) Plate chillers
Wort is pushed through a series of plates that exchange heat similar to an air-
cooled radiator to cool the wort. A pump is needed.
3) Counterflow chillers
Wort flows through copper tubing while a hose surrounding the copper
tubing has cool water flowing through it. Heat is exchanged between the
copper tubing and water. A pump is needed.

I prefer immersion chillers because they work well, are easy to use and clean.

Fermenters
Glass and plastic carboys are by far the most affordable fermenter. The 6.5 gallon
size is good for primary fermentation for 5 gallons batches because you need some
headspace for krausen(foam created during fermentation). The 5 gallon size is good
for secondaries - the reduced head space minimizes oxygenation. Theres some
pitfalls to each type glass can shatter, while plastic can scratch which makes them
difficult to sanitize.

I would avoid plastic buckets they scratch easily, let oxygen in easily, and with the
lid on you cant view your fermentation.

Hydrometer
A hydrometer is an instrument that can measure the density of a liquid. A brewing
hydrometer is calibrated to read the density of sugar in water. In the brewing
process it is important to take a reading before and after fermentation to see if you
have hit your targets for your recipe and also to calculate how much alcohol has
been produced.

Other necessary equipment
Hoses
Thermometer
Bottling Bucket
Bottling wand

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Siphon
Sanitizer
Bottles (22 oz. preferable)
Bottle capper

Good to have but not necessary

Food grade, heat tolerant pump for moving water and wort around
Fridge for temperature control
Kegs for dispensing

Grain

All grain has extractable sugars. Some grains are better than others for malting, that
is, the process of turning grain starch into a convertible and extractable sugar. Malt
is created by soaking grain in water until it sprouts and then halting the sprouting.
The sprouting creates enzymes that allow the starch contained in the grain to
convert into sugar when hot water is added (the process of mashing).

Barley is the king of the brewing grains. Other grains are used such as wheat, rye,
oats, corn, and rice, but barley has many qualities that make it very desirable for
brewing.

There are three attributes that make barley a superior grain for brewing:
1) Barley is very easy to malt.
2) Barley has a husk that helps create a filter bed when crushed for mashing.
3) Barley is low in glucans, which are gummy and sticky substances, which can
create problems in mashing.

Wheat is high in glucans, which is great for bread making but not so great for
brewing. It also contains proteins that cause haze in beer. Oats have to be cooked
first and have high haze causing proteins. Rye is high in glucans and very spicy. Corn
and rice have no enzymes present naturally to convert starch to sugar. This is why
you dont see 100% rye or wheat beers.

After the grain has sprouted most malt is kilned to dry. This is where color and
flavor happen. Most malt is roasted in drum kilns. The longer you kiln the more
color and roasted characteristics the grain takes on. Color is measured in the
Lovibond scale in the United States. 1 is the lightest while some grains like Black
Malt can be as high as 600. Below is a chart that breaks down common malts.

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Malt or Grain

6-Row Malt

Color
(Lovibond
)
1.5-1.8

Flavor and
Aroma

Characteristics

Mild Malt Flavor

Base malt for high adjunct

brewing. More husk than 2row.

2-Row Malt

1.8-2.2

Mild Malt Flavor

Pilsen Malt

1.4-1.8

Light Malt
Flavor and
Sweetness

Can be used as base malt for

all styles.
Base malt that is light in color
and well modified. Works well
for producing pilsners and
lagers.

White Wheat Malt

2.5-3.0

Light, Sweet
Flavor

Use amounts up to 60% for

many wheat styled
beers. Use of smaller
amounts (5-10%) for head
retention and body in any
style.

Vienna Malt

2.0-3.0

Moderately
Malty with
Some Biscuit
Notes

Can be used as a base malt in

many styles and will provide a
darker golden color and
increased malt flavor.

Pale Ale Malt

2.5-3.5

Moderately
Malty and
Sweetness

Used in combination with a

base malt to provide more
malty characteristics and dark
golden to slightly orange
color.

Munich

7.0-10.0

Strong Malt
Flavor and
Biscuit Notes

Gives a strong malty aromatic

flavor to beer at rates of 515%. Will also enhance the
body of beer.

Dextrin Malt

4.5-6.0

NA

Dextrin malt that gives body

foam stability to the beer
without changing the
flavor. Always use in
combination with other base
malts. Use 2-4% for body and
mouthfeel.

Caramel 10L

5.0-15.0

Mild Caramel
Sweetness

A light malt that gives

additional color and caramel
sweetness to beer. Use 3-15%
for pilners to light amber
beers.

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Caramel 20L

15-25

Mild Caramel
Sweetness

Slightly more color and flavor

than the Caramel 10 malt.

Caramel 40L

35-45

Slightly more color and flavor

than the Caramel 20 malt.

Caramel 60L

55-65

Moderate
Caramel
Sweetness and
Toasty
Moderate
Caramel
Sweetness

Caramel 80L

70-85

Strong
Caramel/Burnt
Sugar

Slightly more color and flavor

than the Caramel 40
malt. Can also be used in
dark beers to provide a
caramel sweetness

Caramel 120L

115-125

Very Strong
Caramel/Burnt
Sugar Mild
Raisin Notes

Much more color and flavor

than the Caramel 80
malt. Can also be used in
dark beers to provide a
caramel sweetness

Chocolate Malt

350-490

Nutty to
Roasted Coffee

Use in dark ales and stouts to

increase flavor and color 5 10%

Black Malt

500-585

Some
Astringency and
Roasted Coffee

Use in dark ales and stouts to

increase flavor and color

Rye

3.5-4.0

Rye Flavor

Crisp and dry character use in

small 5-10 amounts.

Roasted Barley

300-600

Coffee

Use in small amounts (less

than 15%) for a dry, intensely
bitter malt flavor.

Black Barley

500-600

Coffee

Use in small amounts (less

than 15%) for a dry, intensely
bitter and high levels a very
acrid malt flavor.

Slightly more color and flavor

than the Caramel 40 malt.

What are adjuncts?
Adjuncts are considered any grain or fermentable that is not malted. Unmalted
wheats, oats, rye, corn, rice, table sugar, molasses etc. are all considered adjuncts.
American craft brewers have had an aversion to adjuncts seeing it as not pure
because many large brewers use adjuncts. Historically many beers have used
adjuncts in their recipes because of the unavailability of goods or for reasons of
economics. British and Belgian brewing traditions have used sugar extensively for
centuries. American breweries use corn and rice. The bottom line is there is nothing
wrong with using adjuncts in beer.

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Mashing

Mashing is the process of mixing grains and water to make the wort. Malt has a
specific temperature range for enzymatic conversion of the starches to sugar.
Todays malted barley is what is termed to as highly modified meaning that if you
add the malt to water of a specific temperature range the malt will convert very
easily while resting at a set temperature of about an hour. Anywhere between 145F
and 165F will create a conversion. However, the lower end will create more sugar
and a beer with a thinner body while the higher end will produce less sugar and a
beer with a fuller body. Conversion stops at 167F. Most beers are mashed at about
150 155F.

You will need some kind of vessel to mash in that can either retain heat well or have
a heat source to maintain a set temperature. Many home brewers use a converted
keg, picnic coolers, or a large kettle to mash in.

Your grain should be crushed so water can easily penetrate the kernel. Most
homebrew shops have a mill where you can mill your grain. If you have your own
grain mill even better you can buy grain in bulk, which will save money.

To mash in, or sometimes called dough in, you heat your water to your desired
strike temperature. Strike temperature is usually anywhere form 10-13F higher
than your desired rest temperature, because the grain will absorb some heat. To
figure out how much water is needed you will have to use a water to grain ratio. A
good all round one to go by is 1.5 quarts per pound of grain.

For example:

Your recipe calls for 11 pounds of grain for a mash rest at 150F for one hour.
This will equate to:

11lbs grain x 1.5 quarts water = 16.5 quarts or 4.125 gallons of water at 162F

Once your water has reached strike temperature you will add your grain to the
water and stir checking the temperature to make sure it stabilizes to the desired
temperature. If too hot you can add a bit of cold water. Too cold, add some heat to
your vessel or boiling water to the mash depending on your setup. Let your mash
rest for about an hour.

This method of mashing is called a single infusion mash and is the easiest and most
commonly used today. Grains low in enzymes or not well modified traditionally
have used what is called a step mash. Step mashes use a procedure where the
temperature is raised and held for a period of time in steps. This ensures the
creation of enzymes for conversion. Decoction mashing is a type of step mash used
for converting adjuncts. Its a time consuming method that is not used much

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anymore except in traditionally brewed German beers such as Dunkel, Bock, and
Doppelbock.

Lautering

Lautering is a process where the sweet wort is removed from the grains of the mash.
There are three steps in lautering: mash out, recirculation, and sparging. Sparging
is probably the most important step for the home brewer and what people think of
as lautering.

Mash out
To mash out all you do is raise the temperature of the mash to 170F. This can be
done by adding heat to the vessel or by adding boiling water to the mash. Mash out
ensures two things. One, enzymatic conversion stops, and two, the mash bed is hot
enough for the wort to drain smoothly out of the mash tun.

Recirculation
Once you have mashed out the next step is to drain some wort and add it back to the
top of the mash. This can be done by collecting a quart of wort in a pitcher and
adding it back to the top of the mash until the wort runs clear or, utilizing a pump,
pumping the wort back to the top of the mash tun. It all really depends on your
system. Recirculating helps clear the wort by removing grain in the wort and
resettling the mash bed. The clearer your wort going into the boil the better.

Sparging
Sparging is the rinsing of the grains of the mash and collecting the sweet wort. There
are basically two methods. Both methods use a calculated amount of 170F water to
obtain your pre-boil volume. The first is batch sparging. This is where you drain
the mash tun completely and then add more water and drain off again to get your
pre-boil volume. The second is fly sparging. This is usually done by having some
sort of gravity or pump fed system that sprinkles the sparge water on top of the
mash while it slowly drains off.

Batch sparging at the homebrew level is perfectly acceptable with little difference in
yield compared to fly sparging. At the commercial level fly sparging is preferred
when economies of scale are at work.

Instructions on Batch sparging
First you must calculate how much sparge water you need. In our mashing example
we had 11lbs of grain. Our goal is to collect about 6.25 gallons of wort to boil or
called our pre-boil volume. We had 4.125 gallons of mash water but we need to
account for grain absorption. Grain absorption can vary but let say its around .15
gallons per pound as an average.

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For example:

We need 6.25 gallons

4.125 gallons mash water 11 x .15 (1.65 gallons) grain absorption = 2.475
gallons

6.25 gallons desired 2.475 gallons of mash minus grain adsorption = 3.775
gallons sparge water needed.

So we have figured that we need 3.775 gallons of sparge water.

1)
2)
3)
4)

Heat water in separate vessel to 170F while the mash is resting.

When mash is complete mash out and recirculate
Drain mash tun into the brew pot
Add sparge water to the mash, stir, and let sit for 5 minute to let the grain
bed settle
5) Recirculate and then drain into brew pot

What are brewing salts?
Over centuries of brewing, brewers have figured out that certain water profiles are
better for certain types of beer. Two classic examples are Czech pilsner, brewed in
Bohemia that has very soft water, and IPA or pale ale, brewed in Burton upon Trent
in England that has very hard water. In simple terms very pale beers are easier to
brew in soft water while darker and hoppier beers benefit from hard water. Soft
water is usually low in dissolved minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium
chloride (table salt), and bicarbonates, while hard water has an abundance of
dissolved minerals. To further complicate matters there are two kinds of hardness -
permanent (sulfate) and temporary (carbonate) hardness. With temporary
hardness you can actually boil out the calcium carbonate, which will precipitate to
the bottom of the kettle.
Water chemistry also effects pH. pH is important in mashing. Good pH levels are in
the mid 5s so slightly acidic. Hard water high in bicarbonates are usually very
alkaline, while soft water is pretty neutral.
For the water you use the best thing to do is check with your local water district.
They will have information, usually online, that will break down your local water
chemistry. If your water seems in the mid range I wouldnt worry about it unless
you are going to brew a Pilsner. If you are going to adjust your water you should
adjust your mash and sparge water. Soft water is easy to adjust with salts while hard
water can be cut with distilled or reverse osmosis water that has no minerals and
then adjusted as necessary.
Heres a list of the common brewing salts used to adjust water

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Gypsum (calcium sulfate)

Salt (sodium chloride)
Powdered Chalk (calcium carbonate)
Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate)

In conclusion, adjusting brewing water can be pretty complicated. For more in depth
information on adjusting salt levels for each beer style check
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com/article-use-of-water-salts.html

Boiling

Weve collected our wort and now we are going to boil. The main reason we boil is
to sanitize the wort so we dont get a contaminated batch. The boil also breaks down
proteins and rids the beer of unwanted compounds such as DMS, which smells like
cooked corn. Also, we can add our spices which, for the past 500 hundreds years or
so, has been dominated by hops.

So if we are making a 5 gallon batch why do we need about 6.25 gallons to boil? We
have two reasons for this. One, we will have evaporation loss while boiling. Typically
you will have about .5 gallon of evaporation loss over an hour. Everyones
equipment differs in evaporation loss but aiming around .5 gallon is a good mark.
Two, youre also going to lose about .25 to .5 gallons from trub. Trub is all the left
over junk from the boil including hot break proteins, hops, etc., that will settle at the
bottom of the kettle. So we are looking at finishing with about 5.25 gallons to put in
the fermenter, which is about right. Once you know your equipment you can dial in
your evaporation and trub loss rate a bit better.

Once our wort has come up to boil its time to add our hops per our recipes
schedule. A schedule is a time indicated left in the boil to add something.

For example you see this commonly in recipes:

.6oz Target 60 minutes
.5oz Challenger 60 minutes
.5oz Goldings 15minutes

If you were going to boil for an hour we would add the Target and Challenger hops
right at the beginning of the boil at 60 minutes left. With 15 minutes left in the boil
we would add the Goldings.

The longer the hops are in the boil the better they are utilized. This means that the
hop oils that create bitterness are extracted more the longer you boil them. Adding
hops at the beginning of the boil extracts a lot of bitterness but very little aroma.
Oils that create aroma unlike bitterness are very volatile and will be boiled out. The

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closer to the end of the boil will create less bitterness but more hop aroma. A hop
addition at the very end of the boil at 0 minutes, or called flame out, will create no
bitterness but a lot of aroma. Dry hopping happens after fermentation happens and
will be added to the fermenter. Dry hopping adds more floral and vegetal qualities
to the beer.

Other ingredients are added to the boil per schedule such as finings (beer
clarifiers), spices, and yeast nutrient.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the process by which yeast converts the sugar in the wort to alcohol
and carbon dioxide gas. However, there are a few steps that need to be done before
you can pitch your yeast into the wort.

Chilling
The first step is to cool the hot wort from the boil as rapidly as possible. This helps
with reducing the chance of infection, clearing the beer, and reducing the creation of
off flavors. An immersion chiller, counter-flow chiller, plate chiller, or setting your
brew pot in an ice bath, are various ways of cooling wort rapidly. Ales usually need
to be cooled into the 60F 70F range while lagers are typically cooled to 45F 55F.

Immersion chillers are probably your easiest and cheapest option with less
extraneous equipment needed and the less likelihood of contamination happening
because lowering it directly into the boiling wort sanitizes the chiller. Immersion
chillers are also very easy to clean.

Immersion chillers are made out of copper tubing and wrapped into a coil with a
garden hose hookup attached. Cool water is flowed from a garden hose or a sink
faucet through the chiller while it sits in the hot wort. Typical sizes are around 25 -
50 feet of copper coil, which amounts to a lot of surface area, and heat is exchanged
rapidly through the water flowing through the coil. Depending on the size of your
chiller you can get the wort down to the tap water temperature from 15 30
minutes.

Hydrometers and Gravity Readings
Once cooled to the appropriate temperature you need to transfer to your
fermentation vessel. While transferring to the fermenter make sure to take a sample
of the wort for a hydrometer reading to measure your starting gravity or
sometimes called original gravity (OG). This will help you figure the alcohol content
of your beer later on after fermentation is complete and will let you know if your
gravity is correct according to your recipe.

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Gravity is read in two ways by the specific gravity scale or the Plato scale. For our
purposes we will use specific gravity. Plato is still used in the brewing industry and
is the same as Brix that is used in the wine industry. Water measures 1.000 on the
specific gravity scale. Any soluble sugar in solution will weigh more.

For example:

1.052 starting gravity (SG)

Each hundredth of a reading is called a point. So we have a starting gravity of
52 points.

The purpose of taking a reading is not only to see if youre on target for your recipe,
but when fermentation is done, to see if you reached final gravity and then figure
your alcohol by volume (ABV).

To figure ABV

ABV% = (OG - FG)*131

For example:

1.052(OG) 1.012(FG) = .040
.040 x 131 = 5.24%

Transferring
Transferring can be done in a matter of fashions but the best approach is using
gravity or gravity and an auto siphon. If you have a setup with a pump its easier
and gravity is not an issue.

To use gravity you need to have a spigot on the bottom of your brew pot. You will
put the pot above the level of your fermenter and attach some tubing to your spigot
and let it flow into the fermenter. Make sure all the sediment that collects at the
bottom of the brew pot is not transferred.

With a pump you use the spigot as above but you dont have to move your brew pot,
which if you are doing a 10 gallon batch, can be impossibly heavy.

I find that using an auto siphon and letting it flow into a funnel on top of the
fermenter is an easy way to not suck up all the trub and somewhat oxygenate the
wort by swirling through the funnel. Remember to keep the auto siphon off the
bottom of the kettle so as to not suck any debris up.

Oxygen
Once the wort is transferred you need to add oxygen to it. Oxygen is an important
process of yeast metabolism at the beginning of fermentation. You can vigorously

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shake your fermentation vessel or you can use an oxygenator, like an aquarium
pump with a sanitized air stone. Once oxygenated you can pitch your yeast.

As with any fermentation youll need a good amount of yeast to ensure a rapid and
healthy fermentation. Rapid fermentations will lower the risk of contamination and
off flavors.

Although liquid yeast packs or vials have a good amount of yeast the best way to
ensure a great fermentation is by creating a yeast starter. If you have dry yeast just
buy more because its inexpensive and dry yeast doesnt really benefit from a
starter.

Yeast Starter
A yeast starter is really just a mini batch of wort that you pitch your yeast into. The
yeast will start to ferment the wort and multiply so youll have more yeast that are
in an active state to pitch into your batch come brew day. If you make a 1 liter
starter you will increase your cell count by 50%. You usually want to make a starter
a day or two before brew day so its ready to pitch once your wort has cooled. Using
a starter can have fermentation starting in as little as a couple of hours.

How to make a yeast starter
To fully take advantage of a starter you should minimally create a 1 liter starter.
Anything smaller, youre not doing the yeast any favors. Youll need a small pot,
some dried malt extract (DME), a small vessel to ferment in, and some aluminum
foil. An easier option is using a 2000ml Erlenmeyer flask, which is made out of
borosilicate glass that is heat resistant. You can boil and ferment in the same vessel
then.

To make a 1 liter starter add one cup of DME to 900ml water and a pinch of yeast
nutrient. Bring it to a boil and gently boil for about 15 minutes. Rapidly cool and put
it in your fermenting vessel (a growler works good), pitch your yeast and cover the
top with foil. If you dont have a stir plate, try to shake or swirl the starter every
couple of hours if possible.

If youd like more in depth info on yeast starters check
http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

Temperature control
One of the biggest and most overlooked problems for beginning home brewers is
controlling fermentation temperature. Fermentations that get too hot produce all
sort of undesirable flavors that are solvent like and fruity to the point of tasting like
bubble gum. Fermentations that get too cold can stall out or take a long time to start
risking the chance of infection. Most ale yeast like to ferment warm with the ideal
temperature range around 60 70F. Lager yeast needs to be below 55F so your
going to need a way to chill the fermenter if you decide to brew a lager.
Fermentation creates heat and once started can easily ramp up over 70F quickly,

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especially if its summer and air temperatures are hot. Rooms can grow cold
overnight. Any fluctuation in temperature for the yeast should be avoided.

There are few methods for controlling temperatures during fermentation:

Cooling
1) Put the fermenter in a room where the ambient temperature is stable. If you
have a room in your house that is always 60 - 65F it would be perfect for ales.
Basements that get down in the 40s during winter would be great for a lager.
2) Put your fermenter in a tub with water and use ice packs to control the
temperature of the water that will cool the fermenter. Ice packs will melt
and the water temperature will fluctuate so make sure to constantly monitor.
3) Use the wicking method. Wrap a towel or t-shirt around the fermenter and
have it wick up water from a pan so its always wet and blow a fan on it. This
will cool the fermenter about 5 - 15F.
4) Place fermenter in a chest freezer or old dorm style fridge with an exterior
thermostat. Very reliable. Can control your temperature within a degree.
Works for hot or cold adjustments.

Warming
1) Place a heat pad underneath the fermenter.
2) Wrap a blanket around the fermenter.
3) Use an aquarium heat bulb in your chest freezer/dorm fridge setup with a
thermostat.

How do I know when my fermentation is done?
Fermentations are usually done in 5 -10 days but the best way to check is by taking
a hydrometer reading. Remember, airlock activity isnt always the best indication
that fermentation is complete.

To take a reading you need to pull a sample of the beer. The best way to get a sample
is with a device known as a wine thief. A wine thief is a large pipette that can fit into
a carboy and draw a sample big enough for a hydrometer reading. If the reading is
close by a point or two to your estimated final gravity than your fermentation is
done. If it is higher by three points or more let the beer sit another week and check
again. When the readings are the same over a period of time your fermentation is
done regardless if youve hit target or not. A good rule of thumb is keeping your beer
in the fermenter for at least two weeks. This ensures that the yeast can clean up
unwanted byproducts such as Diacetyl (butter flavor) and Acetaldehyde (green
apple flavor) and that the inactive yeast flocculate (drop to the bottom of the
fermenter).

What is secondary fermentation?
Secondary fermentation is when you rack (transfer) the beer off the sediment in
your primary vessel into another vessel. The purpose of secondary is to help clarify

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the beer and clean up unwanted byproducts of fermentation. This process is also
called conditioning.

As a side note, not all beers need to be put into secondary. Every time you move
your beer you are exposing it to oxygen, which can cause oxidation an undesirable
flavor of wet cardboard. Many beers dont need an extended conditioning or can be
kept in the primary for at least 3 weeks with no ill effects.

During conditioning the yeast that are still active clean up undesirable byproducts
through a slow fermentation. The yeast will process these byproducts into ethanol
while further sediment containing proteins will drop out with phenols and tannins
binding to the protein. This will smooth out the flavor of the beer.

Bottle conditioning is essentially the same thing as secondary with the only
differences being that it happens in a smaller vessel and you add sugar to kick
fermentation up a bit more to capture the CO2. So, if you do a secondary, and then
bottle your beer, the bottling is actually a tertiary fermentation.

Further conditioning at cold temperatures near freezing will clear and smooth out
the flavor of the beer even more. This is called lagering. All lager style beers go
through this final conditioning phase because lager yeasts contribute a good amount
of undesirable sulphurous compounds. Some ales also can benefit from cold
conditioning such as high gravity Belgian ales like Triples.

Packaging

Your beer has finished fermenting and has dropped clear, so you are now ready to
package it up for consumption. The home brewer has two options:

1) Bottling
This is the cheapest solution, but also the most time consuming. If you like
portability, or dont want to spend money on a kegging system, this is the
best solution.
2) Kegging
More equipment and expense involved but also really easy once set up. We
wont cover kegging here.

Bottling
Youll need about twenty-six 22-ounce bottles figuring we will yield about 4.5
gallons from our 5 gallon batch. You could use 12 ounce bottles but a lot of 12 ounce
bottles used in the beer industry today are called single use. For economic reasons
they are thin walled with the belief they will only be used once and then thrown
away or maybe recycled. Basically they could easily explode if reused. Your bottles
should be clean and youll need to sanitize them. If you have a dishwasher, running

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it on a normal cycle with a hot dry will sanitize very well. Do not use any soap! The
hot water and the steam in the dry cycle will be enough to sanitize. A bucket full of
Iodophor will work fine too. While sanitizing your bottling bucket and gear you can
sanitize your bottles in batches.

For bottling youll need to add sugar to prime the beer so it can create enough CO2 in
the bottle to carbonate the beer. Each style of beer has a suggested volume of CO2.
Volume is the measurement of CO2 suspended in liquid. Good examples are British
style ales at around 1.8 2.3 volumes at the low end, while Belgian style ales at the
high end are up to 3 - 4 volumes. You can use a calculator like this
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html or a good all around target
for a 5 gallon batch is .75 cup sugar.

Bottling Instructions
1) Boil your sugar in a pint of water
2) Dump priming sugar into sanitized bottling bucket.
3) Move fermenter above bottling bucket on a counter (best to do this hours
before so sediment stirred up in the move can settle). Siphon beer out of
fermenter into bottling bucket while avoiding sucking up excess sediment
with siphon and try to avoid splashing as much as possible to keep down
oxygen uptake
4) Move bottling bucket to a counter above bottles and use a bottling wand to
fill bottles.
5) Use a bench capper to cap. A bench capper is much easier to use than a two
lever hand held capper.

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Glossary

ABV (Alcohol By Volume)
The percentage of alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is
contained in an alcoholic beverage.

The formula to figure ABV:

ABV% = (OG - FG)*131

acetaldehyde
A precursor to ethanol in yeast metabolism, acetaldehyde imparts the taste of green
apples and is considered a flaw. Most young beer will have some acetaldehyde in it
but it is easily conditioned out.

auto siphon
Used when racking beer, an auto siphon can be primed by pumping the racking
cane. An extremely handy tool compared to priming by filling your racking hose
with water.

batch sparging
A method of sparging where you drain your mash tun and then sparge by adding all
or part of your sparge water in steps. This method saves time compared to fly
sparging. Its a traditional method where the first runnings were made into a strong
beer, and then the second runnings, a normal strength beer. A third and even fourth
running were taken to brew even weaker beers. Home brewers usually combine all
the runnings to make one beer.

conditioning
After primary fermentation has completed the beer is young. This green beer still
hasnt cleared, and unwanted flavors are still present. During conditioning the yeast
that are still active clean up undesirable byproducts through a slow fermentation.
The yeast will process these byproducts into ethanol while further sediment
containing proteins will drop out with phenols and tannins binding to the protein.
Not much more alcohol is produced but this will smooth out the flavor of the beer.
Conditioning can be done in your primary for one or two weeks after fermentation
is done or the beer can be racked to a secondary fermenter to condition for an
extended amount of time.

counterflow chiller
A wort chiller where wort flows through copper tubing while a hose surrounding
the copper tubing has cool water flowing through it in the opposite direction. Heat is

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exchanged between the copper tubing and water. These chillers can rapidly cool
wort. A pump is needed.

conversion
The point where grain in the mash has had its starch converted to sugar.

decoction mash
A type of step mash used for converting adjuncts or poorly modified grains. The
various mash temperatures, or steps, are achieved by removing part of the mash,
boiling it in a separate vessel, and then using it as infusion water to heat the
remainder of the mash. Its a time consuming method that is not used much
anymore except in traditionally brewed German and Czech beers such as Dunkel,
Bock, Doppelbock and Pils.

diacetyl
A natural byproduct of fermentation that imparts a taste of butterscotch. In most
beers it is considered a flaw. When fermentation has completed, the beer is left to
rest for a few days and is called a diacetyl rest where the yeast reabsorbs diacetyl

DMS
Dimethyl Sulfide is a sulfur compound produced during the fermentation of beer
that has the aroma of cooked or creamed corn and is considered a flaw. DMS is
common in beers that use lightly kilned malts such as pilsners. DMS is volatile and
will be boiled off but small levels are produced in fermentation. Most ale
fermentations scrub out DMS but lager fermentations are not as vigorous and can
leave trace amounts of DMS. Conditioning beer will reduce DMS levels over time.

dry hopping
The addition of hops to the fermenter after primary fermentation has completed.
This imparts hop flavors and aromas but no bitterness. IPAs and American Pale Ales
use this technique quite often.

final gravity
A hydrometer reading of your beer after fermentation is complete. Final gravity is
used to calculate ABV.

finings
Finings are agents that clarify beer. Some finings are added near the end of the boil
such as Irish moss and whirfloc. Other finings are added to the fermenter such as
isinglass, chillguard, and gelatin. Finings bind with proteins, polyphenols, and yeast
and drop to the bottom of the fermenter to form sediment.

flame out
When you turn off the heat source during the boil. On a hop schedule this would be 0
minutes.

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flocculate
When yeast have finished converting sugar to ethanol they will clump together and
drop to the bottom of the fermenter and go dormant. Brewers yeast has been
selected over the centuries for this attribute.

flocculant
The ability for a yeast strain to flocculate. Some yeast strains are more flocculant
than others. Most yeast strains are measured by high, medium, and low flocculation.
A low flocculator would be a Hefeweizen yeast, while a good example of a medium
flocculator is the California strain, and English ale yeasts are high flocculators.

fly sparging
Also known as the continuous sparge method. Unlike batch sparging where large
amounts of water are added to sparge, fly sparging gently sprinkles water over the
grain bed continuously. This practice allows higher yields from your grain bed.
Drawbacks include over sparging where tannins are leeched into your wort and the
amount of time it takes to perform - fly sparging can take anywhere from one to
three hours.

highly modified or well modified
Modification of a grains kernel to allow access to its sugars is the process of malting.
When a grain is malted correctly the kernel has been modified as much as possible
allowing for the largest amount of sugar to be extracted from it. Almost all modern
day malts are highly modified and can be used in single infusion mashes. Some pils
malts are not as modified and can benefit from a step mash.

hydrometer
A hydrometer is an instrument that can measure the density of a liquid. A brewing
hydrometer is calibrated to read the density of sugar in water. In the brewing
process it is important to take a reading before and after fermentation to see if you
have hit your targets for your recipe and also to calculate how much alcohol has
been produced.

immersion chiller
Coiled copper tubing that is submerged in the brew pot and cool water is flowed
through it cooling the wort through heat exchange. Typical sizes are around 25 - 50
feet of copper coil and depending on the size of your chiller you can cool the wort
down to the tap water temperature anywhere from 15 30 minutes.

krausen
A German brewing term with dual usage. As a noun, krausen describes the foamy,
rocky head of yeast that forms at the peak of fermentation. The peak of fermentation
is also known as high krausen. Krausen, used as a verb, such as to krausen the
beer, refers to adding the krausen from another batch of fermenting beer to a
finished beer to carbonate it.

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lager
The word lager comes from the German word lagern (to store). It is a style of beer
developed in southern Germany and Bohemia using bottom fermenting yeast that
prefer colder fermentation temperatures than typical ale yeast. After primary
fermentation the beer was stored in cold beer cellars for extended periods allowing
the beer to clear and flavors to mellow.

lagering
The process of cold conditioning beer. Most lagering temperatures today are near
freezing, but traditionally lagering was done at cold temperatures in beer cellars or
in caves. The beer is stored for an extended period of time from a few weeks to
months. During this time proteins, phenols, tannins, and other undesirable
compounds will drop out of the beer leaving it clear and smoothing the flavor.
Traditionally just lager style beers using bottom fermenting yeast received cold
conditioning. Today many ales are also lagered for short periods of time.

lauter tun
A vessel that is used during the lautering process (mash-out, recirculation and
sparging). Confusion arises for the home brewer because your mash tun more than
likely will also be your lauter tun. Large scale commercial breweries have a separate
lauter tun where the mash is pumped from the mash tun to the lauter tun.

Lovibond
A scale rating for the color of malt. A pale ale malt can be 2 on the Lovibond scale
while a black patent malt can be ah high as 600.

mash in
The act of adding your milled grain to the strike water in your mash tun. Sometimes
referred to as dough in.

mash out
The process of raising the grain bed temperature in the mash above 167F to stop
enzymatic conversion. This can de done by adding some boiling water to the mash
or by heating your mash tun.

pitch
The act of adding yeast to wort.

plate chiller
A wort chiller where wort is pushed through a series of plates that exchange heat
similar to an air-cooled radiator. A pump is needed.

pre-boil volume
The amount of wort to collect in the kettle before boiling begins. Evaporation loss
needs to be accounted for to hit your starting gravity through wort concentration
and have the correct amount of beer to ferment.

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rack
To move a liquid from vessel to vessel, whether wort or the finished beer. A siphon
or a pump can be employed.

recirculation
Once mash out has been performed some of the wort is drawn off from the mash tun
and added back to the mash. This helps clear the wort and settle the grain bed.

rest temperature
The temperature you rest your mash at so conversion can happen. A single infusion
mash has one rest temperature while a step mash has multiple rests.

single infusion mash
A method of mashing where the grain is added to the mash at a rest temperature
optimal for conversion. The mash is then allowed to rest at the temperature for
about one hour.

sparging
The act of rinsing the grains in the mash to separate as much sugar as possible from
the grain bed.

starting gravity
The specific gravity reading of the beer before fermentation. It is used to calculate
ABV.

stir plate
An electronic device that constantly rotates a yeast starter. This constant stirring
helps to keep the starter aerated and the yeast in suspension by creating a
whirlpool. This will greatly increase the cell count of the starter.

strike
The temperature of your mash water for mashing in. Grain will absorb heat so your
strike water is usually anywhere from 10 13F warmer than your desired rest
temperature.

step mash
Unlike a single infusion mash where you mash in at one temperature and hold the
entire time of the mash, a step mash will mash in at a temperature and then in steps
raise the temperature and hold for a period of time until mash out temperature is
reached. Step mashed are used for adjuncts and grain that is not very well modified.

trub
Trub (pronounced troob) is sediment that gathers at the bottom of a kettle or a
fermenter. After the boil and the wort has cooled proteins that are insoluble will
collect at the bottom of the kettle along with other particulates such as hops.

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Minimizing trub in the fermenter is important because these proteins can lead to
haze in the finished beer. After fermentation is complete, proteins, dead yeast, and
dormant yeast collect at the bottom of the fermenter to form sediment. When
racking for bottling or kegging leaving behind as much sediment as possible helps to
ensure clear beer.

utilization
The amount of alpha acids and other compounds extracted from hops during the
boil. Two factors affect utilization time and wort density. The longer you boil the
hops more alpha acids will be extracted. As wort density increases more hops need
to be added to ensure proper bittering. Full volume boils of 6.5 gallons have better
utilization than say an extract boil of 3 gallons which is much more dense.

wort
The sweet liquid extracted from the grains of a mash. Once the wort has fermented
it has become beer.

yeast starter
A yeast starter is really just a mini batch of wort that you pitch your yeast into. The
yeast will start to ferment the wort and multiply so youll have more yeast that are
in an active state to pitch into your batch come brew day. Typical starters increase
the cell count by 50%. If you use a stir plate cell count can increase 100%.