Greetings fellow Brewmeisters!! This is the official two week update on the progress of our MGHW061607DBB 1 Brew batch:
First, a few vital statistics:
Storage temp. - 75 degrees (+-2)
Location - countertop next to frig.(original site)
Length of time fermenting - 14 days and counting
Disposition of CO2 - manually released 6-8 times/day
Color and Clarity - dark purple and opaque, unchanged
Yes our Brew is still working quite nicely and the fermentation process seems to still be going strong. I have noticed a distinct aroma of alcohol whenever I release the CO2 and this is indeed a good thing. I am thinking of getting some real wine making yeast to add (with sugar) to the Brew after the initial fermentation is complete in the hopes of augmenting its alcohol content with a second round. Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated. It may be tricky to do and not introduce outside contaminants. I am not sure how much longer the brew will go but I am in need of corked empties to decant the finished product into. To this end, I have dutifully purchased some cheap domestic wines and am currently removing their contents as quickly as my good sense allows me to. Anyway that is wher things stand this evening. Aloha!!
Dark Brown Brew
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Alright so I talked to Dad on the phone today and the whole fermentation thing came up, specifically Humulus Lupulus and its distribution in the states. So I got some info digging done and here is a Little of what I found.
There are two species of Humulus native to North Carolina, lupulus and japonica. We are only concerned with Lupulus, i don't think beer is made from the species japonica. The distinguishing characteristic between these two species is actually, big sigh of relief, not freaking unbelievably difficult to recognise. Its not some back ass screwed up botanical systematics nightmare attempt to be high and mighty characteristic. Count the lobes on the leaves, Lupuls spp. has three lobes, japonica spp. has 5-9 lobes. Now the species Lupuls has four varieties, two of which grow native one is introduced and the other species grows out west. I believe all three of the varieties in our area would be fine for brewing beer, and could make an interesting experiment as to which variety taste best. The varieties in our Area are:
Humulus lupulus var. lupulus
Humulus Lupuls var. pubescens
Humulus Lupulus var. Lupuloides
I used Gleason and Conquest's Manual of Vascualar Flora (second edition) for the tip between lupulus an japonica, also it gave a nice description of the families characteristics, so maybe we can keep an eye out for the vine. Here is the entry:
Rhizomatous perennial vine to 10 m; principal leaves as broad as long, cordate at base, 3- lobed to below the middle, the upper leaves often broadly ovate and lobe less, petiole shorter than the blade; staminate inflors 5-15 cm; pistillate spikes 1 cm, becoming 3-6 cm, the persistence, accrescent bracts entire and mostly blunt stramineous, very glandular at base; 2n = 20. Moist soil; N.S. to MA., Mont. and Calif., s to N.C., Ark,. and Ariz,. and widely distributed in the Old World. July, Aug, 5 geographically significant vars., 3 in our region.
Now Var. Lupulus i found is supposed to be a cultivar from Europe, but has escaped and is now introduced into our area. I am not sure if this means its native now, i think it might be naturalised by now. Var. Pubescens is in our area but this plant is more in the midwest of America. and the last var. Lupuloides grows east of the rocky mountains, i think this is the variety we are going to find the most easily.
ALOT more could be said, but i will leave that for later posts, i think this will arm us with an idea of what we should look for, oh ya and by the ways, we are looking for the female plants they have the goods! peace
There are two species of Humulus native to North Carolina, lupulus and japonica. We are only concerned with Lupulus, i don't think beer is made from the species japonica. The distinguishing characteristic between these two species is actually, big sigh of relief, not freaking unbelievably difficult to recognise. Its not some back ass screwed up botanical systematics nightmare attempt to be high and mighty characteristic. Count the lobes on the leaves, Lupuls spp. has three lobes, japonica spp. has 5-9 lobes. Now the species Lupuls has four varieties, two of which grow native one is introduced and the other species grows out west. I believe all three of the varieties in our area would be fine for brewing beer, and could make an interesting experiment as to which variety taste best. The varieties in our Area are:
Humulus lupulus var. lupulus
Humulus Lupuls var. pubescens
Humulus Lupulus var. Lupuloides
I used Gleason and Conquest's Manual of Vascualar Flora (second edition) for the tip between lupulus an japonica, also it gave a nice description of the families characteristics, so maybe we can keep an eye out for the vine. Here is the entry:
Rhizomatous perennial vine to 10 m; principal leaves as broad as long, cordate at base, 3- lobed to below the middle, the upper leaves often broadly ovate and lobe less, petiole shorter than the blade; staminate inflors 5-15 cm; pistillate spikes 1 cm, becoming 3-6 cm, the persistence, accrescent bracts entire and mostly blunt stramineous, very glandular at base; 2n = 20. Moist soil; N.S. to MA., Mont. and Calif., s to N.C., Ark,. and Ariz,. and widely distributed in the Old World. July, Aug, 5 geographically significant vars., 3 in our region.
Now Var. Lupulus i found is supposed to be a cultivar from Europe, but has escaped and is now introduced into our area. I am not sure if this means its native now, i think it might be naturalised by now. Var. Pubescens is in our area but this plant is more in the midwest of America. and the last var. Lupuloides grows east of the rocky mountains, i think this is the variety we are going to find the most easily.
ALOT more could be said, but i will leave that for later posts, i think this will arm us with an idea of what we should look for, oh ya and by the ways, we are looking for the female plants they have the goods! peace
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A Meeting of Minds: 6.16.07
The three of us met in Greensboro for Father's Day weekend. Saturday we went traveled to the Brown Farm to visit our fahter/grandfather for the day. While there, we tapped into his knowledge of brewing and winemaking which he, in turn, had learned from his father. The process for grape (usually scoppernong) or blackberry wine is described as follows:
(Note: for the purpose of naming, I will refer to my great grandfather as Brown v1.0, his son as Brown v2.0, his son as Brown v3.0 and my brother and I as v4.1 (myself) and v4.2)
Mash the grapes, skins and all, and mix with the sugar and warm water and place into a vessel with a cloth tied over the opening. The vessel used in this case was a large clay urn or stoneware pot. Let this mixture sit in a dark place. The
This is v1.0's process for making wine from grapes or blackberries:
Mash grapes skins and all, and mix with the sugar and warm water (around 5 gallons). Place the mix into a large earthenware pot and tie a cloth over the opening. Set this on a shelf in the smokehouse and leave it for about week or until it starts to smell. This is a first fermentation that takes advantage of the natural yeast found in the skins of the grapes themselves. Then this mix is strained through a cheesecloth into a 5-gallon carboy, the yeast is added and the carboy is closed up with a stopper complete with fermentation lock (tube that runs from the carboy down to a small cup of water allowing the carbon dioxide to escape the bottle, but preventing bacteria and oxygen from entering the bottle). The carboy is then placed in the root cellar where it sits until the production of CO2 stops. Then a measure of apple jack brandy is added to "stabilize" the wine so that it stop fermenting and the taste remains stable.
This procedure produced a very drinkable wine. I know this from personal experience too. My grandfather poured out a measure of wine for us to taste. The liquid was older than I am, but it went down smooth.
SO... we have set up another ferment. MGHW061607DBB 1 has been created and is featured in the image above along with three vagabond tramps taking reguge in our basement. more to come
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Humulus lupulus
On a more botanical note, I did find out (to my pleasant surprise) That Humulus lupulus grows natively in North Carolina. Now anyone who knows me knows that I have a particular fascination with collecting and using native plants for various uses; I wont get to into it, cause I don't want to seem like too much of a dork but Humulus lupulus is hops, beer hops.
Now how freaking cool would it be to brew and drink beer made from hops collected from the wild with your own to hands!? Anyways relying on one of my favorite websites to haunt i found its county distribution.
Because I'm a sucker for biological art, especially renderings of plants I thought I would put up this pretty picture to end the post with, use it though.. keep an eye open for this tasty plant.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
16-13-07, 2:45 pm
-Tested sample of BBF061307AMB1 (the brier berry ferment) on a handle held refractometer by zeroing scale using d.i., then I added a couple of drops of BBF to the prism.
Adding all the sugars I did made a super saturated solution since the solution is at 100 % salinity. I know it has been fermenting since I saw bubbles last night before I went o sleep, this morning when I woke up and having the bottle about explode this afternoon when I went to release some CO2. since it bubbled over like it did i took the oppurtunity to collect and sample BBF without having to completely remove the top.
The reading was 100 % salinity or 1.076 at 2:45 for BBf061307AMB1 after fermenting for 14 hours all last night and today.
after some number crunching and brain storming for GAB060807AMB1 we figured out the initial specific gravity before any of the sugar was fermented was 100% or 1.076 salinity. This was determined by making a solution of sugar to water of 100 ml at the same ratio of sucrose to H2O that i used when I mixed the recipe i got offline for the ginger beer.
The original recipe called for 1 cup of sugar in 1.89 liters of H2O which is the same as 240 grams of sucrose to 1,890 ml of H2O, Grams to Microliters is a one to one relationship. So this means that dividing 240g of sucrose/ 1,890 ml H2O = .126984 which is the ratio of sucrose to water of the original volume. taking this ratio and multiplying it by 100 (for 100 ml, i wanted a nice small easy to test sample) gives u 12.69 which is the grams of sucrose needed to recreate the ratio of sugar to water in the initial 1.89 liters of H2O. So I did this and measured it on the hand held refractometer and found this to be a value of 1.076 OR 100% salinity! apparently the recipe knew this ratio of sucrose to water would be 100% salinity.
So then I measured a sample of GAB060807AMB1 with the refractometer today. I got a reading of 1.053 or 70% as the final salinity. Subtracting 70% from 100% equals a 30% reduction in sucrose meaning 30% has been converted to alcohol. Typing these intial and final refractomter readings with the temperature during fermentation into an online calculator gave me an abv of 3.0%!! YEAH!! can't wait to work with all this some more and get to where I am making 6.0% abv.
Adding all the sugars I did made a super saturated solution since the solution is at 100 % salinity. I know it has been fermenting since I saw bubbles last night before I went o sleep, this morning when I woke up and having the bottle about explode this afternoon when I went to release some CO2. since it bubbled over like it did i took the oppurtunity to collect and sample BBF without having to completely remove the top.
The reading was 100 % salinity or 1.076 at 2:45 for BBf061307AMB1 after fermenting for 14 hours all last night and today.
after some number crunching and brain storming for GAB060807AMB1 we figured out the initial specific gravity before any of the sugar was fermented was 100% or 1.076 salinity. This was determined by making a solution of sugar to water of 100 ml at the same ratio of sucrose to H2O that i used when I mixed the recipe i got offline for the ginger beer.
The original recipe called for 1 cup of sugar in 1.89 liters of H2O which is the same as 240 grams of sucrose to 1,890 ml of H2O, Grams to Microliters is a one to one relationship. So this means that dividing 240g of sucrose/ 1,890 ml H2O = .126984 which is the ratio of sucrose to water of the original volume. taking this ratio and multiplying it by 100 (for 100 ml, i wanted a nice small easy to test sample) gives u 12.69 which is the grams of sucrose needed to recreate the ratio of sugar to water in the initial 1.89 liters of H2O. So I did this and measured it on the hand held refractometer and found this to be a value of 1.076 OR 100% salinity! apparently the recipe knew this ratio of sucrose to water would be 100% salinity.
So then I measured a sample of GAB060807AMB1 with the refractometer today. I got a reading of 1.053 or 70% as the final salinity. Subtracting 70% from 100% equals a 30% reduction in sucrose meaning 30% has been converted to alcohol. Typing these intial and final refractomter readings with the temperature during fermentation into an online calculator gave me an abv of 3.0%!! YEAH!! can't wait to work with all this some more and get to where I am making 6.0% abv.
DIY USB Temperature and Atmospheric Pressure sensor
I think this might be able to help us out in terms of maintaining and/or monitoring the effects of environmental variables on our processes and results. Apparently its pretty simple to put together. Repost below from the MAKE blog.
Raph writes -
This is a project to interface sensors to an USB port for collecting weather related data such as temperature. The firmware supports many different sensors and interfaces. At the moment, temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure can be measured, logged and graphed.
Click on the read link to see more info on the sensor - Link
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
06-13-07
So feeling as if i have been getting to much sleep lately, i decided to try out a new recipe with some brier berries i picked up today earlier this evening, here is what I mixed.
Brier berry ferment:
1cup sugar = 3 parts refined, 1 part raw
1/4 teaspoon baker's yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ginger
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon Mai-Chai tea
1/2 cup crushed brier berries
I used the ginger beer recipe as a template for this ferment so i mixed everything the way the ginger beer was mixed, i just grouped the new ingredients with the like ingredients of the ginger beer recipe. In other words i mixed sugars and yeast together in one step then threw that in the 2 liter soda bottle. Next i put the vanilla extract, lemon juice, ginger root, Mai-Chai and smushed brier berries in afterwards making sure not to remove the funnel throughout the entire process; then i just added the sterilized water.
The water was totally room temp. this time because i had slightly warm and slightly cold sterilized water in two different milk jugs so i mixed equal parts of both jugs until i filled up the 2 liter with all the ingredients. I feel real confident about this batch. The solution looks SO COOL!! I'm keeping this batch indoors during its fermentation cause i feel better about the whole consistent temp thing at about 75 degrees F, Anyways off to sleep.
Brier berry ferment:
1cup sugar = 3 parts refined, 1 part raw
1/4 teaspoon baker's yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ginger
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon Mai-Chai tea
1/2 cup crushed brier berries
I used the ginger beer recipe as a template for this ferment so i mixed everything the way the ginger beer was mixed, i just grouped the new ingredients with the like ingredients of the ginger beer recipe. In other words i mixed sugars and yeast together in one step then threw that in the 2 liter soda bottle. Next i put the vanilla extract, lemon juice, ginger root, Mai-Chai and smushed brier berries in afterwards making sure not to remove the funnel throughout the entire process; then i just added the sterilized water.
The water was totally room temp. this time because i had slightly warm and slightly cold sterilized water in two different milk jugs so i mixed equal parts of both jugs until i filled up the 2 liter with all the ingredients. I feel real confident about this batch. The solution looks SO COOL!! I'm keeping this batch indoors during its fermentation cause i feel better about the whole consistent temp thing at about 75 degrees F, Anyways off to sleep.
06-12-07
So I had two ferments going on the porch, now I have one still a brewin and the other in the fridge. GAB060807 stopped this afternoon after i took about 500 ml from the bottle last evening and replaced it with the comparable amount of sugar, yeast and water to replace what i had snatched from the bottle. I took the 500 ml out because no more C02 was being produced at the time, this was evaluated by me squeezing and getting no denting action. The 500 ml of solution seemed to be sorta potent since i think i got a little buzz (it was a three day old ferment) but i did eat some home made sushi from a neighbor shortly before drinking the 500 ml so... really who knows. Like i said though i added back 500 ml of sterile water (i boiled then cooled the water in an ice bath before taking out the 500 ml) and did some quick math to add back an equivalent amount of sugar and yeast to match the original recipe, about 1/4 a cup of sugar and a 1/16th of a teaspoon of yeast to the 500 ml of strile replacement H2O. Fermentation wasn't starting so i thought i would give it the night, the next morning (06-12-07) it was a good and bubblin with C02 producin action. I left GAB060807 alone all day today just checked it every now and about 8 o'clock this evening i gave it a squeeze and the bottle dented.
There were no bubbles so I figured the fermentation bit was done with, maybe because there is simply to much alcohol in the bottle now for baker's yeast to survive in. I have been sorta supporting this claim because I found a website that says that baker's yeast can only hang out in about 6% alcohol max. Again i drank about half of the two liters tonight and i feel a little something. Six % at least would be required since i am such a lush (how about them scientific method skills HA!?)
Then again maybe GAB060807 isn't 6% and I simply choked the yeast with to much sugar or i let to much oxygen into the system when i took the 500 ml out and was to impatient to give the system enough time to deplete the oxygen trapped in the bottle upon closing it last night to begin signs of fermentation again.
Though I don't buy the idea that i stopped fermentation last night when I added oxygen or sugar back into the system last night because I saw it bubbling today and only ceased signs of fermentation earlier this evening. Thats why i support theory one or maybe simply all the sugar had been gobbled up by the time i checked it earlier this evening. Even with me putting more sugar in the bottle i added more yeast so the sugar to yeast level was never out of whack. Plus i was careful to not disturb the turb and only siphoned off the top 500 ml, maybe fermentation was on overhaul from the combination of new and already present yeast making fermentation of the small 1/4 of a cup of sugar real quick like over night quick.
I still have not come to a conclusion though. I am thinking my idea of not adding any kind of acid to GAB060807 was not such a great idea since i found on the same website that apparently acids are a must in fermentation. Also i didn't add any tannins, the ginger might have added some acids, but it sure as hell didn't add much and no tannins. I picked about a half gallon of wild blackberries today (there are big advantages to being a botany geek). I'm going to boil these and add ginger root, sugar, lemon and maybe something else ..or not for my next batch of fermentation. I still have one ferment on the porch which since it has been so rainy yesterday and today (was it to cold last night!?) I'm bring GAB060907 in tonight in case temps drop to much. For as much precipitation we get around here, the temperature gradient sure as hell feels like a damn desert sometimes!
I managed to exert almost all of the will power i have to not imbibe the rest of my ferment (it was hard work, daddy needs his medicine) and tomorrow i am taking both the active and finished ferments into the lab for testing on the spectrophotometer, refractometer and with the hydrometer. I think I'm also going to do some titration and chemical analysis, i don't have to go to the greenhouse so its all day lab madness baby!!
Anyways in the mean time will be keeping an eye on GAB060807 in the fridge since I'm not down for midnight splosions and i will post the results of tomorrows lab tests. I will also be munching on tasty wild blackberries and watching turner and hootch in my underwear until the sun comes up. Goodnight all.
There were no bubbles so I figured the fermentation bit was done with, maybe because there is simply to much alcohol in the bottle now for baker's yeast to survive in. I have been sorta supporting this claim because I found a website that says that baker's yeast can only hang out in about 6% alcohol max. Again i drank about half of the two liters tonight and i feel a little something. Six % at least would be required since i am such a lush (how about them scientific method skills HA!?)
Then again maybe GAB060807 isn't 6% and I simply choked the yeast with to much sugar or i let to much oxygen into the system when i took the 500 ml out and was to impatient to give the system enough time to deplete the oxygen trapped in the bottle upon closing it last night to begin signs of fermentation again.
Though I don't buy the idea that i stopped fermentation last night when I added oxygen or sugar back into the system last night because I saw it bubbling today and only ceased signs of fermentation earlier this evening. Thats why i support theory one or maybe simply all the sugar had been gobbled up by the time i checked it earlier this evening. Even with me putting more sugar in the bottle i added more yeast so the sugar to yeast level was never out of whack. Plus i was careful to not disturb the turb and only siphoned off the top 500 ml, maybe fermentation was on overhaul from the combination of new and already present yeast making fermentation of the small 1/4 of a cup of sugar real quick like over night quick.
I still have not come to a conclusion though. I am thinking my idea of not adding any kind of acid to GAB060807 was not such a great idea since i found on the same website that apparently acids are a must in fermentation. Also i didn't add any tannins, the ginger might have added some acids, but it sure as hell didn't add much and no tannins. I picked about a half gallon of wild blackberries today (there are big advantages to being a botany geek). I'm going to boil these and add ginger root, sugar, lemon and maybe something else ..or not for my next batch of fermentation. I still have one ferment on the porch which since it has been so rainy yesterday and today (was it to cold last night!?) I'm bring GAB060907 in tonight in case temps drop to much. For as much precipitation we get around here, the temperature gradient sure as hell feels like a damn desert sometimes!
I managed to exert almost all of the will power i have to not imbibe the rest of my ferment (it was hard work, daddy needs his medicine) and tomorrow i am taking both the active and finished ferments into the lab for testing on the spectrophotometer, refractometer and with the hydrometer. I think I'm also going to do some titration and chemical analysis, i don't have to go to the greenhouse so its all day lab madness baby!!
Anyways in the mean time will be keeping an eye on GAB060807 in the fridge since I'm not down for midnight splosions and i will post the results of tomorrows lab tests. I will also be munching on tasty wild blackberries and watching turner and hootch in my underwear until the sun comes up. Goodnight all.
Continued Growth
So, having placed the ale in the refrigerator Sunday afternoon after leaving it on the counter and narrowly avoided an exploding container.... It appears that the mixture is still actively producing CO2. I'm sure that there is still sugar for the reaction to take place, but I also wonder if the refrigerator is not cold enough (we've known for a while that it isn't as cold as your average refrigerator). So at what temperature is fermentation effectively stopped? By the way, the ale taste less sweet than it did on sunday and a new batch of turb has formed on the bottom (albeit a much much smaller amount than originally). So, Alex, whats the state of your runs?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Pushing Towards Measurement
Below is an abstract of a submission to the patent office of a device that would measure the concentration and temperature of a liquid using reflectance. The abstract does a good job of describing the proposed device and method so I'll let it do the talking...
"An apparatus and method for temperature and concentration measurement at liquid surfaces using reflectance. The apparatus includes a light source which produces a measurement light beam, and also includes a detector. The measurement light beam has a measurement light beam intensity and impinges on the surface of the liquid specimen. It reflects back as a reflected light beam with a reflected light beam intensity which is related to the reflectivity R of the liquid surface and to the measurement light beam intensity. The detector receives the reflected light beam and determines the reflected light beam intensity. Either the temperature or concentration of the liquid specimen can then be determined based on the reflected light beam intensity. The light source can be a coherent light source, such as a laser. A beam splitter can be provided to split the light beam from the light source into a reference light beam and the measurement light beam. The reference light beam is used to compensate for fluctuations in the light source. Temperature measurements can be conducted on a pure liquid or a multi-component liquid with a substantially constant concentration. Concentration measurements can be conducted on a multi-component liquid which is maintained in a substantially isothermal condition. The method of the invention includes causing a measurement light beam with a measurement light beam intensity to impinge on the surface of the liquid specimen; detecting a reflected light beam; and determining either the temperature or the concentration of the liquid specimen. The measurement light beam can be caused to impinge on the surface of the liquid at an angle which enhances the change of reflectivity with respect to temperature or concentration. Detection of the intensity of the light beams can be carried out using photodiodes, amplifier circuitry, and relatively low-cost digital voltmeters."
The question this beings up for me is What relationship is there between concentration and density? It may be a snap to measure the concentration of a mixture of water and ethanol, but it in a real-world situation, the fermentation mixture would include many things. So while we might be getting measured differences in concentration, we miay not necessarily be measuring the concentration of ethanol.
It has been too long since I tok chemistry. Is there a well-defined or reliable relationship between the concentration of a multi-component liquid and its density?
"An apparatus and method for temperature and concentration measurement at liquid surfaces using reflectance. The apparatus includes a light source which produces a measurement light beam, and also includes a detector. The measurement light beam has a measurement light beam intensity and impinges on the surface of the liquid specimen. It reflects back as a reflected light beam with a reflected light beam intensity which is related to the reflectivity R of the liquid surface and to the measurement light beam intensity. The detector receives the reflected light beam and determines the reflected light beam intensity. Either the temperature or concentration of the liquid specimen can then be determined based on the reflected light beam intensity. The light source can be a coherent light source, such as a laser. A beam splitter can be provided to split the light beam from the light source into a reference light beam and the measurement light beam. The reference light beam is used to compensate for fluctuations in the light source. Temperature measurements can be conducted on a pure liquid or a multi-component liquid with a substantially constant concentration. Concentration measurements can be conducted on a multi-component liquid which is maintained in a substantially isothermal condition. The method of the invention includes causing a measurement light beam with a measurement light beam intensity to impinge on the surface of the liquid specimen; detecting a reflected light beam; and determining either the temperature or the concentration of the liquid specimen. The measurement light beam can be caused to impinge on the surface of the liquid at an angle which enhances the change of reflectivity with respect to temperature or concentration. Detection of the intensity of the light beams can be carried out using photodiodes, amplifier circuitry, and relatively low-cost digital voltmeters."
The question this beings up for me is What relationship is there between concentration and density? It may be a snap to measure the concentration of a mixture of water and ethanol, but it in a real-world situation, the fermentation mixture would include many things. So while we might be getting measured differences in concentration, we miay not necessarily be measuring the concentration of ethanol.
It has been too long since I tok chemistry. Is there a well-defined or reliable relationship between the concentration of a multi-component liquid and its density?
Another resource
I found this information that helpd me understand a little better how alcohol content is measured in a liquid. There is Specific Gravity (SG) which is the measurement of the density of a liquid at a given temperature as compared to the density of water at that same temperature.
This is measured with a hydrometer. There is also the Plato or Balling scale which is a derivative measurement based on the correllation between specific gravity and the weight of sucrose by volume. This website explains the relationship between the two measurement systems and the various ways of converting between them.
Results of first test
6/10/07
12:30am - Released CO2 pressure
9:30am - Placed the bottle in the refrigerator to chill
At 11:30am, I tried to follow the advice of the initial instructions and strain the mix through a coffee filter, but the filter was not porous enough to allow the mix to flow through it in a reasonable amount of time. Alternatively, I used the bottom half of a tea infuser to strain most of the ginger out of the mix. I still felt the need to strain using more of a filter, but other attempts were unsuccessful. Perhaps a fine wire mesh would be better and more convenient. As it stands now, I have placed the liquid in the left over spring water bottle and placed it in the refirgerator. Much of the carbonation was lost with the repeated straining.
One question I have is, Exactly how much does the mix need to be strained to make it safe for consumption. My biggest worry was that consuming the drink without running it through a substantial filter would allow the ingestion of a large amount of active yeast.
I have tasted the drink in small amounts. It is decent...sort of like a cross between lemonade and ginger ale. But, as I said earlier, the drink is mainly flat.
As an experiment in fermentation, I am pleased. The conditions were obviously met to have the yeast and other nutrients react favorably.
My next run will differ mainly in the use of better tools. These will include:
12:30am - Released CO2 pressure
9:30am - Placed the bottle in the refrigerator to chill
At 11:30am, I tried to follow the advice of the initial instructions and strain the mix through a coffee filter, but the filter was not porous enough to allow the mix to flow through it in a reasonable amount of time. Alternatively, I used the bottom half of a tea infuser to strain most of the ginger out of the mix. I still felt the need to strain using more of a filter, but other attempts were unsuccessful. Perhaps a fine wire mesh would be better and more convenient. As it stands now, I have placed the liquid in the left over spring water bottle and placed it in the refirgerator. Much of the carbonation was lost with the repeated straining.
One question I have is, Exactly how much does the mix need to be strained to make it safe for consumption. My biggest worry was that consuming the drink without running it through a substantial filter would allow the ingestion of a large amount of active yeast.
I have tasted the drink in small amounts. It is decent...sort of like a cross between lemonade and ginger ale. But, as I said earlier, the drink is mainly flat.
As an experiment in fermentation, I am pleased. The conditions were obviously met to have the yeast and other nutrients react favorably.
My next run will differ mainly in the use of better tools. These will include:
- fine wire mesh for straining
- one-way valve to release CO2
- a funnel
MOVED FROM COMMENTS: first post from DoItUrslfJunky
In the future i will write all my days lab notes as separate entries, I'm just putting them all together today to catch up my posts with my notebook.
06-08-07
* Began first ferment, GAB060807AMB1,at 9:30pm. Mixed ingredients in 2 liter soda bottle. Only deviation is using "Quick Rise" yeast instead of normaly active baker's yeast.
83F.
06-09-07
* 10 am released CO2 pressure in GAB060807AMB1, the bottle has been sitting in indirect sunlight. Porch temp = 84F.
* Noticed very little head space in bottle, need to allot for that in future.
* 11:50 am had to loosen cap some more.
* Started new bottle of ginger beer at 7 pm tagged GAB060907AMB1. 83F It differs from GAB060807AMB1
-has a one way valve fermenter lock made from the decapitated pump of a 75 ml liquid soap dispenser.
- spring water used was cold from 20 hrs in the fridge when yeast was added.
-added 1 tbsp brown sugar to ingredients
-bottle was compressed some and had 2 in. head space.
06-10-09
Checked ferments at 10 am this morning, they seem fine, didn't mess with them any, no need. 82F
06-08-07
* Began first ferment, GAB060807AMB1,at 9:30pm. Mixed ingredients in 2 liter soda bottle. Only deviation is using "Quick Rise" yeast instead of normaly active baker's yeast.
83F.
06-09-07
* 10 am released CO2 pressure in GAB060807AMB1, the bottle has been sitting in indirect sunlight. Porch temp = 84F.
* Noticed very little head space in bottle, need to allot for that in future.
* 11:50 am had to loosen cap some more.
* Started new bottle of ginger beer at 7 pm tagged GAB060907AMB1. 83F It differs from GAB060807AMB1
-has a one way valve fermenter lock made from the decapitated pump of a 75 ml liquid soap dispenser.
- spring water used was cold from 20 hrs in the fridge when yeast was added.
-added 1 tbsp brown sugar to ingredients
-bottle was compressed some and had 2 in. head space.
06-10-09
Checked ferments at 10 am this morning, they seem fine, didn't mess with them any, no need. 82F
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Initial Brew
Alright...
So Alex and I have begun brewing ginger beer and its great to actually be getting into the D0-It-Yourself spirit. We have used this recipe as a guide in our initial runs. We have independently attempted this recipe. In my run, the only deviation from the instructions was the use of "Fast Rise" yeast designed to work roughly twice as fast as normal baker's yeast. Alex will no doubt be able to give a more accurate and detailed account of his first two runs. I will post again with results once my first attempt runs its course (Sunday morning).
So Alex and I have begun brewing ginger beer and its great to actually be getting into the D0-It-Yourself spirit. We have used this recipe as a guide in our initial runs. We have independently attempted this recipe. In my run, the only deviation from the instructions was the use of "Fast Rise" yeast designed to work roughly twice as fast as normal baker's yeast. Alex will no doubt be able to give a more accurate and detailed account of his first two runs. I will post again with results once my first attempt runs its course (Sunday morning).
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