Andrew's Homebrew Log

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Beer Shelf Build

In my 5 years of brewing I have a accumulated something close to 700 bottles of beer. Storing this much beer poses a real challenge as, if you want it to be reasonably accessible, you end up having fairly short stacks of cases. Our house has a nice small, dark, and cool basement room which I've used for storage of much of my beer equipment but, given this much beer, I've ended up spreading out into most of the basement.

In order to more efficiently store the beer I have designed some large capacity beer shelving units which are capable of storing 160 12 oz bottles. These are capable of holding long necks, short stubby bottles, or 16 oz bottles (like those Russian River bottles with).

These are approximately 20 inches Tall x 27 inches long x 24 inches wide. I have a 72 inch wide heavy duty shelving unit which can hold 3 of these racks on each row. I ended up building 6 of these these which fit on the bottom two rows.

Some design choice notes:

I built these using melamine covered particle board. This is a strong and easy to work with wood. The melamine is a smooth coating that gives the particle board some protection from moisture damage.

I sealed the edges with a Primer/Sealer to further prevent moisture damage.
The edges of melamine can be very sharp so I used a 1/8th inch round over router bit to smooth the edges

The racks are sloped to encourage bottles to slide to the bottom. I found that a 9 degree slope is sufficient to cause either an empty or full bottle slide slowly to the bottom without falling.

I am using glue to connect all the pieces and then metal braces and screws for additional support. I found that using rabbit and dado cuts for the joints really helped with the assembly compared with just attempting do everything with butt joints with screws. The benefits justified the additional work.
I decided to setup dividers to keep beers in racks of two each. This makes it easier to load them as the bottles aren't being pushed far out of their row. I found that a 5.25 inch gap is sufficient to store two short stubby (Sierra Nevada or Lagunitas) bottles next to each other. 6 of the 8 rows are this width. One of the rows is 5.5 inches which is sufficient to store two Russian River bottles side by side
I added handles, which weren't in the design, to aid in carrying an empty rack to the shelving. Trying to pick up one of these with any beer in it would be a major mistake.
Bottom rack sticks out further than the upper rack so that bottom bottles can be pulled straight out

Parts List:

3 - White Melamine Shelf Board 47 3/4 x 23 3/4 x 3/4 in
1 - Medium Density Fiberboard 47 3/4 x 23 3/4 x 1/4 in
2 packages (need 6) - Mending Plate 2 in (4 pack)
1 package (need 16) - Corner Brace 1 1/2 in (20 pack)
1 package (need 76) - Wood Screws - Flat head Phillips - #6 x 3/4 in (100 pack)
Wood Glue
Kilz Original Primer and Sealer

Cut List:

From the first Melamine board we'll get one side and the top shelf:

From the second Melamine board we'll get the second side and the bottom shelf:

From the third Melamine board we'll get the cross pieces and the side braces (will have a 30 in of board left over):

From the MDF we'll get the dividers:

The Build:

I first cut the side pieces

I measure out and then cut the side pieces out of the board. I use a circular saw with a guide to cut straight lines

I cut handles into the side pieces to aid in moving the shelves. I use a pattern that I cut using a hole saw and then I can that into the sides by first using a drill to remove as much wood as possible from the interior and then a router with a pattern bit

Handle Template

Drilling out interior (did sort of a crappy job and left a log of cleanup for the router)

Pattern bit - guide wheels are at the bottom so I have put the template on the bottom of the work piece while cutting

Cutting to the pattern

Results - didn't do that clean a job. Will also consider moving the handle a bit next time

I cut the dado into the side pieces. This will be a slot for the shelves.

I first cut the top and bottom lines with the circular saw and guides

To bore out the wood in the middle to the 1/4 inch depth I tried with both a router with a pattern bit and with the circular saw and chisel. Circular saw with chisel is the faster way to do it I think.

I then work on the side braces

First I cut 4 2 inch strips. I use the table saw for this operation

The side pieces each get a 5/8th inch wide rabbit at a 1/4 inch depth

I cut the rabbits using a table saw. Having the 4 strips means that I can setup the table saw blade depths once and then cut the rabbit for all eight pieces at once. A couple pieces will be very short (1 3/4 in) so cutting the rabbit after the pieces have been milled to their final length would be somewhat dangerous
First I find the cut 5/8th of an inch into the board at a depth of 1/4 in. I use the table saw miter gauge and fence to dial this in and make a repeatable cut

Then I cut out the rabbit by cutting the 5/8th of an inch depth 1/4 into the board in the vertical direction

I then cut the side braces out (2 at 1 3/4, 4 at 4 1/4, and 2 at 5 1/4 inches)

I then attached the side braces to the sides

Measured the bottom of the side braces 2 3/4 in up from the bottom of the track

I'll be securing these with dowel pins and glue
Lined up the side and the brace and made a mark for the first dowel pin
Drilled two holes for each brace using a dowel jig

Glued and clamped the braces to the side

Once the glue dries I apply a 1/8th inch radius round over to all edges of the sides except the rabbits and dado. A router is used to do this

I then apply white primer/sealer to all exposed particle board

I then cut the shelf pieces

I used my circular saw to cut to length
Then I used my table saw to cut to width

I then round over the edges
Next I paint the particle board with the sealer

I then cut out the cross pieces

Cut 2 inch strips of roughly 24 inches length using the table saw
Cut them to the correct length - 22.5 inches (exactly the same width as the shelf pieces)
Applied a 1/8th inch round over with my router to the long edged (short edges not included in this). We cut the round over at this point so that we don't have to deal with the slots
Cut a rabbit into both ends of the pieces 1/8th in deep and 1/4 inch wide. I dial in the depth and the furthest inward location and then reduce the distance to chuck out the wood. Checked my work on the side braces as I went.

This shows the dry fit of the connection between cross piece and side brace

Cut the slots for the dividers. I will be gluing these in but I'd also like them tight enough to stay put on their own. I sneak up on the cut to get the perfect width

I first cut to two outside slots which are 5 1/2 inches from the ends (this includes the 1/4 inch rabbit

I next cut the middle piece which is 11 1/4 inch from one of the sides

I then paint these pieces

I then start assembly of the rack. There are many ways to do this and I tried several. The way I outline below was the easiest of the methods but was still a bit of a pain

Installed mending plates across the joints between side and side brace pieces. This is just a bit of extra support as I don't really trust the glue or dowels into this particle board. The smallest of the side braces doesn't get a mending plate as the corner brace will span the joint

Then I installed the cross pieces with the rack laying on its side. I glued and then clamped them in place and used a framing square to ensure they were clamped properly. This required a little adjustment but, for the most part, the rabbit joints held the pieces roughly square. I let this dry over night.

Cross pieces being clamped

I then applied glue to the two bottom pieces, the other side piece, and the remaining end of the cross pieces and then clamped this all together. Let this dry over night

I waited until after the assembly had completed on my final version to install corner braces on the the joints between side brace and cross pieces. The cross piece are difficult to screw in precisely and, if not done right, could pull things out of square. Gluing the pieces first while ensuring that everything is square and then installing the braces afterwards as extra support seemed like the best approach.
Finally, I installed corner braces on the bottom pieces

I then make the dividers

First cut 2 inch strips out of the MDF

Then cut these down to length. I try to get it as close to possible in length for each slot so that they fit very tight.
I apply a small amount of glue to the pieces to secure them in the slots. Depending on how close you got to the right size it may take some encouragement to get these down into the slots - a rubber mallet helps. Tighter is better.

Lessons Learned:

The cross support pieces are pretty fragile before adding the divider pieces. I ended up cracking a couple during movement of the mostly assembled rack. I applied mending plates over the crack and was able to salvage both pieces.

Sunday, March 31, 2019

Sour Blonde (2018) - Tasting Notes

This was my first Sour Blonde blend using beers that I brewed back in 2015 and 2016. I chose beers to get the most complex product I could. I ended up selecting three that seemed to have the most complimentary and interesting flavors.

I blended the batch in June 2018 and then aged it together for 4 months before bottling in October 2018. The beer wasn't really all that sour going into the bottles but it seems to have gotten a bit more acidic after 5 months spent in the bottle.

These beers were not spontaneously fermented but they're intended to produce a lambic like beer. This is a high bar to clear. I think I got close enough to be satisfied with this first attempt.

Tasting Notes:

Aroma:

Musty and earth aroma along with some overripe fruit. Maybe get some hay as well which is a bit weird

Appearance:

Light gold and pretty clear if you don't end up pouring in the dregs. Pours with a couple finger head that disappears almost immediately

Flavor:

Fruity with a slight sourness up front. Brett character kicks in next (earthy, musty, aged kind of flavors). Also get a slight mineral character. The finish has a lingering sour flavor along with a lemon-like flavor.

Mouthfeel:

Light bodied. It is very dry and refreshing. Really easy drinking. Leaves a slight prickling on the tongue.

Overall:

The beer has some interesting flavors and aromas which give it complexity. It is fairly mild in terms of flavor intensity which is okay. I brings enough to the table to be interesting (although certainly not as interesting as many of the Belgian Lambic I've tried). The sourness level in the beer is very pleasing - firm enough to make it's presence felt but never overwhelming. It makes for a very refreshing beer.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Russian Imperial Stout with Bourbon Soaked Oak - Take II

Last year I attempted to clone the famous Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout which is a wonderfully intense whiskey barrel aged beer. My version was pretty close (and very nice) but it didn't match the intense whiskey character of the original. I've decided to try again this year to see if I could get a bit closer.

Last year I used 4 oz of white oak which I'd toasted at 450 F, charred, and then soaked in 90 Proof (45% ABV) Makers Mark whiskey for about 4 months. Whiskey is aged in the barrel at closer to 60% ABV and then watered down to bottling strength. This higher ABV (and stronger flavored) barrel strength whiskey is what BCBS is being flavored with. I'm thinking this is probably the most likely culprit for the intensity difference between my clone and the original.

Over the last year I've been soaking oak (prepared the same way as last year) in a mix of 2/3 95% Everclear and 1/3 Spring Water which is about 63% ABV. This is right in the range of cask strength whiskey. I kept this in the attic over the summer and winter months and, as evidenced by the oak sinking to the bottom and the liquid changing from clear to very dark, there has been a lot of penetration into the oak. I am going to start out with a 4 oz piece of oak this year and then, if I find more is needed, I have two additional oz that I can add.

Goose Island store their barrels in a non-climate controlled warehouse to approximate the aging conditions of the whiskey. This should, in theory, drive the beer to be pushed and pulled out of the wood to the same depths the whiskey went and allow for more extraction of flavor. Based on this I aged my beer in one of the hotter portions of the house and it did seem like the levels of flavor extraction improved as it got warmer out. This year I'm going to try aging the beer up in the hot attic which I'm thinking should drive more penetration of the beer into the oak.

Like last year I'll be aging in a bucket fermenter. I plan to use one with no airlock (will have a hard bung) to allow some pressure to build. This will run some risk of bursting the bucket so I'll be sure to check on it regularly to assess the pressure situation - will vent off some pressure if necessary.

The recipe this year is just about the same as last time as the base beer was very nice. The only difference this time is that I'm using black patent, which was specified in the Goose Island recipe, rather than debittered-black malt specified by somebody else's clone recipe. I'm thinking this could have been a contributor to the sharper flavor of the original.

I'll also be mashing a bit lower this time to get the beer to finish closer to the target 1.030 (mine finished at 1.036 last year with a 155 F mash. Will shoot for 154 F this time.

Recipe Details:

Grain:

24 lb 2 Row
8 lb Light Munich
1.5 lb Chocolate Malt
1.5 lb Crystal 60L
1.5 lb Roasted Barley
12 oz Black Patent
4 oz Acid Malt

Hops:

1 oz Magnum (Pellet 11.8% AA) at 60 min
1 oz Summit (Pellet 17.1 % AA) at 60 min

Yeast:

2 Packs of US-05 "Chico" Ale Yeast (2nd Pitch for one pack)

Water:

20 gal Spring Water
2 gal Tap Water
2 tsp CaCl
2 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

Batch Size:

7 gal (Target 6 gal)

Mash:

154 for 60 min (154 F for 60 min)

Boil:

4 hrs and 45 min (Target 4 hrs)

Fermentation Temperature:

68 F

Primary Duration:

1 Month

Secondary Duration

6-8 Months

Results:

1.136 (Target 1.130)

Efficiency:

7.2 (Target 58%)

1.055 (Target 1.030)

Apparent Attenuation:

57% (Target 67%)

ABV:

12.81% (Target 13.73%)

Brewing Notes:

3/9/19 - Brewday - 9:45 AM to 6:30 PM - Including setup and cleanup

Brought 7 gal of spring water and 2 gal of tap water up to 190 F
Milled half the grain for the first mash. Added half the CaCl and Gypsum to the mash

Added 7 gal of water to the mash tun
Cycled this through the Grant and RIMS until the system had normalized to 165 F
Added the grain - stirred well to eliminate dough balls
Cycled with the RIMS and mashed for 60 min - the temperature was 154 F for most of the mash
Added 5 more gal of spring water to the HLT for the sparge and heated this up to 190 F
Slowly drained the mast tun into the boil kettle. Added water to the top of the mash as I went. Sparged until I ended up with 8.5 gal in the boil kettle
I started heating the boil kettle after collecting 3 gal. Had it to a boil shortly after the sparge completed
Boiled for 2 hrs

There was a lot of hot break for the first 30 min. I had a few minor boil overs. I had adjust the heat throughout to limit this

I saved off the remaining wort from the mash tun for use in the next mash (had about 2 gal)
Heated 7 gal of water in the HLT for the next strike. Let this get up to 170 F
Milled the second half of the grain. Added the other half of CaCl and Gypsum to the milled grain.
With about an hr and 10 min left in the boil I transferred water and the extra wort from the previous mash to the mash tun until I had 6 gal. I cycled this through the RIMS for 10 min. The temperature fell to 149 F. I cycled for 15 more min with the RIMS set to 170 F.
I slowly added the grain with the RIMS running over the 15 min extra cycle and it slowly crept up to 153 F.
Mashed for 60 min - the temperature got up to 156 F with 30 min left
Heated 5 gal of sparge water up to 190 F
At the end of the 2 hr boil I had about 3 gal of beer. Measured the gravity as being above the 32 brix limit
Sparged the second mash until I had 11 gal in the boil kettle

Started heating after I had 4 gal. Had it to a boil prior to the end of the sparge
Boiled for 2 more hrs
Added hops with 1 hr left
Measured the gravity at 50 min at 29 brix. I probably have about 8 gal. My target is about 30 brix so I think I'll be a bit higher than target at the end of the boil. I will top up with spring water if necessary.
I've been unable to run the burner at full flame due to the large amount of hot break that builds threatening boil overs. This slowed the boil off rate. Had about 7 gal of beer at the end of the 4 hr boil. Decided to extend it by 30 min.
Added Irish Moss with 15 min left
Put in the wort chiller to sanitize with 5 min left
At the end of the boil I chilled the beer down to 75 F
Rehydrated two packets of US-05 in 100 F spring water for about an hr

Transferred the beer into two fermenters. I split it so there were 3 gal in each. Let it drop a foot or so to aerate. Pitched the yeast during the transfer.

Measured the gravity with my hydrometer as being 1.170. I was shooting for 1.130 so I majorly overshot. I need to add 1.5 gal to the beer to get to 1.135.
Added 1 gal of tap water split between the two and checked with my refractometer. Measured the beers as 31 and 32 brix after. This is 1.138 and 1.134. I think this is close enough - I'm going to skip the extra half gal.
Moved the fermenters into my fermentation chamber with a reptile heating pad. This should hopefully keep it at the desired 68 F. I'll allow it to ramp up after a few days.

3/10/19 - The airlock was bubbling lightly by this evening
3/17/19 - Airlock activity has faded to almost nothing. Will give this another week and then combine the two batches,
3/22/19 - Checked on the beer. The krausen has fallen and there are some bubble come up from the bottom. May still be wrapping up
3/29/19 - Combined the two beers into the stainless fermenter. Transferred using an auto-siphon. The beer is almost to the top of the fermenter. Moved this out of the chest freezer and into the mid-60's basement to finish up.

4/24/19 - Moved the beer to my chest freezer to cold crash at 38 F
4/28/19 - Added half a tsp of gelatin dissolved in hot water to drop any remaining yeast
4/28/19 - Transferred the beer into a bucket fermenter with the 4 oz of charred oak. I ended up with about 5.5 gal of beer in secondary. I measured the gravity of the beer as 1.064 so we're quite a bit above the target of 1.040. Moved the bucket fermenter up to the hot attic to age for the next 6 months or so. The fermenter has no airlock or bung so pressure will build up in there.

8/3/2019 - Took a sample after about 3 months aging with oak up in my hot attic and compared with 2017 BCBS. Mine is thicker and maltier than the real thing. The beer has a nice whiskey character but the BCBS has a much firmer spirit presence. I have 4 oz of oak in the beer at the moment. I'm going to add 2 more oz of charred and whiskey soaked oak for the remaining 3-4 months of aging

11/28/19 - Measured the gravity as 1.055. It has a really lovely dark chocolate and roasted flavor. Whiskey and oak are present but in the background. Its pretty sweet still. Sampled the beer next to BCBS 2017 and found mine to have a lot less of an alcohol presence like last year. I'm considering adding a bit of the barrel proof spirit I've been using to age the oak with to the beer at bottling. Assessed the impact of adding small amounts to a quarter cup of the beer. It seemed like something close to 1/2 tsp of the 60% barrel aged spirit per 1/4 cup of beer was needed to get my beer close to the level of boozyness that BCBS achieves. I have about 6 gal of beer. At 1/2 tsp per 1/4 cup this would require the addition of 4 cups of the spirit (This is 96 cups or 384 1/4 cups in 6 gal which would be 384 1/2 tsp or 192 tsp). My homemade whiskey is quite a bit more oaky than a commercial version. Used at the 4 cup per 6 gal level the oak is very prominent. I think I may back off to 3 cups per 6 gal which doesn't match to alcohol presence (but still gets close) and makes a better balance between beer and oak.

12/8/19 - Bottled the beer today with 4 oz of priming sugar, 1 package of Red Star Premier Cuvee Champagne yeast, and 3 cups of 60% alcohol I aged with oak (I watered this down with about 2/3 Everclear and water mix to reduce the oak flavor. Ended up with almost 6 gal which netted me 42 15 oz bottles
8/9/20 - Tasting Notes - A really rich and boldly flavored beer with a broad array of flavors which bring a nice complexity. Really nice sipping beer. Judged on its own merits, it's a really nice beer. I believe the whiskey character is a bit too far in the background to bare much resemblance to BCBS (will explore that further in a direct vertical tasting soon). Still happy to drink this beer and not unhappy that I may have missed the mark a bit.
9/6/20 - Vertical tasting comparing this to the real BCBS performed. This beer, though delicious, is much more malty than the real thing and is far off in terms of whiskey character.