Written by Tristan Fanning

Last week I was invited up to the Spike factory in Milwaukee Wisconsin to check out their manufacturing facility and look at their Spike Trio 3 vessel brewing system.   My first impression walking into Spike was like a kid in in a candy store.  Awesome Stainless homebrewing equipment stacked floor to ceiling!

Product displays and testing

On to the factory!   

The factory is sectioned off into a few different spaces.   First up is the fabrication area,  when I visited they were welding some of the massive parts that make up their nano brewing system.

The next stop was where fittings would get welded on to the kettles and fermenters.  One thing we like at Perfect Brewing Supply about spike is that they weld their fittings rather than using weldless fittings which can leak and this is where that magic happens!

The final stop in the factory is polishing.  When you see a spike kettle in person its very highly polished stainless steel and they do all of that in this stop.

In conclusion

A huge thank you to Spike for having me up! The crew at Spike was fantastic, they are very knowledgeable on their products and are very friendly. 

Written by Tristan Fanning

Day of Juice Pick Up

1. Check to make sure you have all your equipment. We sell Wine making starter kits that has everything you need.

2. Clean and sanitize all your winemaking tools, supplies and equipment

3. Transfer the must (your unfermented wine) to your fermenter.

4. During the transfer, add Potassium Metabisulfate solution (at an approximate rate of 1/4 tsp per 5 gallon). Mix well. 

5. Take a sample to test for specific gravity (Brix), acidity and pH. Record the results. (Ask one of the PBS Crew if you have not tested wine before or are unsure of what numbers to record)

6. Keep in a cool place overnight. 

Day after juice pickup

Get your yeast ready to make wine.

1.Adjust the acidity as necessary using tartaric acid. Reference the chart that comes in the Acid Test Kit for recommended levels. 

2. Prepare yeast 

• Heat about 50 mL distilled or non chlorinated water to 108 °F (42 °C). 
• Mix the Go-Ferm into the water to make a suspension. 
• Take the temperature. Pitch the yeast when the suspension is 104 °F (40 °C). 
• Sprinkle the yeast on the surface and gently mix so that no clumps exist. 
• Let sit for 15 minutes undisturbed. 

3. Acclimate Your Yeast (Match Temperature of Yeast to Must)

• Measure the temperature of the yeast suspension. 
• Measure the temperature of the must. 
• Do not add the yeast to your cool juice if the temperature of the yeast and the must temperature difference exceeds 15 °F (8 °C). To avoid temperature shock, acclimate your yeast by taking about 10 mL of the must juice and adding it to the yeast suspension. 
• Wait 15 minutes and measure the temperature again. Do this until you are within the specified temperature range. 
• Do not let the yeast sit in the original water suspension for longer than 20 minutes.

4. When the yeast is ready, add it to the fermenter and mix.

Must to Wine – Fermentation Time!

During the Next One to Two Days

1. Signs of fermentation should start to appear. This will appear as some foaming on the must surface and activity in the airlock.

Daily Actions

2. Monitor the Brix and temperature at least once a day. 

3. This is to ensure that the temperature is within the temperature range of the specific yeast that you have selected. 

4. When the specific gravity or Brix is about 1/3 of the way down from your original gravity (after about a 1/3 sugar depletion) add Fermaid K or other yeast nutrient. 

• Disolve in warm non chlorinated water, add, and mix. 
• Mix slowly, at this point you may have a significant amount of Co2 that has been absorbed into the wine. 

Speaking from experience, if you add and stir too quickly it may erupt and you will have a mess and less wine!

Transfer the wine to a Carboy (Approximately 2 Weeks)

1. When your gravity is down to approximately 1.000 or lower, transfer into the appropriate carboy.  Make sure you do not have any headspace in the carboy.

2. If you have reached your final gravity, which is based on personal preference, mix approximately 1/2 tsp per gallon of wine of Potassium Sorbate with enough non chlorinated water to dissolve, and add to the wine         

• .994 – .996  dry            .
• 996 – 1.00 is off dry to sweet         
• 1.000 and higher is sweet   

Use your senses and taste the wine to see if you like the way it tastes.

*If you have not reached your final gravity at this time – wait longer and test every 2 days. It will not move fast at this point.  

Over the Next YEAR (Clarify, De-Gas, Add Wood or Barrel and Bottle)

1. Let the wine sit in a cool dark area for 1 to 12 months.  Make sure to maintain sanitation solution in the airlock during the aging process.

2. Rack the wine at least twice over 3-4 months into sanitized vessels to clarify and de-gas. 

• After you rack your wine for the last time you can choose to Add Wood to your wine or Barrel. 
• Add Wood and let set for an additional 3 – 4 months for preferred taste. Not sure which wood to use, read our article here.

3. Once the wine is cleared, about 8 months after fermentation, get ready to bottle. 

• 2 – 3 Days before bottling – you may want to add an additional clarifying agent (Super Klear).

4. Bottle Your Wine! (or Box it)

• If all has gone well to this point, given the quantity made, filter (optional) the wine, and then bottle. 
• Maintain sanitary conditions while bottling. 

 

Enjoy! Once bottled, periodically check your work by opening a bottle to enjoy with friends.

Written by Tristan Fanning

Lager beers are making a comeback in the world of craft beer and as a home-brewer you have the ability to make stunning lagers that can be hard to find in the commercial beer world.   This is a step by step guide on how to ferment your lager beer along with some tips and tricks to keep your wort in the right temperature range without expensive equipment.

Lager Fermentation Step 1 starts on brew day:

Chill your wort to as cold as you can get it as rapidly as possible while it is still in the kettle.  This can be achieved with a wort chiller, or an ice bath in your sink. Since this is a lager, it is recommended to chill all the way to the low 50s before adding your yeast, but if that’s not possible, it’s not the end of the world.

Top your beer up to 5 gallons with more water if needed. Hint: Using cold, clean water can help you finish chilling the wort to the ideal 50*F.

Once you have gotten your wort as cold as your equipment will allow, Gently pour your wort into your primary fermenter being careful to leave as much of the sludge at the bottom in your kettle as possible. 

Step 2: Pitch your yeast

Vigorously stir your wort to introduce as much oxygen as possible into the wort.  This is the ONLY time you want to get oxygen in your beer.

Put your unopened yeast pack(s) into your bucket of sanitizer.  Place your sanitized hydrometer into your wort and take an original gravity reading.

Sanitize your Scissors and yeast pouch by dipping in sanitizer.

Once your wort is between 50-60 degrees F pitch your yeast by pouring your yeast into the wort. Important, if your wort is outside of this temperature range do not pitch the yeast until it is in the temperature range.

Seal the top of your fermenter and put an airlock partially filled with sanitizer into the hole on top.

Step 3: Ferment for 7-14 days

Keep your wort in the 50-55 degree range for 7-14 days while the beer ferments. There are a few ways to do this.

• Put the fermenter in a cool part of the house such as the basement or the garage in the cooler months.
• Keep the fermenter in a water bath
• Put a wet T-shirt or over the fermenter (this relies on the magic of evaporative cooling to keep the fermenter cool.)
• Rent lagering space at Perfect Brewing Supply

When the airlock stops bubbling and the yeast cake has dropped to the bottom, remove the lid and take a reading with your hydrometer. 
If you have reached your desired final gravity (give or take a couple points) you are ready to rack it over into your secondary fermenter.

Step 4: Lagering time!

What sets lager beers apart from thier Ale counterparts is their incredible clarity and crispness. This is where that clarity is generated, the lagering process. Lagering is a fancy term for cold storage which allows the beer to become crystal clear.

Use your auto-siphon to gently rack the beer into your secondary fermenter, leaving as much of the trub behind as possible. For lagers your secondary fermenter can be a carboy or your serving keg.

Seal the fermenter and place it in a cold spot for the lagering phase. Traditionally, lagers are stored in the 32-40F range for 4-6 weeks. The longer the beer is lagered, typically, the cleaner and crisper the beer will get. Ideally, brew another beer now so the wait is less excruciating next time.

Written by Tristan Fanning

A proper balance of alcohol, acid and PH level is essential to make a fine wine that will not spoil. A lot of California grapes tend to be sweet enough to make a sufficient amount of alcohol but they tend to have low acid levels. If you do not use various commercial acid additives, blend into the wine a high acid variety.  Always use some sort of bisulfate when you are making the wine and each time you are racking or bottling.  Without bisulfate the wine will probably oxidize (turn brownish with a sherry taste) or turn acidic (vinegary). Another good practice is to use commercial yeast to ferment your wine. Commercial yeast that is made for the type of wine you desire will help the grapes produce that wine. In the process of using commercial yeast you will also destroy any bad yeast spores that are present.

Popular Burgundy Grape blends 

Dry, dark colored, full-bodied red wine that is usually fermented on the skins until all the sugar is fermented this is the hallmark of Burgundy wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Sirah are considered Burgundy type grapes. These are tried and true grape combinations to make Burgundy wines

• 66% Zinfandel – 16% Carignane – 16% Petit Sirah  
• 66% Petit Sirah – 33% Pinot Noir  
• 66% Sirah – 16% Old Vine Zinfandel – 16% Alicante  
• 66% Old Vine Zinfandel – 33% Alicante  
• 75% Cabernet Sauvignon – 25% Merlot  
• 66% Alicante – 16% Barbera – 16% Old Vine Zinfandel  
• 52% Old Vine Zinfandel – 21% Carignane – 9% Petit Sirah – 18% Grenache
• 66% Ruby Cabernet – 33% Alicante
• 55% Cabernet – 40% Old Vine Zinfandel – 5% Barbera 
• 60% Cabernet Sauvignon – 40% Sangiovese “Tuscany Blend”
• 40% Cabernet Sauvignon – 30% Sangiovese – 30% Merlot “Super Tuscany Blend”

Popular Claret grape blends

Also known as Bordeaux is a red wine, not too dark in color with a medium body, good fruit flavor and bouquet. Depending on the color desired most fermentation occurs on the skins. They can have a slight hint of sweetness. Chianti and Zinfandel are considered claret type wines.    

• 75% Merlot – 25% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 66% Sangiovese – 16% Alicante – 16% Zinfandel  
• 40% Sangiovese – 40% Primitivo (Zinfandel) – 20% Carignane
• 50% Sangiovese – 50% Zinfandel
• 33% Grenache – 33% Sangiovese – 33% Alicante
• 16% Grenache – 34% Carignane – 34% Zinfandel – 16% Alicante
• 50% Alicante – 50% Grenache

In Conclusion

Whatever wine your making we hope you found this guide useful, if there was a wine varity we didnt cover for you please give us a call and we can help come up with a grape or juice bucket mix thats perfect for you! You can get all the ingredients for your wine at Perfect Brew Supply!

Written by Tristan Fanning

Step 1:Prepare your Priming Sugar

Boil 5 ounces of priming sugar in 2 cups of water and stir it to dissolve. Allow the solution to cool and gently pour it into your bottling bucket. Remember, everything must be sanitized.

Step 2: Rack your Beer to the bottling bucket

Rack your beer into your bottling bucket so that the beer mixes with the priming solution evenly. If you are using our deluxe kit, your bottling bucket is the 6.5 gallon bucket w/ the spigot attached that you used for primary fermentation.

Step 3: Prepare your bottles and bottling cane

Attach one end of a tube to your spigot and the other end to your bottling cane.  

Sanitize every bottle and all of your caps.  There are 2 ways to do this, you can put each bottle in sanitizer or you can put the bottles in the dishwasher to heat sanitize your bottles DO NOT USE DETERGENT if you run your bottles through your dishwasher on the sanitary cycle.

Step 4: Bottle your beer!

Put your bottling cane into a bottle so that the tip is depressed against the bottom of the bottle. When the beer reaches the very top of the bottle, pull the cane out and set the bottle aside to be capped.

The bottle in the picture to the Left shows the correct fill level once you remove your bottling cane from the bottle.

Step 5: Cap the Beer bottles

Repeat Step 4 45-50 more times, then cap the bottles.

Step 6: Wait for the beer to carbonate

DO NOT REFRIGERATE YOUR BOTTLES.  They will not carbonate.

 Continue to pace the floor for 10-14 days.  Ideally, put your next beer into secondary and brew another beer so the wait is even less excruciating next time.

Step 7: Enjoy your beer!

 Refrigerate a couple of bottles.

Open and enjoy.  Repeat as necessary.

Brew more beer!!!!

We hope this helps, and have fun on your brew day!  Remember, it wouldn’t be home brewing without a mishap, so don’t freak out if you forget something or make a mistake.  It happens to everyone, and you are likely to still end up with a mighty fine beer.  Cheers!

Written by Tristan Fanning

Make your wine stunning by adding oak to your wine makers arsenal. There are several types of wood from different regions of the world to add to your wine. Each oak type will offer different levels of oak intensity as well as different flavors to your wine. There are also different forms of this wood; chips, cubes, spheres and sticks/staves. But wait there is more, there are also different levels of toast that can also change the flavor contribution from the wood. All of these options give you that flavor you get from the staves of a wine barrel. There are a lot of varieties we have in stock but this guide will help you decide what Oak is for you.

French, Hungarian or American Oak?

• French Oak: French oak tends to lend the most delicate flavors to your wine. It is the least intense of the three popular regions. It is said that French oak gives the wine subtle spicy notes, and sometimes a roasted coffee character, as well as a silkier texture when compared to American or Hungarian oak.

• Hungarian Oak: This option tends to fall somewhere between French and American oak. Flavor descriptions of Hungarian oak include vanilla, roasted coffee, bakers chocolate and black pepper.

• American Oak: Oak grown in American is said to be the most potent of the three discussed here. It is often described as lending notes of vanilla and sometimes coconut. Leans more towards a creamy texture as opposed to a silky texture that you may get from French oak.

Oak Chips,Cubes, Spheres or Sticks?

• Chips: Oak chips are designed for quick oak flavor extraction, however, they tend to be more one-dimensional than cubes, spheres or sticks. They have much more surface area contact with the wine, so oak flavor is extracted quickly. As a starting point, we recommend 1-2 ounces of chips per 5 gallons with about 2 weeks contact time.

• Cubes: Oak cubes are designed for a longer contact time, and more depth of flavor. Typical dosage for cubes is 2-4 ounces per 5 gallons for 30-60 days until desired level of oak flavor is reached.

• Spheres: The “Xoakers French Oak Spheres” are a nice option as they are easy to get in and out of carboys. They are also made of a higher quality oak than most chips and cubes. Dosage for spheres is 1 to 2 spheres per gallon for a minimum contact time of 4 months.

• Sticks: WineStix are designed to simulate the oak flavor extraction you would expect from an actual barrel. There is a mix of short and long grains in these sticks very similar to what you would find in a barrel, but flavor is extracted in a shorter period of time. Each stick is designed to treat 5-6 gallons of wine. Recommended contact time is 2-3 months.

Written by Tristan Fanning

Harvest season is an exciting time at Perfect Brewing Supply!  Every Autumn we look forward to fresh grapes arriving from Northern California and every Spring we receive Juice buckets from the southern hemisphere.  This raises the question what should I choose whole grapes, or Juice Buckets? Check out our video to help you decide if you want to choose whole grapes or juice buckets, or both!

Juice Buckets

Juice buckets come pre-processed and often are even balanced for acidity all you need to do is add the yeast, let it ferment, then enjoy!  Juice buckets also tend to be less expensive per gallon of finished wine than whole grapes.  So far Juice Buckets seem like a great way to go but hold on to your hogshead there are some down sides to juice buckets. 

If you are making red wine the body tends to be thinner and they are lighter in color than wine made from whole grapes.  Also while some juice buckets come pre-balanced for acidy some do not which may require you to purchase acid additives.  There will also be less intense flavors and less flavor development than wines made from whole grapes.  Most of these downsides don’t apply to white wine so the kind of wine you want to make should play into your decision.

Whole grapes

The best part about using whole grapes is that you get to be in total control of the wine you make! You get to control the entire process from crushing to de-stemming, you can even blend different grape varietals to get different flavors or balance the acid of your wine. Grapes also come with natural yeasts on their skins which allows a more traditional spontaneous fermentation.   Just like with Juice buckets you can choose to pitch another yeast Varity into your wines fermenter.  If you like lots of color, depth of flavor, and body than whole grapes are for you because unlike juice buckets your fermenting on grape skins which give you all those great qualities!

Just like Juice Buckets whole grapes have their downsides as well.  You do need additional equipment.  You need a de-stemmer to remove the stems from the grapes then a crusher to get the juice out of the grapes, the great thing is both of these are items you can rent from Perfect Brewing Supply!   Also you will require a larger fermenter because your wine juice has to share space with the grape skins, and those skins you are going to need to punch down once per day for the first 2 weeks of fermentation or until you are ready to press.  

Summary

With whole grapes you get a lot more control and are more hands on in the wine making process. Juice buckets are less work and are a great option if you are ok with the limitations in color, body, and flavor development. We sell both Juice Buckets and Whole grapes at various times of the year, we also sell wine making kits you can use to make wine at any time.

Written by Ryan Walker

Breweries have been blending beers for centuries. It is believed to be the most effective way to achieve consistency in complex beer styles such as sour and barrel aged beers. Many large-scale breweries even blend their more “standard” beers to have a more consistent product from batch to batch. Off Color’s Troublesome is a year-round beer and is actually a blend of two different beers. The main portion of the beer is a standard wheat beer w/ coriander (even described by their brewers as “boring on it’s own”). That beer is then blended with a second beer fermented with Lactobacillus. When the Lactobacillus beer is blended into the wheat beer, they are able to produce a much more complex, delicious, easy drinking Gose in a relatively controlled fashion.

Blending can also be used to save a bad batch in some cases. If you’ve brewed a beer that didn’t turn out exactly how you had hoped, blending may be the answer to save that batch from going down the drain. Figuring out what to blend it with and what proportions to use is the tricky part. The best way to figure these things out is to taste. Pull samples of each beer, get a couple of glasses with ounce or mL markings on them, and blend the beers in specific amounts. If you find a blend that works, simply scale that proportion up to fit the full batch size. For example, 1 ounce of this beer works well with 4 ounces of this beer. So you would then blend one gallon of the first beer into 4 gallons of the second beer.

Blending is said to be it’s own “art” set apart from brewing. There are several “Blenderies” out there that do not even brew their own beer. They simply purchase wort from other breweries and then blend it in certain proportions to create their own beer. Hanssens Artisanaal in Belgium is a great example of a blender like this. They are the oldest existing blender in the world, and their beers are very highly regarded. I suggest trying any of their beers, but their “Oude Geuze” is a great place to start.

For my first adventure in blending, I decided to mix some old sour beer into some fresh Saison. I’ve had a 3 gallon carboy full of sour beer that I brewed back in May of 2015. It has been sitting neglected in a dark corner of my apartment for a long time (it even went through a move with me), so I figured it was time to do something with it. I’ve been tasting it throughout the years, and it is quite good on it’s own, but I felt some would find it a little too sour. Blending sounded like the perfect solution.

I did a lot of thinking and reading, and decided to go with a 25% Sour, 75% Saison blend. To be honest, I did not sit down and do a blending test with marked glasses. I decided to just go for it. I knew I wanted to only use the sour beer 1 gallon at a time so that the leftovers would fit nicely into 1 gallon jugs to be used in a future blend. I had 3 gallons of fresh Saison that was ready to bottle, and figured a nice even 25/75 blend made a lot of sense.

For bottling, I prepared my priming solution like normal, only this time to prime 4 gallons of beer as opposed to my usual 3 gallons. Once everything was sanitized, I poured the priming solution into the bucket. Next, the 1 gallon of sour beer went in. I immediately racked the remaining 2 gallons of sour to 1 gallon jugs and capped them with a nice, tight-sealing cap (poly-seal) and set them back in the dark corner. The 3 gallons of Saison was then racked in with the priming solution and sour beer. I made sure to create a gentle swirl with the end of the siphon hose to ensure a nice mix of the sour, saison and priming solution.

Another reason I decided to go with this blend was that the yeast in the fresh Saison would be more than ready to chew those priming sugars in the bottle to create carbonation. If I had bottled the sour on it’s own, it is more than likely that the yeast in it would not be viable enough to create carbonation. If bottling a sour beer with a good amount of age on it, it’s a good idea to add fresh yeast at bottling. A rehydrated pack of CBC dry yeast has worked wonderfully for me in the past when bottling very old or high alcohol beers.

I have now had this beer in bottles for a little under 2 weeks and I couldn’t help myself but to try a bottle. The carbonation is definitely there, so I know that Saison yeast was definitely still working. The sour beer is definitely noticeable even at 25% of the batch, but much more restrained than if it were not blended, obviously. I have found that my Saisons hit their peak at about 2-3 months in the bottle, so I’m holding off my final judgment until then. At this point in time, the beer is tasting promising. I look forward to blending some more beers like this during the Summer, and I recommend you give it a shot yourself!