Homebrew Term of The Day
On April - 26 - 2006Comments Off
Archive for April, 2006
Brix Scale
On April - 26 - 2006ADD COMMENTS
In beer making you usually hear of Original Gravities being 1.0 something and some winemakers will do the same. More common in winemaking is the Brix Scale. So, what is the Brix scale and why should I know it. Basically, it measures the sugar content of your juice and knowing that you can get an idea of how much alcohol your wine will produce. Here are a couple of definitions:
Brix scale from Answers.com
A system of measurement, given in degrees, of the amount of sugar present in grape juice. Similar systems are used in different countries, eg. the Balling, Baumé and Oechsle scales, all providing sugar content measurements that can be used to approximate the final alcohol content of wine being produced. See also must weight.
Another definiton from Onlineconversion.com
Balling: The name of a density scale for measuring sugar content in water base solutions. Since grape juice is primarily sugar and water, the balling scale was used for a quick and easy “sugar analysis” of juice. The Balling scale contained a slight inaccuracy however, and it was corrected by Dr Brix. Today the Brix scale is in actual use, but the terms Balling and Brix often are used interchangeably.
The Balling (Brix) scale is simplicity itself: Each degree is equivalent to 1 percent of sugar in the juice. For example, grape juice which measures 15.5 degrees on the Balling or Brix scale contains about 15.5% sugar.
Now that you know the Brix of your juice, you can easily fiqure out how much alcohol your juice will make by using this formula:
Brix count x .575
So if your brix count is 23, take 23 x .575, which equals 13.23. Your wine should be slightly over 13% alcohol content whenever it is done fermenting.
Technorati Tags : Wine, Winemaking, Brix, Sugar
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Priming Chart
On April - 25 - 2006Comments Off
Whenever I first began homebrewing I had a tough time fiquring out how much dextrose to use in priming my beer. After quite a few trials and errors (mostly errors) I did settle on 1.2 ounces per gallon of beer to be primed. If I had a 3 gallon batch, then I would need 3.6 ounces (1.2 x 3). I found this chart in The Homebrewer's Companion for different types of primers and how much to use.
The Homebrewer's Companion
For 5 Gallon Batches
Dextrose 3/4 cup
Honey 1 cup
Maple Syrup 1 1/4 cups
Brown Sugar 2/3 Cup
Cane or Beet Sugar 2/3 cup
Dried Malt Extract 1 1/4 cups
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Homebrew Term of the Day
On April - 25 - 2006Comments Off
Beer Convention
On April - 24 - 2006Comments Off
I got to attend the annual Pennsylvania Malt Beverage Distributor's Association's meeting in Pittsburgh over the past weekend. Besides having training in alcohol laws and underage drinking prevention, they also have some fun things. I attended the Beer School seminar, which was to teach beer sellers how beer was made. The idea being, if you know how it is made, then you can better inform your customers. The class was run by a couple of home brewers and there were a couple of micro brewer's brewmasters there.
After, the seminar, there were numerous booths set-up with samples from quite a few breweries. Of course, the major breweries were there, but the Pennsylvania Room was the best. I got to sample beers from the following Pennsylvania mircobreweries:
The best thing about the microbreweries is that they usually post on their websites what ingredients are in each beer. This allows us homebrewers a chance to replicate the many fine beers that are being made. Check out some of the sites.
Technorati Tags : Beer, Homebrewing, Homebrew, Stoudts, Lion, Erie, Victory, Troegs, Rock, Iron, Penn, Straub
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Hombrew Term of the Day
On April - 24 - 2006Comments Off
Needs to Hombrew
On April - 20 - 2006Comments Off
Thought that this would be an interesting read.
Letter Home: Last Call
Mar, 2006 by Sgt. William Andrews, 3rd Infantry Division, Lutifiyah, Iraq
A soldier in Iraq misses the comforts of brewing. 
The old adage, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” rings in my head continuously as I pore over the myriad of pages from brewing magazines, product catalogs and homebrew clubs on the Internet. The clacking sound of the plastic airlock of my fermenter, at first nearly inaudible, grows into a thunderous stomp in my head as my concoction grows to life. The pungent smell of malt and hops that permeate the house on brew day seem to me like the fond memories of fresh-cut grass people recall when asked of childhood. And as these distant mental images and olfactory delights wash over me now, there are some of you out there who let your opportunities squander away. Your brew pots, bottles and kegs lay empty — dry as the Iraqi landscape that I now sit in day after brewless day.
The old adage, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” rings in my head continuously as I pore over the myriad of pages from brewing magazines, product catalogs and homebrew clubs on the Internet. The clacking sound of the plastic airlock of my fermenter, at first nearly inaudible, grows into a thunderous stomp in my head as my concoction grows to life. The pungent smell of malt and hops that permeate the house on brew day seem to me like the fond memories of fresh-cut grass people recall when asked of childhood. And as these distant mental images and olfactory delights wash over me now, there are some of you out there who let your opportunities squander away. Your brew pots, bottles and kegs lay empty — dry as the Iraqi landscape that I now sit in day after brewless day. Read More at Brew Your Own
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