Brewing by the Moon

The moon goes through several phases each month. For centuries, people have been performing activities based on what phase the moon is in. For brewing, I want to start my beer when the moon is approaching full for the most influence on the yeast.

The purpose of a yeast starter is to build up enough yeast cells to make sure you get a healthy fermentation. The liquid yeast you buy may tell you that it has enough cells to add directly to your fermenter, but a starter doesn't take much effort and is good insurance against yeast that may have been mishandled or may be approaching its best by date. You make your starter a couple of days before brewing to make sure you have good viable beer. I am starting mine today and will be brewing on Monday, 3 days from now. The moon is in the waxing quarter stage and will be building up for the next week to full. If you believe the folklore, this should "pull" the fermentation along with it. The process is simple:

1. Sanitize a jug or flask large enough for your starter along with any other equipment you may use.
2. Boil water and dry malt extract for a minimum of 10 minutes. (see below for details on how much malt to use)
3. Let cool in a covered container
4. Add yeast
5. Let ferment in a warm dark place for a day or so before adding to your new batch of beer.

I use the metric system when making starters because the quantities are simple to work with. The starter I am making right now is 1500 ML. The ratio is 10 to 1 so the amount of malt extract to add is 150 grams. Very easy. :)

Here is my ingredient list for my Brown Ale:

8 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter
8.0 oz Brown Malt
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
14.00 gm Willamette [5.50 %] (60 min)
28.30 gm Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] (60 min)
21.00 gm Willamette [5.50 %] (15 min)
21.00 gm Willamette [5.50 %] (5 min) -
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) [Starter 1500 ml]

A simple recipe for a Northern English style Brown Ale.

Well I started out with a bit of a setback. The power was out and this caused me to have to delay my start until it came back. Next, it is very windy outside and I am going to have to brew inside. Not the best of circumstances, but I will muddle through it. After mashing and sparging, I split my batch into 3 different kettles and started the boil. The house really smells nice. I am very glad my wyfe is tolerant of my hobbies.

Well the fermentation is just about done. I am letting the brew set for a few days to clean up after itself. The yeast I used has a characteristic of dropping out of suspension very quickly so I shook up the fermenter a couple times a day to get the yeast back up and working. The yeast is now in the life cycle phase where it is absorbing the byproducts. This process will take a week or so. Then I will bottle.

Last night I transferred the beer over to bottles. I used 2 Tap-A-Draft bottles and 6 glass bottles (16 and 22 oz). Step by step, I placed the fermenter up on a table several hours in advance. This allowed the yeast to settle back down. When I was ready to bottle I sanitized the equipment I was using, to include my bottling bucket ( a 8 gallon bucket with a spigot on it), my auto- siphon, my bottles, bottle caps and hydrometer. While I was sanitizing, I boiled about 2 cups of water and 4.2 oz of sugar. The sugar gives the yeast something to eat and causes the beer to be carbonated. I added the sugar to the bottling bucket and siphoned the beer into it, which allows the sugar to mix in evenly. I then placed the bottling bucket on the table and filled my bottles. Now it is just a matte of waiting a week or so and it will be ready to drink. I did check the specific gravity with my hydrometer and recorded a sg of 1.015. Since the og (original gravity reading) was 1.056 this indicated the alcohol content to be about 5.25%.

BTW, the moon is in its first quarter and is building up to being full.

Nice! A malty background with a bit of bitterness to balance it. There is a taste of caramel from the boiling process and the black currant extract I added to the bottling bucket comes through as a fruity aroma and flavor. The color is a clear chestnut-brown. The head is thick and long lasting.

Overall I am happy with this brew and am looking forward to the next one.

Last week on the 11th of August, I brewed a Belgian style dubbel. The moon was waxing. I will be transferring it the secondary fermenter today and will add some blackberries and cherries for an additional flavor component. I will post progress on here.

31 March 12 Today I brewed an IPA. The moon is in its first quarter. I made a starter 3 days ago and the moon was in the waxing crescent. The fermentation started within a couple of hours and is building up. More as the batch progresses.

6 April 12 The fermentation is still going strong. The moon is full and the fermentation has followed the moon's phase very well. As the moon progressed from the first quarter to full, the fermentation has strengthened. There is still a thick foam (kreusen) on top and the airlock (actually a blow off jar) is bubbling continuously. Usually fermentation has calmed down by the 6th day, but with this batch it is unabated. More to come.

11 April 12 As the moon is now waning, so is the fermentation. The kreusen has fallen back into the beer and the yeasts are now in the stage where they are cleaning up any byproducts they may have produced and preparing to go dormant. I will have to check this in a few days with my hydrometer and see how attenuated it is.

26 May 2012 The beer really came out well. It is one of the best IPAs I have made. If you want details, leave a comment and I will answer.

Mashing and Sparging
Crash Course in Mashing
The information below is for a single-step infusion mash. This is the simplest mash schedule and is used extensively in ale brewing.

Procedure

1. Collect the strike water. You will need 1.3 quarts of water for every pound of grain to be mashed.
2. Heat the strike water to 175° F.
3. Pour the heated water into the mash tun.
4. Slowly add the grist (crushed grain) to the water in the mash tun. Stir well to prevent clumping. The temperature should stabilize at 154° F. Hot or cold water can be added to correct the temperature, but a 5° variation is fine. Do not exceed 168° F during this step, or you may destroy the enzymes needed for starch conversion. Note - if you are following an all-grain recipe, use the mash temperature specified in the recipe, and adjust the strike water temperature accordingly.
5. Rest at this temperature for 60 minutes. During this saccharification rest, malt enzymes convert the grain's starch into to fermentable sugars.
6. While the mash is resting, collect sparge water. You will need 1/2 gallon of sparge water per pound of dry grist in the recipe. Heat the sparge water to 175° F. The process of sparging is explained below.
7. _Mash-out_ by raising the temperature to 168-170° F. Add very hot (200° F) water to the mash, stirring constantly. Do not allow the mash temperature to exceed 170° F as hot temperatures can leach harsh-tasting tannins from the grain.
8. Rest at this temperature for 5-15 minutes. Note - The main benefit of mashing-out is to raise the temperature of the mash in preparation for sparging, or the rinsing of sugars out of the mash. If the temperature of the mash gets too cold, the sugars will gum up making it exceedingly difficult for water to flow through the grain bed. Mashing-out also destroys the enzymes in the mash, preventing any additional starch conversion.
9. Once you have reached 170° F transfer the sparge water. Move water to the sparge water tank and continue with the procedure for sparging given below.

Principles and Advice

At a mash temperature range of 150° to 158°F, enzymes in the malt activate and convert complex starches to simple sugar molecules that are fermentable.

Avoid temperatures greater than 168° F until you are ready to mash-out, or finish the mashing process. If you measure temperatures greater than 168°F in your mash, quickly cool the mash by adding cold water.

If you undershoot the target mash temperature by more than 5° F, you may raise the mash temperature by adding heat. Stir the mash constantly while you are applying heat.

In order to increase the accuracy at which you hit mash temperatures, it is absolutely essential that you take good notes. At a minimum, you should log the time and temperature before and after every significant heat input.

Crash course in sparging

Procedure

1. Recirculate! The initial runoff from the lauter tun is cloudy and filled with draff - small solid grain particles. The runoff should be clarified by recirculating the runoff through the grain in the lauter tun. To recirculate, open the valve on the lauter tun slightly and collect the runoff in an intermediate vessel(s) - two 1 quart measuring cups or pitchers work well. Fill one vessel and pour it gently down the side of the lauter tun. While you are pouring the wort back into the lauter tun fill the other vessel. Switch back and forth, filling and dumping, until the wort appears clear. At this point the wort can be drained into the boiling kettle. Make sure you keep the grain bed wet during the recirculation. Usually, after 5-15 minutes of recirculation, clarity improves dramatically.
2. Sparging. Open the valve on the sparge water tank to gently disperse the 170° F sparge water over the top of the grain bed. As in recirculating, do not allow the grain bed to go dry until sparging is complete. Avoid sparge water temperatures in excess of 175° F, as this promotes the extraction of tannins from the grain and leads to a harsh, astringent flavor in the finished beer. Stop sparging once you have collected an adequate amount of wort, or when the runoff reaches a specific gravity of 1.008-1.012.
3. Move the kettle to a burner. When the sparge is finished and the wort collected, (it's very heavy and hot - be careful!) move the kettle and proceed with the boil. Clean the mash/lauter tun and thoroughly rinse it with hot water; store components dry to keep them ready for the next brewing day!

Principles and advice
The process of seperating the newly created wort separated from the mash is called sparging or lautering. The objectives of sparging are to collect as much sugar from the mash as possible while leaving behind as many undesirable compounds as possible.

Sparging is conducted in a specialized container called a lauter tun. A lauter tun is essentially a strainer. Wort collects in the foundation space beneath the false bottom and exits through the valve, where it collects in the boiling kettle.

A note on stuck mashes

A stuck mash occurs when the runnings from the lauter tun slow to a trickle and stop because the filter bed of husks has clogged. This may be caused by crushing the grain too fine, putting too much sparge water on the grain bed, losing too much heat in the lauter tun, and/or using glutinous adjuncts like wheat, oats or unmalted barley. Running wort off too quickly can compact the grain bed and exacerbate the problem.

To remedy a stuck mash, close the valve and stop adding sparge water. Gently stir the bed up into suspension (adding a bit of sparge water may help a thick bed). Slowly begin to draw wort off, repeating the recirculation step before recollecting wort. In extreme instances you may have to remove the mash, clean the lauter tun, put the mash back in the lauter tun, reheat the mash to 168° F, and start over.