How To Add A Whirpool Port To Your Kettle

The thought of drilling a hole in your favorite boil kettle can be intimidating to most any homebrewer. Unless of course they have had some previous metal working experience, or they can enlist the help of someone having the skills needed. The more adventurous do-it-yourself types, those who have access to a variable speed drill and the right drill bits, can easily handle the task, along with the help of some PAM cooking spray for lubrication.

Adding A Whirlpool Port To Your Kettle? No Problem

The installation of the whirlpool port shown in this article, including setup and cleanup time, took about two hours. Allow yourself additional time to obtain the items listed below. Having all of the required parts in hand from the start, will allow you to successfully complete the project from beginning to end in just a few easy steps. Everything needed to successfully install the bulkhead fitting and whirlpool port were very easy to find online and they can be delivered to your door in under 5 days.

Whats Needed:
Adjustable wrench and/or channel lock pliers 
Teflon tape
Center punch, or nail to mark the hole center
1/8" pilot hole drill bit
Milwaukee 3/16" to 7/8" Step Drill Bit #4
Stainless Steel Weldless Bulkhead 1/2" NPT
Anvil 1/2" NPT Swivel Dip Tube
Danco #12 Rubber O-Rings



Boiling wort is extremely hot and it has the potential to scald your skin in a matter of seconds. Coming into direct contact with boiling wort is also one of the most common causes of injury when brewing beer, something to keep in mind when working around it.


Pumping boiling wort from the kettle, through a counter-flow chiller and then returning the wort to the kettle, is a very effective way to sanitizing the counter-flow chiller. Returning the hot wort exiting the chiller to the kettle, by using a clamp on the kettle rim to hold the end of a silicone hose in place, is not a safe. Temporary clamps can slip and move, causing a loose hose end to unexpectedly spray hot wort on brewers and equipment.   

The safest way of returning hot wort to the kettle is through a permanently mounted whirlpool port. The use of a weldless whirlpool port ensures a solid physical connection between the kettle and the silicone tubing. Once a solid connection has been made between the two, the risks of hot wort unintentionally splashing outside of the kettle are greatly reduced. 

Weldless Bulkhead Fitting And 90 Degree Swivel Elbow

Every successful project begins with a well thought out plan. Knowing exactly where to locate the whirlpool port before drilling a hole in the kettle is a must. The orientation of the port, its distance from the bottom of the kettle and how far it will extend inside the kettle, are all critical factors to be considered. Once a suitable location for the port has been found, that works with the size and dimension of the parts ordered, you are ready to drill the hole.

Drilled Hole Shown With Metal Shavings And Food Grade Lubricant

Turning the kettle on its side, laying it on a floor or other stable surface, and preventing it from moving as much as possible will make marking and drilling the hole much easier. Using a center punch, or a nail, mark the side of the kettle with a small 'X' to indicate where the center of the hole will be. Next use a hammer and nail to strike a dimple in the side of the kettle at the center of the 'X'. The dimple in the metal will prevent the drill bit from wandering away from the hole center when drilling.

Spraying the hole center with PAM, or another food grade lubricant, will prevent the tip of the drill bit from burning up. Drilling holes in stainless steel requires a combination of steady pressure on the drill, slow bit rotation and plenty of lubrication to keep the tip of the drill bit cool and sharp. Center the tip of the 1/8 inch pilot bit into the dimple then trigger the drill on and off, using a slow drill speed while pressing firmly down on the drill.

Expanding The Pilot Hole Using A High Speed Step Drill Bit

Expanding the pilot hole to the finished hole size is easy when using a high speed step bit. Once again, to prevent the bit from dulling use plenty of lubricant, trigger the drill at a slow rotation speed and apply a firm downward pressure on the drill. Keep in mind that using a step bit with a maximum hole diameter, that matches the diameter of the hole needed for the whirlpool port, eliminates the possibility of making the hole too big. Extra care should be taken, to prevent drilling a hole larger than needed, when using a larger diameter step bit.   

Debur the inside surface of the hole by running the drill from inside the kettle, lubricating the bit and rotating the bit at a slow speed. Again if using a larger diameter step bit be careful not to press too hard and make the hole any larger than needed. A small, fine, half round stainless steel file can also be used to debur the inside of the hole. Paper towels can then be used to wipe up any lubricant and metal shavings before installing the whirlpool port.

Bulkhead Fitting Installed With Orange Washer And Grooved Nut

The threads of the bulkhead fitting point inside the kettle. The orange silicone washer, with matching grooved nut, hold the fitting in place and seal the hole to eliminate leaks. The orange washer is squeezed, between shoulder of the stainless steel coupling on the outside, the kettle wall, and the grooved nut tightened against it on the inside of the kettle. Care should be taken when tightening the nut. Over tightening the nut will push the soft silicone washer out from underneath the groove in the nut, and cause the bulkhead fitting to leak. 

Coupling Shoulder Tightened Against Outside Kettle Wall

After the mash has finished, and the grain basket has been removed from the kettle, the swivel dip tube is threaded onto the bulkhead fitting inside the kettle. The swivel dip tube is removed during the mash, to provide the space needed between the inside of the kettle and the outside of the perforated grain basket. If the swivel tube is left on the bulkhead fitting the grain basket would not fit inside the kettle.

Clearance Needed Between The Bulkhead Fitting And The Grain Basket

With the grain basket removed from the kettle the swivel dip tube can be threaded onto the bulkhead fitting and the wort brought to a boil. Pumping the boiling kettle wort through the counter-flow chiller and returning the wort to the kettle through the whirlpool port sanitizes the chiller while creating a strong whirlpool in the kettle. Increased hop utilization and greater hop isomerization is achieved when combining the whirlpool effect in the kettle with the use of a hop spider. 

Whirlpooling Hops To Increase Utilization And Isomerization

And there you have it. With a bit of advanced planning, the correct parts and the right tools for the job, you too can successfully install a whirlpool port in any kettle. The benefits of a having a whirlpool port in your kettle are many. Increased safety, improved hop utilization, clearer wort and the ability to do whirlpool hopstands, these are just a few of the benefits. Another benefit worth mentioning is in knowing that you were able to successfully do-it-yourself.  

Add A Whirlpool Port And Brew Better Beer!

The Influence Of Grain DI pH On Mash pH

Distilled water, or highly purified water such as reverse osmosis water, are deficient in minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Because of the mineral deficiencies distilled water has zero alkalinity. It lacks the ability to resist pH change, it has zero buffering capacity. In the mash, grain introduces acid buffers that change the pH level of the mash. Lighter colored malt has a pH buffer value near pH 5.8 and darker colored malt has a pH buffer value near 4.7.

The optimal mash pH range required to ensure the most effective enzyme conversion in the mash, and the most efficient hop utilization in the boil, is in the pH range from 5.3 to 5.5. Brewing water used in the mash should be buffered in a way that will enable it to overcome the acidic buffer introduced by the grain. The acid and mineral levels of excellent brewing water provides enough alkalinity to hold the mash within the optimal pH range of 5.3 to 5.5.      

What Happens In The Mash?

What is DI pH and why is it important? The term DI pH is derived from the word distilled as in distilled water and pH as in pH value. You can determine the DI pH value of any grain by finely crushing 40 grams of grain, mixing it in with 100 milliliters of distilled water and then heating the resulting mash to 125°F for 20 minutes. A pH reading taken of the resulting wort when cooled to 77°F is the DI pH value of the grain. Various grain types, and sometimes the same grain type sourced from several maltsters, will have different DI pH values. Accurately calculating brewing water adjustments to optimize enzyme activity in the mash is largely dependent on knowing the correct DI pH value for each grain.

What happens in the mash tun during the mash? The mashing process can simply be stated as 'a mixture of grain and water, heated to a temperature of 149°F to 155°F in order to trigger the enzyme conversion of starch to sugar'. But there is more to it than that. The ratio of grain to water commonly referred to as the mash thickness, also affects the efficiency of conversion. It is a combination of mash temperature, mash thickness and pH that have an affect on mash efficiency.

• To calculate mash efficiency take a hydrometer reading of the pre-boil wort volume, drop the decimal point then subtract 1000 from the reading, Next multiply that number by the pre-boil wort volume in gallons and then divide that number by the total pounds of grain in the recipe.
• Example: With a pre-boil gravity of 1.048, dropping the decimal point and then subtracting 1000 equals 48. Multiplying 48 times 13 gallons of pre-boil volume equals 624. Dividing 624 by the 23 pounds of grain used in the recipe equals an extract efficiency of 27.1 

It is important to point out that the conversion of starch to sugar becomes much more efficient when the pH of the mash is between 5.1 and 5.3 at mash temperature. The same mash sample when cooled to 77°F measures between pH 5.3 to 5.5, something to keep in mind when referencing mash pH values.

The DI pH Values Differ Between Grain Types

How does the pH and the temperature of the mash influence my beer? Alpha and beta amylase enzymes in the mash convert starch into non-fermentable and fermentable sugars. The alpha amylase enzyme breaks down starches into glucose (dextrins), producing non-fermentable sugars that add fullness and body to beer. The optimal temperature range for the alpha amylase enzyme is between 145°F to 158°F and the optimal pH range is between 5.3 to 5.8.

The beta amylase enzyme breaks down starches and sugars into maltose, producing the highly fermentable sugars that are preferred by yeast the most. The optimal temperature range for the beta amylase enzyme is between 131°F to 149°F and the optimal pH range is between 5.0 to 5.6.

Test Mash Sample Used To Record Grain DI pH

A 149°F mash is will produce wort that makes a thinner, drier, higher alcohol beer. A 155°F mash produces a wort that makes a maltier, sweeter, fuller bodied beer. To a somewhat lesser extent a mash pH of 5.5, favoring the alpha amylase enzyme, will produce a less fermentable wort. Where a mash pH of 5.2, favoring the beta amylase enzyme, will increase the fermentability of the wort.

The available window of opportunity for a brewer to influence the fermentability of their wort is very narrow. Mashing at temperatures lower than 149°F, or higher than 155°F, will cause enzyme activity to slow down considerably resulting in a decrease in conversion efficiency.

Enzyme activity slows down when the mash pH falls below 5.1, or rises above 5.3 at mash temperature, resulting in a decrease in conversion efficiency. Mash temperatures or pH values that fall too far outside of their optimal range, change the shape of the enzymes causing them to become denatured, which reduces their ability to convert starch to sugar.     

Brewing Water Accuracy Is Dependent On The DI pH Value Of The Grist

Why is it important to know the DI pH values of the grains used in the mash? On average when grains are mashed using reverse osmosis or distilled water, the pH of the mash ends up in the 5.8 to 6.0 pH range. Lacking the buffering needed to resist pH change, distilled water will seek an equilibrium relative to the acid content of the grain, if left unchecked. It is important to point out that a mash pH of 5.8 to 6.0 is well outside of the optimal pH range for both the alpha and beta amylase enzymes.  

The acid content of different grains will vary from grain type to grain type and from maltster to maltster, even when they are producing the same type of grain. The acid content of a roasted malt can have a DI pH of 4.71 and the acid content of a pilsner malt can a much higher DI pH of 5.75. It is also true that 2-Row malt produced by Rahr can have a stated DI pH value of 5.56 while a 2-Row malt produced by Briess can have a DI pH value of 5.70. Some maltsters provide inaccurate information regarding the DI pH of their grain while other maltsters provide no information at all, which confuses the interpretation of DI pH values even further.

Testing Grains For Their DI pH Value Is Worth The Effort

Determining the DI pH of any grain can be accomplished by crushing 40 grams of malt and then stirring in 100 milliliters of distilled or reverse osmosis water to produce a 1.2 qt/lb ratio mash. Allow the mash to reach equilibrium by letting it settle for at least 20 minutes. During this time the pH of the mash will change. The darker the malt is the higher its acid content and the lower the pH value will be. Conversely the lighter the malt is the lower its acid content and the higher the pH value will be. Use a recently calibrated pH meter to take a reading of the test mash and then record the pH value as the DI pH value of the grain tested.

Just enter the DI pH values of grains that have been tested into ezBrewingWater-RO© and be confident that your brewing water profile has been accurately optimized for those grains when they are mashed.

ezBrewingWater-RO©

 ** Version 2 Now Available **

ezBrewingWater-RO© is a water chemistry calculator created specifically for homebrewers who want to use the best water possible when brewing their beer. When starting out with an RO water source there is no need to interpret water reports or having to guess at water variances associated with seasonal change. Building a brewing water profile, using reverse osmosis or distilled water, is easy to do because salts and other impurities have been stripped away. When starting out with pure brewing water you replace only the salts needed to match the style of beer that you are brewing. Then adjust the pH of your brewing water to optimize enzyme efficiency in the mash. ezBrewingWater-RO© makes even the most complicated brewing water profiles easy to do. With a little practice you will be designing your very own brewing water profiles and actually enjoying the process.  

ezBrewingWater-RO© - The easy way to perfect brewing water!

RO and distilled water have extremely low alkalinity and they are devoid of salts and minerals. They both make the ideal water source to use when creating brewing water profiles that are perfect for any style of beer. ezBrewingWater-RO© makes it easy to choose just the right amount of salts and minerals needed to season brewing water to suite your taste. Adjusting the pH of your brewing water so that the mash stays within an optimal pH range, based on the type of grains used in a recipe, has never been easier to do. ezBrewingWater-RO© is the easy way to perfect brewing water!

Download ezBrewingWater-RO© Version Two 

*Download* ezBrewingWater-RO© For MS Excel!

*Download* ezBrewingWater-RO© For LibreOffice!

Homebrewers already know that water is the single largest ingredient used in the beer that they brew. Many have heard it said, or possibly read somewhere that "If your water tastes good, you can brew good beer with it" and yes, of course, that makes perfect sense. But what exactly is in water that makes it 'taste good' and what enables it to make 'good beer'? After all, the water piped into your home today looks and tastes just fine. It contains no sediment, it is sparkling clear in a glass and it tastes good; even if it were to have a slight chlorine aroma. Water like this should be perfect for brewing a 'good beer' right? The simple answer is no, at least not by today's homebrewing standards.

Getting Started:

Enter The Volume Of Water To Be Treated

ezBrewingWater-RO© was created to be used with reverse osmosis, commonly known as RO water, or distilled water. Both types of purified water, RO, and Distilled have been stripped clean of any salts, minerals and other impurities that the source water contained. The water produced by either process has extremely low alkalinity, is devoid of salts or minerals and makes the perfect base water to use when creating any brewing water profile. RO and distilled water are both inexpensive to use and are readily available to buy in many local stores.

Enter The Grains Used In Your Recipe

The flavor and alkalinity of RO water can be restored by replacing measured amounts of salt and mineral content that were stripped away during filtration. Adding measured amounts of gypsum, calcium chloride, Epsom salt and Baking Soda to RO water also adjusts the sulfate to chloride ratio of your brewing water; making it more suitable for any style of beer. The pH level of your mash water can be raised by adding Baking Soda or it can be lowered by adding Lactic Acid, or the mash itself can be lowered by the addition of acidulated malt directly in the mash.

The type of grains used in a recipe determines the acidity of the mash, darker more acidic grains will lower mash pH much more than lighter grains such as 6-Row and wheat. To achieve the best enzyme activity and conversion of starch to sugar the recommended mash pH range is between 5.3 and 5.5 at 77F. Wort produced using a water profile that keeps the mash pH within this range, or 5.1 to 5.3 at mash temperatures, also helps to enhance the performance of yeast during fermentation while discouraging the growth of bacteria. 

Enter The Amount Of Salt, Mineral And Acid To Match Your Beer Style

Homebrewing combines the art of recipe creation with the science of brewing, including the science of water chemistry. Throughout recorded history, the most famous styles of beer originated in unique geological locations. Two prominent styles that come to mind are Kölsch from Cologne, Germany and Dry Irish Stout from Dublin, Ireland. The soft waters of the Cologne Basin give Kölschbier its authentic soft mouth feel while the hard, alkaline waters of Dublin, Ireland accentuate the dry creamy mouthfeel of Stout.

Review The Calculated Water Alkalinity And Mash pH Values

Eliminating chlorine is a very important first step when preparing your brewing water. Chlorine in brewing water is notorious for causing off flavors in beer but fortunately, it is easily removed by slowly running the water through an activated carbon block filter. Chloramines in brewing water will also cause off flavors in the beer and they can be removed through activated carbon block filtering too. The ability to remove chlorine and chloramines are governed by the amount of activated carbon that the water flows through and by the length of contact time the water has with the activated carbon.  

Now that all traces of chlorine or chloramines have been removed the brewing water is perfect for brewing a 'good beer' right? Yes it is, but unfortunately, it is not good enough to brew a great beer. Great beers are brewed using water that has the just the right levels of salts, minerals, alkalinity, pH and a few other important properties. The improvements needed to turn good brewing water into great brewing water requires the use of some very powerful chemistry formulas. A water chemistry calculator like ezBrewingWater-RO© lets you focus on creating the perfect water profile for your next beer without having to worry about the complex chemistry that is involved.


Acknowledgements:

If it were not for the pioneering spirit of visionaries such as John Palmer, Colin Kominski, Kai Troester, AJ Delange and Martin Brungard, brewing water calculators like ezBrewingWater-RO© would not be available to the homebrewing community today. Their tireless dedication and commitment, to applying the laws of science and water chemistry to homebrewing, has given rise to the immense popularity and the superior quality of homebrewed beer.      

Brewing Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier

Witbier evolved as a specialty of Dutch speaking Flemish Brabant Province, east of Brussels where wheat, barley, oats and sugar beets are grown. The brewing legacy of the area proved to be just as fertile as the soil, where Witbier breweries thrived in villages, abbeys, cities and farms. While Leuven was the premier Witbier brewing city in Flemish Brabant some centuries ago, the hamlet of Hoegaarden, where brewing dates back to 1318, would eventually become world famous for it.

Pierre Celis Saves The Witbier Style

As the story goes in 1955 the Witbier style had all but been abandoned, left only to exist in the pages of history. That was until March of 1966 when dairyman turned brewer Pierre Celis brewed his first batch and decided to make Witbier commercially available once again. His spiced wheat beer, made from barley, wheat and oats with Curacao orange peel and milled coriander seed soon became hugely popular in Leuven. The Witbier style had been resurrected!

"The quality of the beer comes first" ~ Pierre Celis

Over the course of several decades, in Belgium and in the United States, Pierre Celis would stand up to corporate brewing giants that put profit before pride and quality. Pierre, who was somewhat of a nonconformist, first locked horns with Belgium-based brewing company Interbrew, who insisted that he make his beer using 'high gravity wort' production in order to save money. Refusing to brew an inferior beer Pierre instead went on to open the Celis Brewery in Austin Texas, setting the stage for a new battle with Miller Brewing. When asked about making deals with big brewers he said "They're bankers not brewers, they buy you out and then they kill you."


The Belgian Witbier Style

The following overall impression of the style as copied from the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.

"A refreshing, elegant, tasty, moderate strength wheat-based ale."

The Belgian Witbier can be very pale straw to light gold in color with a milky whitish-yellow appearance and dense white head with very good retention. Moderate malt sweetness and grain flavor with a zesty orange-citrus fruitiness. Herbal-spicy flavors including coriander and spices should be subtle and not overpowering. Refreshingly crisp with a dry somewhat tart finish and light lactic-tasting sourness.


Screwy's Orange Sunshine Belgian Witbier

This Witbier style of beer is my interpretation of how a delicious tasting Belgian Witbier can be brewed. The ingredients that were chosen and the amounts used in this recipe will produce a Witbier of perfect color, taste, flavor and aroma. This recipe is also the end result of the brewing, tasting and tuning of ingredients; based on the feedback received from friends and family over the years. Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier blends those ingredients together to produce beer that is a perfect harmony of malt, hop, yeast, citrus and spice.

Hops, Orange Zest And Spices During The Boil

Mash the grains for 90 minutes at 155F, lauter then add first hop addition and follow with a 90 minute full wort boil. Add the two remaining hop additions at 20 and 10 minutes remaining to the boil. At 10 minutes remaining to the boil also add the freshly crushed coriander, orange zest and ground cardamom seed. Remove hops from kettle at flameout but leave the zest and spices steeping in the wort until the wort has been moved to the fermentor. Chill the wort to 68F, oxygenate with pure oxygen, then pitch the WLP-400 Belgian Wit Ale Yeast™ and ferment at 68F.

Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier

The Water Profile

In order to brew the best tasting version of any beer style it is necessary to match your brewing water as closely as possible to the style of beer being brewed. When asked what had made Hoegaarden the perfect location for brewing the Witbier style of beer? Pierre Celis replied “Hard water (calcium-rich water) is good for brewing a wheat beer. Also, there were abundant supplies of water in the area. I have a well at my home”.

The water profile used to brew this recipe was made from reverse osmosis filtered water. The water output of a reverse osmosis filter is also known as RO water. This filtering process removes all traces of salts and minerals from the water that is fed into it, resulting in water that is extremely soft and lacking any buffering capacity. Lactic acid was then added to adjust the pH of the water to within the optimal range for mashing the recipe grains. The the salt and mineral additions listed below were then added to the water to strengthen the water's buffering capacity so as to resist changes within the target pH range. The salt and mineral additions also increase the water's alkalinity, creating the calcium rich brewing water that Pierre Celis had recommended.

For Treating 15 Gallons Of RO Water

08.00 g - Gypsum (calcium sulfate)
06.00 g - Calcium Chloride
06.00 g - Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate)
20.00 g - Baking Soda
15.00 ml Lactic Acid

pH = 5.58 @ 74F
Chloride/Sulfate ratio 0.43
Harness as ppm CaCO3 = 193.5

061 ppm - calcium
010 ppm - magnesium
096 ppm - sodium
051 ppm - chloride
120 ppm - sulfate

Add Mineral And Salt Additions To Season The Brewing Water

When using RO or distilled water as your brewing water source, high alkalinity levels are never a problem. Adjusting the pH of the water and adding brewing salts and minerals to it are necessary in order to achieve increased wort fermentability, ideal yeast fermentation characteristics and to promote higher attenuation rates and increased cell viability. 


My Personal Suggestions

"Prepare your brewing water at least a day or two before you plan to brew with it. This will save you a lot of time and leave you with one less thing to do on brew day."

Waiting for brewing water to stabilize, in between water adjustments and taking pH readings, can prolong a brew day by several hours. If possible, fill a container with RO water the day before and then slowly stir in the brewing salts and minerals needed to build the water profile. When adding in acid or base adjustments, make them in small increments, then wait 20 minutes for the water to stabilize before taking a pH reading. Making smaller pH adjustments and then allowing sufficient time in between readings will reduce the chances of overshooting or undershooting your target pH value.



Calibrate Your pH Meter Often

"Buffers, moles, ions, cations, anions, acid, base, atomic weights, valence, electrons, Lewis structures, central atoms, bonding sites, mg/L as CaCO3, mg/L, ppm, milliliters, teaspoons. Really? Let me just arrange all that information in a way that's interesting and understandable by the majority of brewers" ~ Screwy Brewer

Routinely calibrating and maintaining your digital pH meter is the best way to get consistently accurate pH readings. Doing so at least once a week, for less time than it takes to drink a beer, and you will keep your pH meter in perfect working condition.

• Never let the probe dry out, always make sure that the pH bulb is always submerged in storage solution when not in use

• Each week be sure to calibrate your pH meter using the recommended calibration solution for your meter

• Always be sure to sample liquids at a temperature no warmer than of 80F, to greatly extend the life of the meter's pH bulb

Bittering Unit To Gravity Ratio (BU/GU)

When attempting to determine the perceived bitterness level of a beer recipe it is important to take into consideration more than just the International Bittering Unit value alone. To get a complete picture of the hop bitterness to malt sweetness ratio, the calculated IBU value of the recipe should also be used with the original gravity value of the recipe. That comparison will provide you with the ratio of hop bitterness to malt sweetness, which is known as the BU:GU ratio of the recipe.

The math used to determine this ratio is simple, it requires a calculation using the IBU and OG values of the recipe. Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier recipe has a BU:GU ratio of 0.460 which is very close to the middle of the BU:GU scale. Doing the actual math is straightforward. Divide the IBU number of the recipe as BU by the number of gravity units as GU. For example Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier recipe has 24 IBUs and the OG is 1.052. Using the formula 24 / 52 = 0.460, proving that the BU:GU value of the recipe is 0.460.

Estimated Recipe Properties

    IBU  = 24
    OG   = 1.052
    SRM = 4
    FG    = 1.013
    ABV = 4.9%
    BU:GU = 0.460

Pale Straw To Golden Light In Color

The Grain Bill (10 Gallon Batch)

There are 4 items in the grain bill for this recipe.

15.00 pounds Weyerman Pilsener Malt (German) (67%)
06.00 pounds Muntons Torrified Wheat (Belgian) (26%)
01.00 pounds Flaked Oats (Briess) (5%)
00.50 pounds Briess Munich Malt (German) (2%)


The Hop Bill

Bagging pellet hops before adding them to the kettle greatly reduces the amount of hop debris that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the kettle. Having too much hop debris at the kettle bottom increases the likelihood that some of the debris will be sucked up where it can then clog a counter-flow or plate chiller. Clearing out a clogged chiller is not something you want to be doing on brew day while waiting for gallons of very hot wort to cool down.

The hop schedule is very straightforward consisting of three additions added to the kettle at 90 minutes, 20 and 10 minutes remaining to the boil. At flameout all of the hop additions should be removed from the kettle and the wort allowed to settle for 20 minutes before cooling and racking it to the fermentors.

90 minutes - 2.0 ounces Hallertauer (Germany)  (pellet)
20 minutes - 3.0 ounces Hallertauer (Germany)  (pellet)
10 minutes - 3.0 ounces Hallertauer (Germany)  (pellet)
-----------
8.00 ounces Total Hop bill


The Spice And Flavorings

There are three ingredients that are added to the boiling wort ten minutes before flameout. The quantities listed below are based on Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier, keep in mind that the quantities of those ingredients should ultimately be based on your own personal preferences. Wash the oranges under running water using a rough sponge to remove dirt or pesticide residue before zesting. It is advisable to use organically grown pesticide free Oranges whenever possible. The use of freshly made orange zest is recommended but dried bitter orange peel can be substituted, or used with fresh zest if preferred.

Add to the kettle with 10 minutes remaining to the boil 

* 4.00 ounces of fresh Valencia Orange zest (about 12 medium sized oranges)
0.12 ounces of freshly crushed Coriander seeds (0.50 teaspoon)
0.12 ounces of freshly ground Cardamom seeds (0.50 teaspoon)

* Substitute with dried Curacao orange rinds if preferred *



The Belgian Yeast

The best way to ferment the Orange Sunshine Witbier is to use a healthy pitch of fresh Belgian Witbier yeast. The ideal fermentation is one that suppresses the production of esters and phenols in order to allow the subtle hop, malt, spice and citrus flavors to come through cleanly. Diminishing the build up of phenol, ester and other flavor precursors can be accomplished by pitching the equivalent of two Pure Pitch packets of White Labs WLP400 - Belgian Wit Ale Yeast™, per 5 gallons of beer and by fermenting the beer at constant 68F. Oxygenating the wort using pure oxygen prior to pitching the yeast and using good temperature control throughout the fermentation will produce the best results.

WLP-400 Belgian Wit Yeast Makes All The Difference

Starting on the fourth day of fermentation begin raising the temperature of the fermenting beer by 0.5F a day for next four to five days. The slow increase in temperature will help the yeast clean up flavor precursors that have developed during fermentation, that could possibly lead to off flavors in the beer later on. Once the beer has finished fermenting and the final gravity has been reached the beer can then be cold crashed by dropping the temperature down to just above freezing for several days. The sudden drop in temperature will signal the yeast to go dormant and also help to drop trub and hop debris out of suspension quickly, resulting in a cleaner tasting beer.


Putting It All Together

The first time mashing with an electric brew in a bag system you will have to figure out how much grain and brewing water will fit inside the kettle without causing it to overflow. With eBIAB systems heating the strike water, mashing the grains, sparging and boiling the wort are all done in a single vessel. Before being able to successfully brew using an eBIAB brewing system, after having brewed on a traditional three tier brewing system, you will need to learn a new set of calculations.

Having a separate hot liquor tank, mash tun and brew kettle made calculating mash thickness and preboil volumes pretty straightforward, because the three vessels used provide much more volume to work with. The volume calculations when using only a single vessel system will take little more thought, since all three brewing processes have to share the same kettle.

With eBIAB brewing the strike water and grain used in the mash are added to the kettle at the beginning of the mash. The grain is placed inside of a fine mesh bag so that the sugars can be extracted into the wort while preventing any grain from getting into the kettle. At the end of the mash the mesh bag and grain are raised above the wort, rinsed with sparge water and then discarded. Once the wort is heated to a boil the rest of the eBIAB brewing process is exactly the same as any other type of brewing process.


Summing It All Up

Near the end of the boil the counter-flow wort chiller was sanitized by recirculating the boiling wort directly from the kettle through the chiller and then returning the wort to the kettle. At flameout the wort was recirculated in the same manner creating a whirlpool inside the kettle that helps collect any trub into a neat pile in the center of the kettle.

The hops used during the boil for bittering, flavor and aroma were removed from the kettle while the orange zest and spice additions were left there to steep. Once the pump was turned off, it took about 30 minutes for the wort to settle down inside the kettle, allowing the cold break to fall to the kettle bottom below the valve opening. After the wort in the kettle had cleared it was run through the counter-flow chiller to cool, as the wort was collected in the fermentors.

The preferred serving temperature for Screwy's Orange Sunshine Witbier really depends on your own personal preference and it can vary from one beer drinker to another. For a crisper pour serve your beer at 36F and then finish the glass before the beer reaches 45F. As the beer warms above 45F the crispness will begin to fade allowing more of the malt flavor and aroma to become noticeable. Pour yourself a tall glass and then savor every sip as you enjoy the full range of crispness, flavor and aroma that this easy drinking beer has to offer. Enjoy!

Brewing A Classic - Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA

The first records of an American IPA style beer being brewed in the United States date back to the 1930's. As a frame of reference, back then an average monthly rent was $22 and a gallon of regular gas cost just 8 cents. Soon after its introduction in Newark NJ, the Ballantine IPA became a huge hit with the American beer drinking public, it also went on to play a major role in the creation of the first American IPA style of beer. Since that time Ballantine's India Pale Ale has taken a place of honor among the legendary beer styles we enjoy today.

As the popularity of the American IPA continued to grow soon other breweries began to introduce their own IPA offerings. By that time though, Peter Ballantine & Sons had already been brewing their American Style IPA for over a generation. Today the American IPA style is one of the most sought after and well known styles of beer around. This truly American beer style is also recognized for its role in starting the fledgling craft beer industry in America.

The American IPA style is all about the hops. Hops, hops, more hops and preferably American and almost certainly floral and citrusy to a fault. Boasting a really huge hop flavor and a big unmistakable hop aroma, the American IPA to this day remains wildly popular with craft beer lovers. If you are interested in brewing an outstanding American IPA, you can easily do so by simply following a few basic rules. Big hop flavor and aroma are the dominant characteristics of an American IPA accompanied by subtle malt flavors in the background.        

Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA

The American IPA Style

The following overall impression of the style as copied from the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.

"A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hop-forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through."

The reason that the American IPA style has proven to be so popular has to do with the sheer number of different ways that it can be brewed. As long as the brewer starts out with a relatively low mash temperature, to produce a highly fermentable wort, and then uses a type of yeast with neutral fermentation characteristics, the rest of the IPA brewing process is easy to do. Where the brewer's creativity really comes into play is in choosing which types of hops to use in their version of an American IPA.

There are almost as many ways to add hop bitterness, flavor and aroma to an IPA as there are different hop varieties to choose from. Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook, Citra and Simcoe are among the most often used varieties and have been for quite some time. What has changed, and where there are seemingly endless possibilities for brewing a unique tasting beer, is the hop addition process used to add bitterness, flavor and aroma.

The push to drive as much hop flavor and aroma into an IPA as possible has led to the creation of some interesting process names. First wort hop, hop Randall, dry hop, wet hop, hop spider, whirlpool hop, knockout hop, late addition hop and hop bursting just to name some of the more popular terms used today. But in the end they all serve a similar purpose and that is to infuse as much hop goodness as possible into the finished beer. Each of the hop processes were developed as a way to enhance hop contributions in a way that was lacking in any of the other hop processes.  


Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA

 This American IPA style recipe is my interpretation of how a great tasting IPA can be brewed. The recipe is based in part on the beer style information published by the BJCP, their guidelines are available and free to download on BJCP website. The entire beer brewing process is part art and part science and ultimately the best way for a brewer to hone their brewing skills will be in brew room. Brew day is when everything comes together. That is where sanitization, yeast handling, yeast pitch rate and fermentation control combine with grain, hops and water to influence the taste of the finished beer.

Every single step in the overall brewing process has some affect on the quality of your finished beer. Documenting what went right, and possibly what went wrong, on each brew day will be help ensure that your future brew days will go more smoothly. Taking the time to write down brewing notes is especially important whenever a recipe or a new brewing process has been modified. This way any improvements that were made, can later be referred to when brewing future batches.

It is important when evaluating your beer for flavor, color, aroma and other characteristics of the style, that you also ask others for their opinion too. This way a comparison of their impressions of the beer are also compared against your own somewhat biased impressions. The honest feedback that you receive from beer drinkers, who are familiar with the style, will be helpful when evaluating your beer against authentic versions of the style.
   

Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA

The Water Profile

In order to brew the best tasting beer possible it is necessary to match your brewing water as closely as possible to the style of beer being brewed. For a hop-forward style like an IPA this is especially important due to the amount of hops that are used in the brewing process. One potential side effect from the liberal addition of hops is the introduction of soapy flavors, which are definitely not a welcome component in a great tasting beer. The addition of calcium sulfate (Gypsum) to the brewing water eliminates soapy flavors while increasing the clean sharp hop taste of the beer.

Another thing to consider when preparing brewing water for an IPA is the alkalinity of the source water. Higher levels of alkalinity in the brewing water will have a dulling affect on the flavor, color and taste of the finished beer. When using reverse osmosis, or distilled water as your source, high alkalinity levels are never a problem. When using either RO or distilled water the addition of brewing salts and minerals are necessary, in order to promote increased wort fermentability, ideal yeast fermentation characteristics and to promote higher attenuation rates and increased cell viability.

Preparing The Old Vinyl IPA Brewing Water

My Personal Suggestions

"Prepare your brewing water at least a day or two before you plan to brew with it. This will save you a lot of time and leave you with one less thing to be done on brew day."

Waiting for brewing water to stabilize, in between water adjustments and taking pH readings, can prolong a brew day by several hours. If possible, fill a container with RO water the day before and then slowly stir in the brewing salts and minerals needed to build the water profile. When adding in acid or base adjustments make them in small increments, then wait 20 minutes for the water to stabilize before taking a pH reading. Making smaller pH adjustments and then allowing sufficient time in between readings will reduce the chances of overshooting or undershooting your target pH value.
    
Calibrate Your pH Meter Often

"Buffers, moles, ions, cations, anions, acid, base, atomic weights, valence, electrons, Lewis structures, central atoms, bonding sites, mg/L as CaCO3, mg/L, ppm, milliliters, teaspoons. Really? Let me just arrange all that information in a way that's interesting and understandable by the majority of brewers" ~ Screwy Brewer

Routinely calibratng and maintaining your digital pH meter is the only reliable way to get consistently accurate pH readings. Doing so at least once a week, for less time than it takes to drink a beer, and you will keep your pH meter in perfect working condition.

• Never let the probe dry out, always make sure that the pH bulb is always submerged in storage solution when not in use
• Each week be sure to calibrate your pH meter using the recommended calibration solution for your meter
• Always be sure to sample liquids at a temperature no warmer than of 80F, to greatly extend the life of the meter's pH bulb

Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA Water Profile (15.0 Gallons RO Water)

12.00 g - Gypsum (calcium sulfate)

12.00 g - Calcium Chloride

09.00 g - Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate)

01.00 ml Lactic Acid

pH = 5.51 @ 74F (calculated)

Chloride/Sulfate ratio 0.57
Residual Alkalinity -105 

106 ppm - calcium

015 ppm - magnesium

000 ppm - sodium

102 ppm - chloride

180 ppm - sulfate

Nearly A Pound Of Late Addition Hops

Bittering Unit To Gravity Ratio

When attempting to determine the perceived bitterness level of a beer recipe it is important to take into consideration more than just the International Bittering Unit value. To get a complete picture of the hop bitterness to malt sweetness ratio, the calculated IBU value of a recipe should also be compared to the original gravity value of the recipe. This comparison will provide the ratio of hop bitterness to malt sweetness, or the recipe's BU:GU ratio. The math used to determine the ratio is simple because it only requires calculations using the IBU and OG values of the recipe. The Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA recipe has a BU:GU ratio of 1.360 which is very close to the upper end of the BU:GU scale. For the purpose of doing a comparison, a Wheat beer with a BU:GU ratio of .500 is right in the middle of the scale and a Standard American Lager with a value of .250 is very close to the lower end of the scale.

The math involved in calculating the BU:GU ratio for any recipe is not difficult at all to do. For example, the bitterness value of the Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA recipe is 82 IBUs and is entered directly into the calculation as BU. The OG value of the recipe is 1.060 and after dropping the 1. and multiplying the .060 remainder by 1000, the resulting number is 60, which is used in the calculation as GU.

Estimated Recipe Properties

    IBU  = 82
    OG   = 1.060
    SRM = 6
    FG    = 1.010
    ABV = 6.7%
    BU:GU = 1.360

Nice Clear Original Gravity Sample At 1.060

To calculate the BU:GU ratio for the Old Vinyl IPA recipe divide 82 by 60 and the answer you get is 1.360. Keep in mind that the higher the BU:GU number the more perceived bitterness the finished beer will have. The bitterness ratio, of the Old Vinyl IPA recipe, is not quite that of an Imperial IPA style but it is higher than an American IPA style. By increasing or decreasing the amount of hops used, the malt and bitterness balance of the recipe can easily be adjusted to your preferences, without worry of dramatically changing the hop flavor and aroma of the beer.

BU:GU Ratio : 82 / 60 = 1.360 (BU:GU Ratio Of Popular Beer Styles)

Flameout Hops Steeped In Kettle Before Chilling Wort

The Grain Bill (10 Gallon Batch)

There are two grains used in the recipe, US 2-Row malt and Crystal 60L malt. The addition of one pound of corn sugar helps to boost the ABV and also to add a little dryness to the beer.

23.00 pounds 2-Row (US) (94%)

00.50 pounds Crystal 60L  (2%)

01.00 pounds Corn Sugar   (4%)

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24.50 pounds total grain bill

The Hop Bill

Bagging pellet hops before adding them to the kettle greatly reduces the amount of hop debris that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the kettle. Having too much hop debris at the kettle bottom increases the likelihood that some of the debris will be sucked up and then clog a counter-flow chiller. Clearing out a clogged chiller is not something you want to be doing while cooling down gallons of hot wort.

The hop schedule consists of late kettle additions that are added to the kettle at 20 and 10 minutes remaining to the boil. At flameout, after all of the initial hop additions have been removed from the kettle, the remaining hop addition is added to the kettle and allowed to steep in the wort for 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes, with the hops still in the kettle, the wort is then run through a chiller and racked into the fermentors. 

20 minutes - 2.0 ounces Simcoe (pellet)
20 minutes - 2.0 ounces Citra (pellet)

15 minutes - 1.0 ounce Amarillo (pellet)
15 minutes - 1.0 ounce Cascade (pellet)
15 minutes - 1.0 ounce Chinook (pellet)
10 minutes - 2.0 ounces Amarillo (pellet)
10 minutes - 2.0 ounces Cascade (pellet)
10 minutes - 1.0 ounce Chinook (pellet)

00 minutes - 1.0 ounces Amarillo (pellet)
00 minutes - 1.0 ounces Cascade (pellet)
00 minutes - 1.0 ounce Chinook (pellet)
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15.00 ounces Total Hop bill

The Yeast

The best way to ferment an Old Vinyl IPA is with a clean fermentation, one that does not encourage the production of esters but instead allows the subtle malt and bold hop flavors to really stand out. Diminishing the accumulation of esters and other flavor precursors can be accomplished by pitching 2 packets of Safale S-05 Dry Ale Yeast™, per 5 gallons of beer and by fermenting the beer at 65F. Oxygenating the wort, using pure oxygen, and re-hydrating the S-05 dry yeast before pitching it will produce the best results.

Starting on the fourth day of fermentation raise the temperature of the fermenting beer by 0.5F a day for next four days. This will help the yeast clean up any flavor precursors that could lead to off flavors. Once the beer has finished fermenting and the final gravity has been reached the beer can be cold crashed by dropping the temperature down to near freezing. The cold temperature will help any trub and hop debris to settle out of suspension quickly, resulting in a beer that is clear when poured in your glass.

Transfer The Cooled Wort To The Fermentor Then Oxygenate

Putting It All Together

The first time mashing with an electric brew in a bag system you will have to figure out how much grain and brewing water will fit inside the kettle without causing it to overflow. With eBIAB systems heating the strike water, mashing the grains, sparging and boiling the wort are all done in a single vessel. Before being able to successfully brew using an eBIAB brewing system, after having brewed on a traditional three tier brewing system, you will need to learn a new set of calculations. Having a separate hot liquor tank, mash tun and brew kettle made calculating mash thickness and preboil volumes pretty straightforward, because the three vessels used provide much more volume to work with. The volume calculations when using only a single vessel system will take little more thought, since all three brewing processes have to share the same kettle.

With eBIAB brewing the strike water and grain used in the mash are added to the kettle at the beginning of the mash. The grain is placed inside of a fine mesh bag so that the sugars can be extracted into the wort while preventing any grain from getting into the kettle. At the end of the mash the mesh bag and grain are raised above the wort, rinsed with sparge water and then discarded. Once the wort is heated to a boil the rest of the eBIAB brewing process is exactly the same as any other type of brewing process.

Beautiful Color And Loaded With Hop Flavor And Aroma

Summing It All UP

Near the end of the boil the wort in the kettle was pumped through a counter flow chiller to sanitize it before being returned to the kettle and to create a whirl pool. The hops used during the boil for flavor and aroma were removed from the kettle before adding the final knock out hop additions. Once the pump was turned off, it took about 30 minutes for the wort to settle down inside the kettle, allowing the cold break to fall to the kettle bottom below the valve opening. After the wort in the kettle had cleared it was run through the counter-flow chiller to cool it as the wort was collected in the fermentors.

The preferred serving temperature for Screwy's Old Vinyl IPA beer really depends on your own personal preference and it can vary from one beer drinker to another. For a crisper pour serve your beer at 36F and then finish the glass before the beer reaches 45F. As the beer warms above 45F the crispness will begin to fade allowing more of the malt flavor and aroma to become noticeable. Pour yourself a tall glass and then savor every sip as you enjoy the full range of crispness, flavor and aroma this beer has to offer. You will be glad you did!