“Apparent” Bitterness (IBU/OG) Ranges By Beer Style

After the completion of the initial four BJCP style charts that we published, a reader (thanks Andrew D.) suggested publishing a fifth chart looking at the IBU to OG ratios or “Apparent” bitterness of each style. Given that bitterness is typically set to offset the residual sweetness in a beer, looking at the relative OG and IBU values allows a brewer to gauge whether the style will typically be sweet, balanced, or bitter in the final product.

As was described in the first Style Chart posting, this project started out as a simple impulse, but turned into a series of graphical charts demonstrating how each BJCP style compare to one another.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other four Beer Style Charts:

• SRM Color Ranges By Style
• IBU Bitterness Range By Style
• Original & Final Gravity Ranges By Style
• Alcohol By Volume Ranges By Style

Please click here for a higher resolution PDF of this chart or any of the other charts – I’m more than happy to share them.

Slainte!

-JW


"No soldier can fight unless he is properly fed on beef and beer."
-John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough

Brewing Water Chemistry is Your Friend

I recently gave a presentation at my homebrewing club on practical brewing water chemistry.  The goal of the talk was to provide an overview of the key aspects of water chemistry that impact the brewing process and what ways they can be manipulated to make improve the resulting beer.  This included several specific steps and procedures that homebrewers can take before and during brew day.

Jeff and I figured this information would be of interest to our viewers and I have listed the speaking notes below.  Please keep in mind that adjusting water is a relatively advanced brewing technique.  Brewers who are starting out should focus on sanitation and fermentation control first before working with water, because these elements make a much greater impact on brewing quality and consistency.

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1.      Why should you care about changing your brewing water?

o       You can make excellent beer without worrying about it at all

o       However, water adjustments can help fine tune your beers and make good beer even better

o       Understanding how your mash works, for all-grain brewers can be important

o       Many people have trouble brewing beers at ends of the color spectrum, which can be due to   water hardness (stouts versus pilsners)

2.      Where to start?

o       If you are an extract brewer, you will likely want to do nothing, or if you have hard water, dilute with reverse osmosis (RO) water

§         Extract already contains concentrated ions from when the wort was concentrated

§         It is difficult to know what the concentrations of those ions are, so you certainly don’t want to add more through brewing salts

§         Trial and error, along with getting used to a specific brand of extract, is your best way forward

o       Assuming you brew all-grain, your first step is figuring out your waters brewing ion concentration

§         Without knowing this, it is hard to proscribe anything more than a generic recommendations (use 1 tsp of gypsum for hoppy beer)

§         Your water report may provide the key information

§         I got a report from Ward Laboratories for $16.50

·        Realize that your water chemistry will likely change over the year

§         Key ions include: Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfate, Chloride, Residual Alkalinity (RA) (from Bicarbonate or Total Alkalinity)

·        RA acts as a buffer to neutralize the acidic nature of mashes that use darker roasted malts

o       Figure out some key elements of the beer you are trying to brew, including its color and whether it is hoppy, neutral, or malty

3.      Brewing salts

o       In general, we adjust brewing water for ion concentration using brewing salts

§         Salts are cheap and they are an easy method of transferring the ion we want

§         You can also use acids or bases directly, but this is less common

o       Chalk (calcium carbonate – CaCO₃) – used mostly for calcium – can reduce RA

o       Gypsum (calcium sulfate – CaSO₄) – used for sulfate – can reduce RA

o       Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) – used for chloride – can reduce RA

o       Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate – MgSO₄) – used for magnesium

o       Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate – NaHCO₃) – used for RA

o       Other products, like Five Star’s 5.2 stabilizer, can provide basic buffering capacity to the mash

4.      Procedure for adjusting water on brew day (and before)

o       Planning

§         You are adjusting for ALL the water you are using on brew day (mash, sparge, and any kettle additions)

·        Evaporation is considered in this already, so plan on dosing all the water you have

§         Figure out your chloride to sulfate ratio (this has the most impact on flavor)

·        It is the RATIO that is important, so you need to know where you are starting from

·        0.0 to 0.5 Cl:SO₄ ratio will be a very bitter beer

·        0.5 to 0.75 Cl:SO₄ ratio will be a moderately bitter beer

·        0.75 to 1.25 Cl:SO₄ ratio will be balanced malt/hop

·        1.25 to 1.5 Cl:SO₄ ratio will favor the malt

·        1.5 to 2.0 Cl:SO₄ ratio will be very malty

§         Shooting for 75 ppm calcium, which helps with yeast health and flocculation

·        Calcium reduces RA, so you don’t want to go over board

·        Calcium comes from gypsum, calcium carbonate, and chalk.

o       Figure your sulfate to chloride first, then bump with chalk

§         Figure out RA

·        This is what controls mash pH – where you are targeting 5.2

·        The darker the beer, the more RA you need (up to 300 ppm for Russian Imperial Stouts)

o       Don’t go higher than this, or it will taste minerally and thin

·        Baking soda is your primary adjustment here

·        This is the most complicated, so use a spreadsheet

o       Palmer:  http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-3.html

o       On brew day

§         Mix your salt additions for your mash water right in with the grain

§         Do NOT add salt additions to the sparge water directly

·        pH is not low enough to make them dissolve

§         Instead, add them to the boil kettle at the start of the boil

§         If you are adding any water to the kettle during the boil (kettle too small) then make sure to add those salts at the beginning of the boil too

§         Check your pH, if you like, half way through the mash time, after the salts have had a chance to impact the pH

·        Target is 5.2

5.      Neat idea

o       If you want to play with the sulfate to chloride ratio, try adding a pinch of a brewing salt directly to a pint or a half pint of beer

§         Stir it up and see how it changes the flavor

§         Calcium chloride – maltier

§         Gypsum – more bitter

6.      Resources

o       How to Brew, by John Palmer – Chapter 15, Understanding Mash pH

o   Brew Strong’s series on understanding water – Brewing Network

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While brewing water adjustments are a relatively advanced brewing topic, they can be effectively utilized with a little research and trial and error.  Hopefully, the information presented above can act as a catalyst to beginning to work with water.  Please leave a comment and let us know if it was helpful.

Cheers,

TW

Tasting Notes: Pannepot Clone by The Mad Fermentationist

Tasting notes always seem like the easiest thing to write down, but for some reason, I find them peculiarly difficult to wrap up into a blog post. Choosing the appropriate words is not the hurdle – its just breaking down my own inertial propensity for “I’ll just do it tomorrow” and getting it done.

Back in May, Mike over at the Mad Fermentationist and I exchanged a few homebrewed beers, including his 5-6 month old Pannepot Clone. This particular beer was most interesting to us, as it was the recipe that Tom and I decided to brew together while he and his family visited us in Rhode Island. During some downtime while brewing our own version of the recipe, Tom and I were able to sit down and taste Mike’s Pannepot Clone. Given below are the tasting notes we took during that sitting. Coincidentally, the tasting [7/11/10] took place 6 months to the day from when Mike brewed it [1/11/10].

(It should be noted that I was suffering from an unseasonable cold during this particular weekend, so the majority of the aroma notes come from Tom’s perceptions, given my disabled nose).

* * *

Appearance: The beer appeared a deep ruby brown color with an off-white / tan head that dissipated fairly quickly after the pour. The beer was slightly cloudy or hazy in appearance, which is most likely some form of chill haze, as it went away as the glass warmed.

Aroma: Dark caramel sugar, assertive alcohol, and dark fruit (plums and raisons) dominated the nose. A hint of banana was detected just after the pour, but was not noticeable later on. Additionally, a small amount of spice (perhaps clove?) and a little vanilla was detected.

Flavor: A warming, sweet alcohol is the initial impression that presents itself upon tasting. Not harsh or solventy, the flavor is assertive with similarities to a good bourbon. Behind the alcohol, dark caramel and Belgian candi sugar (dark fruit, sweetness) is also present along the mid-palate. A hint of spicy hop character is also detectable. The beer ends on the sweet side, not overly sweet, but it does not wash away completely and leaves a residual on the tongue.

Mouthfeel: The beer is full-bodied, thick, and residual with a warming sensation from the alcohol. Carbonation was medium and appropriate.

Overall: This beer certainly has a broad range of different flavors in one glass. It is certainly interesting to the taste buds and is more of a sipper than a quaffable beer – the alcohol is detectable and stands at the forefront of the flavor, which reinforces it as a slow-drinker. Overall it is very enjoyable and complex.

* * *

After our tasting, Tom and I were very pleased with what the recipe produced. The only ‘on-the-fly’ change we made after experiencing Mike’s beer was to keep the fermentation temperatures cool for a little bit longer period (48 hours vs. 24 hours) before ramping it up. We hope this change can help tuck away some of the alcohol’s assertiveness. Time will tell…

Thanks Mike!

Slainte!

-JW


"The sum of the matter is, the people drink because they wish to drink."
- Rudolph Brand

Tasting Notes: Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy by The Mad Fermentationist

In addition to the Pannepot Clone sent to us by Mike over at the Mad Fermentationist as part of our homebrewed beer exchange, we also received a bottle of Mike’s Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy. With Tom being in town, we got the opportunity to taste the beer together (during a brew session) and below are the notes we took during the tasting.

(It should be noted that I was suffering from an unseasonable cold during this particular weekend, so the majority of the aroma notes come from Tom’s perception, given my disabled nose).

* * *

Appearance: Upon pouring, the beer presents a nice deep amber-red hue and is very clear without any detectable haze. It possesses a small off-white head of tiny bubbles, which dissipated relatively quickly.

Aroma: The initial waft is dominated by bourbon and vanilla, which was as expected. Tucked in behind is a bit of caramel and brown sugar sweetness that can be picked out periodically. There is no clue detectible sour aroma at all.

Flavor: The first taste provides a rising acidity / sourness, similar to perhaps fresh lemon juice.  This sour flavor initially blankets all of the other flavors. In the mid palate, the sourness subsides and reveals a mild malt flavor with a slight hint of caramel. The beer has no bourbon or vanilla flavors that are detected and has no residual sweetness. Additionally, the aftertaste is very clean with as the acidity seems to clear the tongue nicely.

Mouthfeel: We were pleasantly surprised that the beer maintained a medium body that was not as thin as would be expected from the sour character. Carbonation seemed appropriate and the beer finishes nice and dry.

Overall: What an interesting beer! The taste (sour with no bourbon/vanilla) is almost completely disconnected from the aroma (bourbon/ vanilla with no hint of sour). The beer itself was such a pleasant enigma and it provided great conversation as we drank it. The acidity and sourness kept cleansing the tongue after each sip, which prevented palate fatigue.

* * *

What Tom and I both appreciated about this beer, other than the aroma/flavor disconnect described above, is the serendipitous path that created this soured Wee Heavy. It is a great example of adapting to uncontrollable changes, letting things run their course, and keeping an open mind with regards to the results. While a clean version of a Wee Heavy was the initial intent of this brew, bugs from a neighboring barrel quickly set the beer down a different path. It created something unplanned for, but in hindsight, something certainly worth appreciating.

Cheers to the unintended! And thanks again Mike!

Slainte!

-JW


"What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?”
- W. C. Fields