Results from the Greater Everett Beer League (GEBL) IPA Bracket Challenge came in the mail today. Overall it wasn't a bad showing (31 & 35). I didn't place in the specialty IPA category (Rye IPA), but I also didn't see any comments from the judges on off-flavors/aromas which is always a positive indication in my book. One concern I had was that there wouldn't be enough Rye flavor/aroma since I don't think that I got an adequate crush before mashing. Malted rye is quite a bit smaller than malted barley so I certainly could have adjusted my rollers to accommodate for the size difference. Also, there was a note that I still had some yeast in suspension so I'll have to check my logs to see how long I cold crashed this beer prior to submitting.
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This month's NorWa (Northern Washington Homebrewers Guild) meeting was a treat as we hosted the Stilly Mashers out of Arlington, WA. Several Stilly Mashers lent us their expert palate and technical brewing prowess to judge and determine this year's winner of the "Stainless Kettle." It was a tight race, but a victor emerged: Ben Holm. In addition to coordinating/stewarding the "best Belgian Blonde" competition, I also had the opportunity to present a "tech talk" on electric brewing. It was well received with lots of positive feedback from both clubs (out-take from the slide deck below). This year rather than being a participant in the Skagit Farm-to-Pint homebrewing competition I had the opportunity to be a judge. The competition is local to the valley and isn't BJCP or BA certified, but it IS hosted by my alma mater: Skagit Valley Brewing Academy (Go Cardinals!). The theme this year was the "identic-ale". Each participant (48 total) was provided with Skagit Valley Malt's (Copeland) pale malt and a pack of Wyeast 1056. All other variables were up to the brewer, but the goal was to create the best American Pale Ale (per Brewer's Association (BA) guidelines). The entries, although being limited to a specific base malt and yeast, were wildly different and very interesting. The entire event was great fun and as it turns out a current brewing academy student was chosen as the winner! The winner will be invited to brew their recipe on a 1bbl system (Skagit Valley Brewing Academy) and later served at the Cardinal Craft Tap Room. Official winners will be announced at the Skagit Farm-to-Pint festival April 4th.
After propagating the Lallemand dry yeast in some 8.8P (1.035 SG) wort (on the stir plate for 24 hours) I decided to dust off the old yeast counting skills. In the picture above there are two samples, the first sample tube (left side) is diluted 10:1 ( 9 parts Distilled H20 to 1 part yeast slurry (9mL to 1mL)). The second sample tube (right side) is 1mL of the 10:1 dilution (left tube) mixed with 9mL of distilled H20 (this is known as a serial dilution). The result gives me a 100:1 dilution which is usually ideal for yeast counting. The grid view is yeast cells suspended on what is known as a hemocytometer (commonly used for blood cell counting). The laser etched grid allows me to count yeast cells accurately and estimate the "total # of cells" throughout the slurry using a little MATH (see below). Doing some calculations with a yeast counting app shows that I have 1.2 billion cells/mL "cell density" which is on the high side of a typical pitch for ales (750,000 cell/mL) and closer to a lager pitching rate (1.5 million cells/mL). What this does NOT tell you is how much "yeast slurry" or "total # of yeast cells" that need to be pitched into the fermentor. For that calculation we need to call on the following equation: (pitching rate) x (milliliters of wort) x (degrees Plato of the wort). So for this beer I'd like to have a pitching rate of 750,000 cells/mL which is then multiplied by my total batch size (20000mL (5.3gal)) and then the gravity of my wort (14.7P (1.060 SG)) = 220,500,000,000 total yeast cells needed. If I divide the "total yeast cells needed" by my "cell density" (1.2 x 10^8 cells/mL) from above I get 1837mL or .18L of slurry. Based on this, I can save a large portion of the yeast I propagated for later use since I have a total of .9L yeast slurry in my incubation chamber. Unfortunately, this post was written AFTER I pitched the whole yeast slurry into the fermentor so I've over-pitched by about 4.5x. Based on the information in, Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, over-pitching can have negative impacts on beer (stresses yeast), but under-pitching is much more detrimental. We'll have to wait until fermentation is complete to see if there is any perceivable diacetyl or acetaldehyde.
I've had this pack of Lallemand American East Coast Ale Yeast kicking around since I judged at the Joint Novembeerfest and Puget Sound Pro-Am (JNPSPA) so I've decided to brew a SMaSH IPA. I'll be using 2-row as the base malt and homegrown C hops (unsure of the breed anymore (Chinook, Centennial, Cascade?)) from last years harvest to brew up the SMaSH-C-IPA. Also, as a tribute to my technical-side I think I'll be including an element of my information security background into my beer names moving forward. This beer shall be named: CchAD : Compile C hops After Delivery.
Reference: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1500/ During the most recent scrum sprint I've integrated some SF800 flow meters into the keezer. A little beer line plumbing, PHP programming, and the addition of a an Arduino Uno and I have the ability to measure (to the ounce) the flow of beer leaving the keg. I've been using the RaspberryPints digital tap list for quite some time, but it is great to finally have the full functionality of the software up and running.
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Jamie WeissHomebrewer, Recognized BJCP Judge, aspiring Certified Cicerone Archives
November 2023
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