My Recipe Box
- How do I determine alcohol content? - The percentage of alcohol in a beer is measured by taking a gravity reading using a hydrometer . Many factors will affect the alcohol content but the main things are the malt and the yeast. The malt contains sugars that in turn the yeast convert to alcohol. Take a gravity reading before you pitch the yeast. This is called the original gravity . Pure water has a specific gravity of 1.000. Average wort has a gravity of range of 1.032 to 1.050 upon entering fermentation. A second gravity reading is taken after the fermentation process is complete and these two readings together are used to determine the alcohol content.
- How do I use alternate brands or AAU of hops in the recipes? - There is a formula you can use to exchange the hops you have for the ones in my recipes and still end up with the correct bitterness. Using different styles will give you a different flavor however. To replace hops use this formula: Alpha Acid Units (AAUs)= alpha acid percentage X weight in ounces. -Or- hop weight in ounces= AAUs required by recipe divided by alpha acid content (on package).
- Wort is caramelizing. - Boiling with too little starting water or with too high temperatures will cause sugars to thicken up the wort. Back down the temperature to a light medium boil and use a minimum of 1.5 gallons of water.
- My finished beer is flat. - This probably means that you did not prime your brew correctly before bottling. Try using 3/4 cup of corn sugar for a 5 gallon batch of beer. This should be enough to give your beer the correct carbonation. If the problem persists then it could be inactive yeast. Try some yeast nutrient in the fermenter with the next brew.
- My finished beer is too bitter or too sweet. - This can be corrected with the hops you use. The hops will add bitterness to the beer so if you have a brew that is too bitter then you can either cut back on the amount of hops, use a lower AAU of hop, or add the hops later in the boil. If your beer is too sweet (malty) then you can do just the opposite. Add more hops, higher AAU of hop, or put the hops in the boil for a longer duration of time.
- My beer is too thin. - Add malt! Crystal malt is a great malt to add for body. You can also add malto-dextrin which is a thickening agent that will not affect the qualities of the recipe.
- My airlock is inactive before the end of fermentation. - This can be due to several factors. First of all, your airlock will seem inactive after several days in most cases. This does not mean that your beer is not fermenting. Usually, an airlock will bubble vigorously for the first couple of days and then slow down. If you think that your beer is not fermenting for the proper duration then try adding yeast nutrient to the fermenter.
- My fermenter is too active! - If the fermenter continues to show activity in the airlock for over 14 days and still bubbles once a minute or so, you should probably still bottle anyway. Use the hydrometer to get the best indication of when to bottle.
- My beer is cloudy . - If beer is cloudy when it is chilled, you've got chill haze. Use a fining agent such as Irish Moss to prevent this.
- My beer is sour. - Likely a bacteria problem. Make sure you sanitize everything that makes contact with the brewing process next time.