Yeast Strains Used in Brewing Classic Styles

Below is the fourth and final Ingredients Chart in the series that visually compares the amount of ingredients (base malt, specialty grains & sugars, hops, and yeast strains) used in the recipes of Jamil's veritable book "Brewing Classic Styles" (BCS).  As mentioned in the first Ingredients Chart posting, this project came about as I tried to identify the most frequently used brewing ingredients in order to stock my brewing inventory accordingly.

If a brewer were to brew all 80+ recipes in BCS, it would take 1,197 lbs of grains and sugars, 207 ounces (~13 lbs) of hops, and 88 vials of yeast.  Looking specifically at the yeast usage, the chart below illustrates the top 15 yeast strains out of 29 strains mentioned in the book.  Its not a surprise that California Ale yeast (WLP001) was the most used yeast by far.  Called for in a quarter of all the recipes, this workhorse yeast is full of utility.  Cal Ale is the yeast strain I try to harvest the most after a batch of beer is finished, as there are so many uses for it in subsequent brews.

In addition to the above chart, several other charts were generated for other BCS ingredients.  The links for each chart are updated as they are published.

• Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 20 Specialty Malts / Sugars Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Hops Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 15 Yeast Strains Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

This project is a bit open-ended, so please let us know what you think or if there are other ways in which this data can be useful to a fellow homebrewer.

Slainte!

-JW


"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption ... Beer!"
-Friar Tuck

Hops Used In Brewing Classic Styles

Below is the third Ingredients Chart in the series that visually compares the amount of ingredients (base malt, specialty grains and sugards, hops, and yeast strains) used in the recipes of Jamil's veritable book "Brewing Classic Styles" (BCS).  As mentioned in the first Ingredients Chart posting, this project came about as I tried to identify the most frequently used brewing ingredients in order to stock my brewing inventory accordingly.

If a brewer were to brew all 80+ recipes in BCS, it would take 1,197 lbs of grain and sugars, 207 ounces (~13 lbs) of hops, and 88 vials of yeast.  Looking at the hops usage, the chart below illustrates the 22 different hop varieties called out by the book.  Kent Goldings and the noble Hallertau reign supreme.  This is directly driven by the fact that these are Jamil's generic go-to hops for English and German beers respectively (for instance, all the American light lagers use Hallertau exclusively).  Substitutions can certainly be made if a related hop happens to be in your freezer, but the chart below describes what was called out specifically in the book.

In addition to the above chart, several other charts were generated for other BCS ingredients.  The links for each chart will be updated as they are published.

• Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 20 Speciality Malts / Sugars Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Hops Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 15 Yeast Strains Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

This project is a bit open-ended, so please let us know what you think or if there are other ways in which this data can be useful to fellow homebrewers.

Slainte!

-JW

"Beer is an improvement on water itself."

-Grant Johnson

Specialty Grains/Sugars Used In Brewing Classic Styles

Below is the second Ingredients Chart in the series that visually compares the amount of ingredients (base malt, specialty grains and sugars, hops, and yeast strains) used in recipes of Jamil's veritable book "Brewing Classic Styles" (BCS).  As mentioned in the first Ingredient Chart posting, this project came about as I tried to identify the most frequently used brewing ingredients in order to stock my brewing inventory accordingly.

If a brewer were to brew all 80+ recipes in BCS, it would take 1,197 lbs of grains and sugars, 207 ounces (~13 lbs) of hops, and 88 vials of yeast. With regards to specialty grains and sugars, the chart below illustrates the top 20 grains/sugars that are used in highest quantity.  It became immediately apparent the importance of keeping Crystal 40 on hand, as it is used in 27 different recipes (keeping Crystal 80 and 120 may also not be a bad idea either).  Flaked wheat, on the other hand, is the only top ingredient that is a little deceiving.  It is ranked 5th on the list, but it is only called for in Witbiers and Lambics (5 lbs each), which minimizes the neccessity to stock it (unless those are your favorite styles).

In addition to the above chart, several other charts were generated for other BCS ingredients.  The links for each chart will be updated as they are published.

• Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 20 Specialty Malts / Sugars Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Hops Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 15 Yeast Strains Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

This project is a bit open-ended, so please let me know what you think or if there are other ways in which this data can be useful to fellow homebrewers.

Slainte!

-JW


"He was a wise man who invented beer."
-Plato

Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

At some point, I decided to build a series of spreadsheets where I could enter my current grain/hops/yeast inventory and the document would output which recipes in Jamil's "Brewing Classic Styles" (BCS) book that I could brew. It is a fun little tool and is useful for assessing the 'what to brew?' question if I wake up one morning with an itch to get something in a fermentor.  BCS is a marvelous resource for learning unfamiliar styles or to be used as a "style-barometer'.  If you do not have a copy of BCS, please don't ask me for the spreadsheet.  Go buy the book - its the best book in both Tom and my collections.

To make the recipe/inventory spreadsheet work, I loaded in all the ingredients for each BCS recipe to act as a look-up table.  In doing so, I kept finding myself look at which ingredients were used most often throughout the 80+ recipes in the book.  As I started analyzing them, I noticed that the use of certain malts or hops was more predominate than others.  By examining this, I was able to uncover several holes in my personal inventory where I did not have some of these popular ingredients.  Eventually, I found the information useful/interesting enough that the light bulb went off to share some of this information on the blog.   

If a brewer were to brew all 80+ recipes in BCS, it would take 1,197 lbs of grains and sugars, 207 ounces (~13 lbs) of hops, and 88 vials of yeast.  With regards to base malt, the chart below illustrates which types of base malt are used in highest quantity.  After putting this bar chart together, I almost immediately made a note to pick up some Maris Otter malt as my inventory is currently void of English Pale Malt

In addition to the above chart, several other charts were generated for other BCS Ingredient.  The links for each chart will be updated as they are published.

• Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 20 Specialty Malts / Sugars Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Hops Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 15 Yeast Strains Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

This project is a bit open-ended, so please let me know what you think or if there are other ways in which this data can be useful to fellow homebrewers.

Slainte!

-JW

"The best way to die is to sit under a tree, eat lots of bologna and salami, drink a case of beer, then blow up."

-Art Donovan

Iron Brewer Competitor

Lug Wrench first reported on the Iron Brewer contest in a post in November 2010 and I have been following the competition ever since.  Iron Brewer is back again in 2011 with the same concept - brew a beer with three randomly determined ingredients within 2 months of the round's start date.  The winning beer for that round will be the beer that best features the secret ingredients, and is selected during a live Internet radio broadcast with the competitors.  The winner of each round advances to the championship competition at the end of the year, where the real prizes are, aside from bragging rights.

I am finally a contestant in Iron Brewer, Batch #2, Round 6, where I will be competing against seven other homebrewers.  I am most interested in Iron Brewer because it will push me in directions I have been reluctant to follow.  I primarily work with established recipes with "normal" brewing ingredients.  Iron Brewer, for better or worse, will push me to make my own recipe out of crazy ingredients.  The secret ingredients for the Round 6 are:

• Melanoidin Malt
• Galena Hops
• Rose Hips

I have used all of the ingredients before, except the rose hips.  The research I have done so far indicates that they could add a fruity and slightly spicy flavor, possibly like cranberries.  I hope to make a tea or extract out of the rose hips to get a sense of what they can do and the potency of their flavor.  I am excited to see what the other competitors do with these ingredients.

If any of our readers has recipe suggestions for how to use the secret ingredients, please post a comment and let me know.  I am fairly certain of what direction I am going, but I am curious what others may think.

Best of luck to all of the Iron Brewer competitors.

Cheers,

TW

Iron Brewer

I first heard of the concept of Iron Brewer on Basic Brewing Radio back in January.  The Garage Brewers Society homebrewing club, located in O'Fallon, Missouri, conducted an innovated homebrewing competition.  Similar to Iron Chef, now on the Food Network, contestants were given "mystery ingredients" and asked to brew a beer with them and present the results for tasting at the next club meeting.  Contestants were paired head-to-head, with the winner of each pairing advancing to the next round.  Beers were selected for highlighting the mystery ingredient and overall flavor.  Memorable mystery ingredients included: iced oatmeal cookies, breakfast cereal, sweet potatoes, and rice.  The overall champion was Kent Critchell, who brewed a Potato Ale.

There is another Iron Brewer competition that is conducted nationwide, amongst interested homebrewers.  Iron Brewer, run by Simply Beer, is a similar type of event, but it is not tied to a specific club.  The folks at Simply Beer send out a tweet and an email announcement of a given round and the first six people to respond are selected.  Each round has three mystery ingredients that must be used and the brewers have eight weeks to brew and present their beers.  Then, the brewers send beers to each other and everyone, including the moderator from Simply Beer, votes for their favorites.  Like the Garage Brewers Society event, beers are evaluated for highlighting the selected ingredients and overall flavor.  The winner of each of the six rounds advances to the finals.

I heard about the Simply Beer competition from a friend, Jamey Barlow, who got second place in Round 3 (ingredients: smoked malt, vanilla bean, and centennial hops).  Jamey brewed a smoked baltic porter and was the only contestant of the round to try a lager.  The baltic porter, which I tried at a recent CAMRA meeting, is smokey, rich, and delicious.  It is a fantastic beer, though the centennial hops did not come through as much as Jamey hoped.

I must say that I love the Iron Brewer concept.  It highlights all of the things that make homebrewing great: innovation, brewing without bounds, and camaraderie through beer.  Having listened to the interview with the Garage Brewers Society and reading on the Simply Beer site, organizing such events takes a good deal of work.  Still, the results seem worth it.

Would you ever consider organizing or participating in a Iron Brewer competition.  Post a comment and let us know.

Cheers,

TW