Brewing Practical - Day 1

Well this last weekend we started our first practical work in the pilot brewery here at VLB. Unfortunately I don't have the hard numbers on things like the mash times/temps but I thought it would be better to get a post up about actually brewing sooner rather than later. This is, after all, supposed to be a blog about brewing school in Germany.

As with the malting practical work the class was split up into four groups. Each group was going to brew a batch of 150 liters (~39 gallons) using varying combinations of barley and pilsner malt. At the end of the project all of the different beers will be analyzed in the central lab here at VLB and we will each write a report covering the influences and consequences of the use of barley as an adjunct. Originally the plan was to have one group brew 100% malt, the two middle groups to brew with 50% barley and 20% barley and the last group to brew with 100% barley. To make up for the use of barley, the groups with the higher barley content were going to add enzymes during the mash (Glucanase, peptidase and α-amylase). But as can happen, plans changed. The percentage of barley in the three grist loads was reduced to under 20% so that we would not be needing enzymes but could still examine the influence of using barley as an adjunct.

We were the second group of the day with the brewing expected to last from 2pm until 10pm (Reminds me of Midnight Brewing...). When we got there the group before us was still there and just starting their boil. It didn't bode well for our leaving by 10. The seven of us trekked down to the malt storage area for our grains and the mill. In a classic scenario the malt had been almost totally emptied out of the first few cans but not completely. There was just enough in the bottom that it couldn't be written off as empty but rather could be a great pain to get at with a hand scoop. I did actually try to get one scoop but... couldn't reach. In any case, we used something like 15% barley out of our total grist load of 25kg (55 lbs). The barley had to be milled several times to give us a finer grist that the enzymes from the malt could get at. On a side note the mill was a two roller type which we set at a distance of 1.7mm for the malt.

This is the point where I would probably put a picture of the whole pilot plant up. Maybe I would point out all the different parts. You would ooh, you would aah, it would be great. But I forgot. Yep took something like 100 photos. Not a one of the whole plant. Oops.

So we loaded up our mash tun which was already stirring and heated to our mash in temp. The pilot plant is largely automated from a computer station controlling temperatures, stir speed, valves, etc. Since the computer seemed to be up to the task of keeping things going we decided it was time for pizza and a beer. After all brewing is hard work and you need a supply of fluids if you don't want to get dehydrated. Near the end of the mash we took a sample and a reading of the pH to be sure all the brews were standardized.

After the mash was finished (sorry don't have the times or temps in front of me) the computer kindly pumped the malt over to the lautertun. We had a bit more to do at this point. Every 10 minutes we took a sample of the runoff that was being pumped from under the false bottom to measure the extract. Sensors in the line were also taking readings of turbidity. It was simple enough. Take a sample from the port, slowly so as not to disturb the sensor that was hooked to the pump sending the runoff to the kettle. Then you had to pour the sample into a double walled cylinder. This thing was made completely of metal and not the light kind either. The wort sat in the inner cylinder and cold water from the sink was run through the outer cylinder to cool it as we vigorously mixed the wort with what I think is a recent advance in brewing technology: a screen on a stick. Okay it was more like a metal screen on a metal stick which wasn't really so much a stick as a thick wire that was designed for mixing wort in the cylinder. Really. Anyway my lack of imagination aside, you mixed until the wort temp hit 20 then transferred it to a glass cylinder to take a hydrometer reading. Same as homebrewing except a bigger hydrometer. But you know what they say.

As sparging was finishing up we measured out our hop extract into a cup. It was like using a knife to get honey out of a can and get it all into a small metal cup. Anyway after measuring out enough exctract we dropped it in the hop... infuser... box... thing. Hot wort is pumped through it during the boil to get the hop extract into the kettle. In the picture the cup is sitting upside down on top of a nozzle that sprays the hot wort out of the sides.

Speaking of hops, have you ever tried eating hop pellets (if you haven't you should)? I mean they are bitter right but not so bitter that you have to spit them out (or do you?). Hop extract is waaaay more bitter. I don't say this from experience but we did hear a story about a student in one of the past Russian courses that made some boast or another about hops not being so bitter or some such. Apparently Russian beers are not big on bitterness by the way. Anyway someone gave him hop pellets, okay no problem. Then someone gave him extract. He put just a little bit on the tip of his tongue... aaaaand vomited all over the sink. Sounds bitter. I am curious. It's like when someone leaves a sign that says wet paint. Is that paint really wet? Maybe the sign is lying to you. Maybe you should touch it just to see. I mean I know extract is really bitter. That story clearly shows it really is bitter. But... is it? There is only one way to really find out. Mike found out.

Anyway back to the story. We boiled for 60 minutes with the only hop addition at the beginning of the boil. The kettle system used here utilized an external boiler. The wort is pumped out of the kettle to the boiler before circulating back to the kettle. Like I said previously the hot wort is also circulated through the hop extract. Just before the end of the boil we took a reading of the original gravity to be sure we were in our target range for fermentation, I think it was around 11.5%. After the boil we ran the wort in the whirlpool for 20 minutes to let everything collect in the middle and then took samples from the wort as it was pumped to the wort chiller. The sampling was a two person job with one person on the valve at one end of the hose and the other person holding the oversized nozzle (I think it was for keg filling) over an undersized bottle. It kind of seemed like a recipe for Qi to get burned. But, I didn't hear any screaming or even loud swearing so I guess it went okay. So the wort was pumped through a plate chiller where it was cooled to 11° C before making its way to our open fermentation tanks. We pitched the yeast and the day was done by 10:30pm. Not quite to Midnight Brewing standards of lateness but we came close.

It was a long day but alot of fun to finally brew, especially on a scale I have never had before as a homebrewer. Trust me I was trying to decide if I could fit a setup like this in my garage.. or living room... or maybe it's own section of the house. It got me thinking again about which direction to expand my homebrewing equipment in. Pumps? Automation? An actual metal stand with separate kettle, mash tun, burners, fittings, piping, thermometers, etc? There is something to be said for systems like brew-magic but then again what is homebrewing without getting your hands dirty?

In any case, that was day 1. Since day 1 was actually 3 days ago I will post something quick about the daily stuff tomorrow. On that note, why not pop open a beer for yourself and dream of installing a nice big pilot plant in your garage. Cheers!