Topo Chico is a delicious sparkling mineral water known for it’s taste and BITE. My favorite thing about Topo Chico is the carbonic bite it provides, so I recommend carbing and serving this at 35psi or even higher! Below is a list of the ingredients needed to mimic the exact water profile of Topo Chico:
All ingredients below can be purchased at MoreBeer!’s website
Weigh out your minerals and then mix it into your cold RO or distilled water. For best results, we recommend that you mix your water BEFORE carbonating. We force carbonate and serve our water at 35psi.
This recipe is intended to be used with reverse osmosis or distilled water. Adding these minerals to your city or well water WILL NOT RESULT in an accurate Topo Chico clone due to the existing minerals in your water supply.
About Homebrew Happy Hour: Homebrew Happy Hour started as a podcast in 2015, but has evolved into a complete resource for homebrewers with thorough articles, how to videos, and much more. Originally hosted by Joshua Steubing and the founder/President of Kegconnection.com, Todd Burns. In 2016 we added James Carlson, Director of Operations at CMBecker, as a main cohost in our lineup, and we frequently feature guest hosts from time to time.
Price, promotions and availability can change quickly. Check the product page for current price, description and availability. tag:kctopochico
We’ve been accused of old dogs who reject new tricks but we’ve been trying to change things up lately. For example, we started implementing pressure fermentation and LOVED the results. So, when a podcast listener asked about overnight mashing, we decided to try it out ourselves.
Our results might surprise you!
Watch as James Carlson from CMBecker shows the way we try out overnight mashing. Please let us know in the comments how YOU do it; do you keep your heat source on and recirculation on too? Do you find that an Igloo style cooler maintains heat the best if you aren’t doing electric brewing?
Brautag | 3 Vessel HERMS 20 Gallon Brewing System from Keg Connection
More Info
From the product description, check product page for current description, price and availability:
To redeem your FREE 15 gallon recipe kit, decide which kit you’d like from our complete selection (CLICK HERE) and simply write it in the “ORDER NOTES” section when you’re checking out with your Brautag in your cart. You’ll also need to write in the “ORDER NOTES” section which strain of Imperial Yeast you’d like us to send with your 15 gallon recipe kit (CLICK HERE TO SEE IMPERIAL YEAST). Your 1-year membership to Brewer’s Friend PREMIUM will be registered by us using the email address you’ve given us as your Kegconnection account. Registration confirmation from BrewersFriend will be emailed to you as soon as registration is complete.
Brautag is German for “Brew Day” and this is the perfect system for you to brew your best beer yet! HERMS stands for Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System. This is our favorite style of brewing system because it uses indirect heat to warm up your mash. This eliminates issues with scorched grain and gives its user very consistent brewing temperatures. The Brautag has three 20 gallon kettles and is the perfect size for 15 gallon batches.
The Brautag is a collaboration between the team behind the Homebrew Happy Hour podcast – and it has been a labor of love! This system was developed from the ground up and is the result of several years of building HERMS systems and brewing on them. The goal with this system is to allow someone to get it set up and brewing quickly and easily. The Brautag has been designed to be easy to brew on and this has been achieved by using very intuitive controllers coupled with videos and written documentation. For detailed information on this system please visit www.brautag.com or watch the video below!
What’s Included:
3 premium stianless steel Brautag 20 gallon kettles with durable ball valves and easy to use stainless steel quick connects – It makes swapping hoses around a breeze!
Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) is fitted with a 50′ half inch stainless steel recirculating HERMS coil for the most effective form of heat exchange.
Mash Tun comes with two premium quick connect attachments for sparging and a durable false bottom to ensure clear recirculation for your mash and sparge.
Boil kettle is fitted with premium components such as the tri-clamp fitted immersive heating element (which makes it easy to remove for cleaning or replacement) and stainless steel valves with quick connects.
The Brautag controller is an innovative no-nonsense controller developed to make your brew day better. It’s easy to understand which makes it easier for you to fully control the brewing process. Dial in your temperatures with ease and control the entire process at the flick of a switch or push of a button.
Special Thanks to Rex Slagel for this Guest Post! Read more about Rex below
Coupon! 10% Off Site-Wide
Rex is offering 10% Off Site-Wide for readers of this article. That includes the full lineup of ready made Brew Bags, custom made Brew Bags, Pulleys and accessories. Use promo code FET8AD1SDR4S to get the discount – visit brewinabag.com
Bobby from Brew Hardware has put together a video explaining different types of connections available for homebrewers.
Brew Hardware offers an extensive selection of fittings and lots more. A lot of unique offerings and some very well thought out custom items of Bobby’s design.
About, from Brew Hardware: “This tool creates a flared opening in kettle walls, bottoms, lids, etc for install of 1.5″ TC weld ferrules. Once the ferrule is installed, it is well prepped to receive a bead of silver solder for strong permanent (or not) install.”
Burnt Belgian Candi Syrup. Description via William’s Brewing: “This imported Belgian candi syrup has a lovibond rating of 400, and is made from pure Belgian beet sugar. Provides a burnt sugar flavor, which is surprisingly agreeable when used in Stouts and Belgian Dark Strongs. Also used to flavor Whisky Sour cocktails. Use 1/2 to 1 lb. per 5 gallon batch of beer. One pound dissolved in 1 gallon of water yields a starting gravity of 1.032.”
The product page also has a recipe for Burnt Syrup Stout. The recipe includes:
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Bobby from Brew Hardware has put together a video explaining different types of connections available for homebrewers.
Brew Hardware offers an extensive selection of fittings and lots more. A lot of unique offerings and some very well thought out custom items of Bobby’s design.
Bobby spends over a half hour going into detail on most of the plumbing and accessory connection options you have to choose from. If this video doesn’t help you figure out the best parts for your brewery, nothing will. The pros and cons are discussed including utility, scalability, cost and value of each choice.
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To learn more about Induction Brewing, check out BYO’s article, linked below. As of this update it is available for free. If that changes you can sign up for a free trial account to take a look at it.
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Check sale or product page for current availability & pricing
Beyond specific brewery rules – Example: We only fill our branded growlers OR we’ll put our sticker on your growler if you bring a growler from another brewery, growler laws vary. They vary state by state and sometimes municipality by municipality. For example, some states allow unlabeled growlers to be filled while others do not. There are also questions on what different types of establishments (breweries, retail outlets, etc) can legally fill growlers.
The Brewers Association has created a database of U.S. state laws relating to “growlers,” i.e., draft beer packaged for off premises consumption by the manufacturing brewery.
Note that there are a lot of factors and things change. It’s probably best to confirm specific requirements with the establishment you plan to visit.
Funkwerks’ 5 Tips for Kettle Sours
By Dave Carpenter
“Funkwerks, a saison-focused craft brewery in Fort Collins, Colo., has racked up more than its fair share of awards since opening in December 2010. Co-founders Brad Lincoln and Gordon Schuck took home gold and silver medals at the 2011 and 2012 Great American Beer Festivals (GABFs), respectively, for their flagship Saison, and the brewery won gold for Deceit (a Belgian-style golden strong ale) and was named Small Brewing Company of the Year at the 2012 GABF.
In 2014, Deceit won a World Beer Cup silver and Raspberry Provincial took home GABF gold. Raspberry Provincial is a kettle sour, which is a beer that relies on bacterial souring pre-boil to achieve its tart, refreshing character. Unlike, say, traditional lambic, which requires months or years of aging with a mix of microbes to achieve a complex, funky sourness, a kettle-soured beer needs only a day or two to gain a pleasant lactic acid tang. The method isn’t ideal for Flemish red, oud bruin, and lambic-style ales, but it’s perfect for gose, Berliner weisse, and other “clean sour” styles that primarily exhibit a lactic character.” – Read the complete article on the Homebrewer’s Association’s website
If you’re not a member of the American Homebrewer’s Association, I think you should consider joining – Here’s Why
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“Simply put, kombucha is fermented tea. A culture of bacteria called SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), sometimes called “the mother,” consumes the sugar in a fermentation process just like yeast does in beer. The result is a tangy, semi-sweet fermented tea with a very low level of alcohol–typically below 1% ABV. It can be carbonated, making for a bubbly elixir, and combined with other ingredients like fruit or spices to open up even more flavor possibilities.” – Read the complete article with step by step directions and pictures
If you’re not a member of the American Homebrewer’s Association, I think you should consider joining – Here’s Why
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You often have posts about deals on Fermwrap style heaters. I’d like to alert your readers about an option that is lower cost and I believe superior to any deals I have ever seen posted. Most Fermwraps are made with Flexwatt heater tape. Another brand of heat tape is THG Heat Tape, which I have seen people post on both reptile and brewing forums as being superior to Flexwatt; I have both and find it to be more durable. Regardless, Pangea Reptile sells the 12″ tape for $3/foot. They also sell the cord and connecting clips and will install it for only $4.99 more. They offer flat-rate shipping of only $4.99, so even if you order only one 12×24 wrap, it’s only $15.98 shipped. If you order more, or make one from smaller width tape, available in 3, 4, 6, or 12″, then the savings are even more. For instance, I ordered 5′ of tape and had them make two 30″ wraps, which gives more uniform coverage around a typical fermenter. Of course, you can DIY the cord if absolute lowest cost is important.
Note: This is a DIY project. Make sure you choose appropriate materials for your application. Contact manufacturer with questions. Prices are deemed accurate as of this posting, check Pangea Reptile for up to the minute price, availability and description.
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“Clean beer lines are integral to maintaining the quality of craft beer.
Small and independent craft brewers devote a lot of time, effort and resources to make the best possible beer for consumers. Ingredients are handpicked, the latest technological advances in brewing are used and batches of beer are tested throughout the process to ensure superior quality. That hard work can be ruined in the time it takes the beer to travel from the keg to the glass if the draught system/lines have not been properly cleaned and maintained.”
At a minimum, you should clean your draught line every two weeks with an alkaline detergent cleaner to remove protein and films that build up quickly.
The cleaning chemical should be recirculated through the product line for a minimum of 15 minutes at a velocity up to two gallons/minute. Soaking product lines is not recommended, but the cleaning solution should be left in-line for at least 20 minutes if recirculation is not an option.
All faucets should be completely disassembled and cleaned every two weeks. Make sure to replace any damaged seals or gaskets.
Acid cleaning should be performed quarterly to remove inorganic compounds such as “beer stone,” which are mineral deposits.
All vinyl jumpers and vinyl direct draw lines should be replaced annually.
Couplers should be replaced based on condition. Inspect the coupler bottom seal and O-rings, to make sure they are properly lubricated with a food-grade lubricant.
Good quality, well-maintained couplers, faucets and shanks can last a lifetime. Parts that are 100 percent stainless steel are the most reliable and will provide the best quality experience for your staff and customers.
Always make sure to rinse lines with clean water after cleaning!
Draught lines may need to be replaced after pouring root beer, fruit or pepper-flavored beers, sour beers, margaritas or ciders in order to avoid permanent flavor influence.
Note that those guidelines are written from the commercial perspective, although all concepts still hold true, with a little tweaking as it makes sense to your setup.
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A notable percentage of people have some motivation to reduce or completely eliminate gluten intake. Reasons vary from dietary choice to gluten sensitivity to serious medical conditions including auto-immune diseases like Celiac Disease. This may describe you or a friend or family member.
Recently Gluten Free Watchdog tested gluten content of a pitch of White Labs Liquid Yeast. White Labs does not mark their yeast gluten free. However they do say that yeast slurry in the package is below 20 ppm (their analysis is 12 ppm). Under 20 ppm is considered gluten free, although some products (like yeast made with malted, could not legally be labeled gluten free in the US).
Gluten Free Watchdog, found “well above 20 parts per million”
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MoreBeer’s Off Flavors in Beer: Their Causes & How to Avoid Them goes through a number of off flavors, describing each, giving possible causes and tips for avoiding.
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Indeed Brewing Company has made recipes for both Day Tripper Pale and and Midnight Ryder Black IPA (both all grain and extract) are on their site.
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If you don’t follow Scott Janish… I think you should I really enjoy his homebrewing articles. Many are analytical in nature. Check out his website (link below) and also check him out on Twitter at @scottjanish.
Scott put up a new article… “Brewing With Millet”. For that… He sources grains from Gluten Free Homebrewing, he also uses a Spunding Valve to dry hop under pressure.
Brewing with Millet – NEIPA with 007 and Mandarina Bavaria Dry Hopped Under Pressure by Scott Janish
Millet belongs to the same grass family as barley, maize, and sorghum. It’s said to be a versatile crop because of its ability to thrive in harsh conditions. One source mentioned that millet is one of the oldest crops known to humans, possibly dating back to 2800 B.C! There are numerous varieties of millet, with proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) “common millet” is likely what you will find at a place like Whole Foods or a local organic market in bulk (this is what I was able to find). There doesn’t appear to be a vast amount of research done on brewing with millet, but from what I could locate, it does appear to produce acceptable beers. Across the literature, millet was often compared very closely to sorghum, which has been used in many parts of the world mainly in European-type lagers.
One reason some might want to experiment brewing beers with millet is because it’s gluten-free. Other carb-rich grains that could be used in brewing that don’t contain gluten are buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa (I’ve experimented with quinoa with good results, although as a part of a barley grist). Oats can be tolerated by most, but not all people intolerant to gluten. The gluten content of beers is fairly low considering the high amounts present early in the brewing process (6,864 ppm present in wort going all the way down to around 200ppm in finished beer or around 1.9%). [KEEP READING – on Scott Janish.com]
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