Category: Guides

5 ways to address the seemingly not fun conversation of work safety

Add a variety of changing, yet interesting, safety reminders

When we look at the same reminder everyday it begins to look exactly like the wall. What I mean is it becomes invisible to us. Your reminder becomes white noise and will be filtered out by your employees’ brain ESPECIALLY IF IT’S BORING! What if we changed the theme? What if we kept it interesting and used a character from a movie they liked? By changing content, the friendly reminder of safety turns back into a reminder instead of white noise. By using a recognizable character, it will trigger curiosity. A good example is the Batman personal protective equipment (PPE) sign. “Why is Batman on the wall of my work?” – “Oh, PPE should be used.” By implementing classic marketing techniques, we can make safety interesting and create a “safe work” fad.

Attached: batman-ppe

 

 

Coach your employees to practice common sense

Ask easy questions that should coach your team to success. Sometimes the questions seem like it will lead to a, “duh” answer. This is fine, I’ll even point out how goofy it is we had to reiterate not to drink caustic or any other chemicals. A good example of this is when I was attending a brewery tour I saw a lady wearing cleaning gloves equipped with a brush and a grey bucket leaving a restroom. I thought, “cool, clean restrooms.” As we continued the tour I noticed the blow off buckets were grey and next to the fermenters they had grey buckets on a shelf. After the tour I pulled a bartender aside and said, “I noticed you use grey buckets for cleaning the restrooms.” He nods, “You also have grey buckets next to the fermenters. Do you use those for cleaning tanks?” He nods, “Do you think those buckets ever get mixed up?” He replies, “I’m sure they do, why are you asking?” I then gave him this question, “If I was making dinner in front of you, had no clean dishes, pulled out my dish cleaning brush, walked into the restroom cleaned a toilet, and then used the same brush to clean your dinner plate would you eat dinner?” At this point he said would ask his boss why they allow cross contaminating buckets. The next time I visited there was two different bucket colors. Success!

Make it Easy

I frequently say, “If you can’t explain your safety program and instructions by playing Pictionary you’re doing it wrong.” I’m not saying that you SHOULDN’T have an SOP and GMP compliance guidelines written, but that you SHOULD also have it be understood in less than 30 minutes. Pictures are a fast way to recognize and understand potential risks. Take example this lawnmower safety:  I bet it took you less than 30 minutes to understand potential hazards and recommended PPE. I’d even say that it probably took less than 30 seconds for most to understand things to use and things to avoid. Another way to make it easy is color coding…

I made the above PDF for our brewery. All brushes and buckets are stored from cleanest, at the top to lowest; white, blue, green, grey, black, and red. The taproom use only section buckets are completely separated to ensure we don’t use toilet water in our tap lines.

Be what you want to see

Leading by example, we hear that a lot, but do we do it? It’s not that it is hard, it is that it takes more time and consideration. It’s well worth it. Once you have compiled your SOPs, GMPs, and turned them into something that can be pictorially demonstrated, follow them. Your brewery and your consumers will benefit.

Empower your employees

Encourage your employees to create and suggest ways to improve safety. Safety is not a fascist ruling entity. It is a culture. No dictator-style safety program is going to work because people will rebel when there are no eyes watching them. In a culture to where they feel valued to keep their workplace safe will be more likely to do so. Let every employee know that they are a leader in our work environment and their actions directly impact the company culture. A really cool example of this was a sticker I saw on a bathroom mirror that said, “The person you are looking at is in charge of safety.” BRILLIANT!

 

The (Not So) Basic guide to Kombucha

Kombucha has quickly grown to be a trendy health-forward beverage.  This article is going to investigate kombucha, its complexities, and interview an entrepreneur who is diving head first into this fast-growing drink.

What is Kombucha?

It is a fermented beverage composed of several acidic products of fermentation. Just like an earlier article about sour beers,  kombucha, is fermented into much more than just carbon dioxide and Ethanol. The first recorded use of kombucha is during the Tsin Dynasty in 221 BC. Kombucha has had several nicknames such as: The Tea of Immortality, stomach treasure, (胃寶) and mushroom tea. A name like “The Tea of Immortality” brings to the imagination an effervescent elixir that could be seen in the next Indiana Jones movie. Since no one from 221 BC has come forward to claim that they are still living, we will investigate kombucha more objectively. Before we get into the chemical components we must investigate the process of making kombucha.

https://www.kombuchakamp.com/what-is-kombucha/history-and-legends-of-kombucha

How is Kombucha made?

Kombucha’s primary ingredient is water that does not contain fluorine or chlorine. The other ingredients are: tea leaves, white sugar, white vinegar, and a “mother spore.” It is a similar process to brewing; obtain/make sugar solution, steep flavor components, heat to kill microbes, cool, pitch microbes, and let sit undisturbed and out of sunlight for days.

What is actually in kombucha? And is it good for you?

Glucuronic acid

We’ll start with a well-known detoxifier. Gluco =sugar. Uronic=urine. It makes sense that it would be found in urine. If it is a detoxifier we would want to excrete it paired with anything that would do us harm. Glucuronic acid is a component that can be synthesized or a component of anti-coagulants, connective tissues, bone, skin, and cell walls of bacteria. I find this component especially interesting because kombucha is said to help with arthritis. The link between drinking something that contains components of connective tissue and helping prevent joint (connective tissue) problems is convincing, after all, we are what we eat, right?

Acetic acid

It is found in vinegar – roughly 7% of vinegar is acetic acid. It is the primary component of the aroma and flavor vinegar has. The only noteworthy health contribution I can think of or find is the acidity it adds in helping digestion of food.

Oxalic acid

Can be found in many foods including chocolate, beer, and of course, kombucha. This is a tricky one to cover since it is one of the primary causes of kidney stones-calcium oxalate. In foods it is not likely an issue and drinking kombucha won’t likely give you kidney stones. Make sure to drink water.

Malic acid

Being part of the Kreb’s cycle it can give you energy. (If the microbes don’t get to it first) It may also help, in some cases, with pain reduction.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8587088

Butyric acid

It has a vomit-like aroma. Before you swear off kombucha because of this component, read this: It may help prevent or reduce colon cancer and may sever as an antimicrobial. Fortunately, it is often lower in concentration and the concentration is usually below the flavor threshold.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9820119

Gluconic acid

This acid, when acted on by microbes, turns into butyric acid. Unlike butyric acid, it does not smell and taste like vomit.

Usnic acid

It has some anti-microbial properties. The microbes it inhibits are more commonly found on skin than the gut. This means that there is not much, that I know of, that this acid does to help or hurt us.

Interview

I had the pleasure of meeting Rachelle Rahn at a Beer event called, “All Pints North” in Duluth, Minnesota. She was sampling and selling her kombucha at a booth near the event.

-How did you find out about kombucha?

“I found out about kombucha through a crush I had started dating. I had a bad cold and he told me I should be drinking kombucha to help speed up my recovery. Being the weird, nervous, human being that I am, I replied with an exaggerated, “Oh yeah, I’ve been drinking it a lot!!” My response was so exaggerated that I was too embarrassed to later tell him that I had no idea what he was talking about.”

-Do you have any newbie friendly recipes to share?

“If there’s anyone interested in brewing kombucha I will be offering a couple of “how to brew basics” workshops, dates to be announced. For those already brewing and maybe looking for some different flavor combos Watermelon Mint is one of my favorites. Just take about half a watermelon chopped up, a handful of mint, about 2 cups of kombucha, throw it all in a food processor or blender. Once it’s all mixed up, put that in with the rest of the batch (take the SCOBY out first!) and let it all sit in there and soak in the flavors overnight or for a couple of hours. Filter it, and enjoy!”

-What do you mean by “filter”? Can we use a cheesecloth or should we use a water filter?

“It can be filtered through a cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer, or depending on personal preference all of the fruit can stay in there and no need for filtering.”

-When did you start your business around kombucha?

“I went from being pretty oblivious to kombucha to being infatuated with it pretty quickly. I love craft beer, specifically sour beers, so that tartness that catches you right below your ears in “booch” drew me right in. The more I started drinking it the more I wanted. After some extensive research I realized that I could do it myself. So I did. And then I started offering it to friends and family, and then they started offering it to friends and family, and now close two years later, here we are. My first official sale was May 19th of this year, so as a company we are very young. I’ve greatly enjoyed the entire process, from flavor mishaps and successes, to the overwhelmingly positive response from the community, it’s all been really wonderful.”

-What is some of the most common remarks given as feedback from “first time kombucha” drinkers?

“First time kombucha drinkers are usually taken aback by the vinegar smell. I’ve had some people that say there’s no way they’ll like it after just smelling it. But once they have a little sample they’re delightfully surprised that it doesn’t taste like pure vinegar. I tend to make my batches a little bit on the sweeter side, compared to the flavor profile you’ll find in most store bought kombuchas. The reason being that, for most people that’s how they want it and for those hard core booch drinkers they can just leave it in their fridge a little bit longer and let it continue to ferment to their liking. I always flavor every batch and that helps the tartness and the drinkability for some too.”

-are there any other uses for kombucha other than drinking?

“THERE ARE SO MANY USES FOR KOMBUCHA! We’re pretty big Vikre Distillery fans in my house, gin, whiskey whatever they’re making we usually have. So lately, I’ve been making a lot of shrubs from kombucha vinegar. Shrubs are just a sweetened fruit syrup preserved in vinegar, but mix them in with your favorite gin and you’ve got yourself a delightful cocktail. Kombucha can also be used to make sourdough, ketchup, salad dressing, salsa, all kinds of goodies. Some people use extra scobys (the scary looking alien thing, it’s really just a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) as dog treats, or fruit leathers. You can even use it to make lotions and creams. I came across some earrings that someone made from dehydrated scobys. The list really can go on for almost forever.”

Conclusion. Is Kombucha good for you?

You won’t live forever drinking the stuff. There isn’t enough literature on kombucha to confirm or deny it’s health benefits. It certainly isn’t bad for you. It won’t likely kill you. It does contain chemicals, when consumed in moderation, that have a positive effect on the body. Not all kombucha brews are the same so the acid content will vary. Overall, I’d give it a thumbs up. As long as you still drink water regularly consumption of kombucha will help you out.

 

The (Not So) Basic guide to Sours

This summer is HOT! I’ve seen videos of car hoods cooking bacon, I’ve felt myself drown in brewery sweat, and the whole thought of summer has me feeling sour. Good news about the 110 degree weather we’ve been having; It’s the ideal temperature for making sour beers.

 

What makes beer sour?

 

Sour beer is beer that has been made acidic. It often tastes tart and, if crafted correctly, dynamic in flavor. It can be organically created by microorganisms or added artificially.

 

What is the difference between adding Acid to beer and Souring beer/wort?

 

Have you ever compared artificial flavoring and the real deal? It is very similar. Artificial acids, like citric acid, leave a sour flavor without a level of complexities behind it. We’ll get into Sour Beer Complexities later. Biologically generated wort is like creating several colonies of unique organisms to generate a masterpiece of left over… without getting too in depth and driving you away; It is much like Beer compared to ethanol and malt extract. There is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

 

Microorganisms that can make and break beer

Saccharomyces

We’ll start with yeast but we’ll be brief since it is key player in beer fermentation. They can contribute esters if treated appropriate and can come in many different varieties that lead to several flavor compounds relating from bananas to peach or butterscotch to vomit if you don’t know what you are doing. This isn’t the key player for this topic, however, very important.

Lactobacillus

Some brewers fear this guy. Other brewers learn how to harness its power and show it it’s place. This microbe is the sour milk bacteria. Yogurt, pickles, and sour dough are all by-products of lacto. It may be, other than Saccharomyces, my favorite microbe. It spits up lactic acid that contributes to the unique food’s flavor. It is relatively easy to kill and provided you have good sanitation practices it won’t be staying around unless you want it to. It also grows well at 110 (degrees) Fahrenheit but can’t withstand a good boil.

Pediococcus

It’s in the lactobacillaceae tree so it’s pretty similar to lacto. It produces lactic acid and aids in sauerkraut fermentation. It’s a big risk with diacetyl. It is also pretty dang easy to kill so no contamination worries about this one either.

Brettanomyces

If making sour beer was an Olympic relay I imagine this guy is the anchor and takes the gold each time. It gives off a barn yard flavor and aroma. It is also described as horse blanket. This guy is so tough it can eat wood sugars. (Hint: barrel aging with this guy is awesome) It is also near impossible to get rid of once you have brewed with Brett. I suggest using separate dedicated equipment when dealing with this one. I imagine after a great mass extinction, like a nuclear winter, it will be twinkies, cockroaches, and Brettanomyces hanging out until the end of time. Some strains have the mechanism to make acetic acid. We really don’t want our sour to turn vinegar.  The resilience of this organism is what really allows the sour beers to be made prior to fermentation. The pH is too low (it is super acidic) for some yeasts to really perform the way they normally would.

 

The above team add intermediate compounds of fermentation, and lactic acid. Those intermediate compounds give it the complexities that beat the just-adding-acid approach.

 

Ways to Sour

 

You can sour at any point in the brewing process; Mash, kettle, fermentation, and storage. I don’t really like souring beer I’ve already made so I don’t practice souring during fermentation and storage. You can get great results souring at those steps but my logic is this; “if I made beer that is good why would I make it go sour?” This means I sour before it is beer.

If you do a sour mash don’t sour the entire mash, save about 5% of your grist for souring then add the sour grains to the mash. Kettle souring is what I prefer. I actually use a fermentor for my kettle sour but I do it after the mash and before the boil so it’s a “kettle sour.” I go the natural root for souring and just add some non-mashed grist as my “pitch” but you can buy all sorts of microbes online. My method doesn’t always yield the same like a controlled pitch does, but hey, character. If you want a reproducible sour: buy and grow the microbes. Don’t forget to wait for your temp to drop to 110 before pitching. For all methods of souring it is pretty much the same;

 

1.     Get the pH of Your Wort/Mash Below 4.5

Add food grade lactic acid or whatever it takes because you want to inhibit the growth of organisms that don’t sour. If you don’t get your pH down, you could end up growing a soup of botulism or anthrax and that would suck.

2.     Make the Environment Anaerobic

Attach or get your CO2 (if you don’t keg beer yet and still bottle, get yourself kegs and CO2) at the bottom of your souring vessel and pump CO2 as long as you can tolerate. Overnight works if you want to keep the CO2 flow low and long or if that doesn’t work you can do higher flow for more than 10 minutes. CO2 is heavier than oxygen (O2) and will push it up and out of your vessel. Doing this scrubs out oxygen and acidifies your soon-to-be sour mixture. The scrubbing (removal) of oxygen is crucial! With oxygen other organisms grow, the organisms that you want to grow are not going to produce acidifying products, and it typically turns out putrid. Make sure to cover your vessel so oxygen does not fall back into your vessel.

3.     Find a Sanitary Way to Check the pH

I soak a long pipette in sanitizer to pull my samples. Monitoring pH is brewing may be more important than gravities. It is SOOO IMPORTANT. pH is the omnipresent and omniscient aspect of any aqueous solution. It is what well tell you if you are souring or not. I try to end before it gets to a pH of 3.3. After about 3.4 it gets too sour for yeast to ferment it. “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” –Brett. It’s also crazy sour below 3.3.

4.     Keep it Warm!

Around 110 degrees Fahrenheit for souring or as close to that as you can get it. That was the whole point of this article. Hopefully summer has got you thinking sour too.

Is your homebrew cloudy? Do you like beer with clarity? Do you find yourself with cloudy beer even after the yeast has flocculated? It’s okay that your beer has haze to it. It just means it contains more protein than the visually translucent brew. Okay okay okay. We’ve heard this before. Maybe we followed the carrageenan talk (enter hyperlink) and our beer still has some haze to it. The carrageenan approach only really works on hot break. Hot what? Hot break. It’s the fats, proteins, and lipids that coagulate as a sticky gross mess on the bottom of the boil kettle. It becomes more apparent when you whirlpool. (we’ll get into that on another post) This post isn’t for hot break. This post is for cold break.

What is cold break?

Cold break is precipitation of proteins, tannins, and hop debris. It occurs around below 130 degrees Fahrenheit and is most effective when quickly cooled below that.

How to quickly cool wort?

There are many ways to cool wort. There are arguments that it is best to cool in the kettle so that you do not pump the cold break into the fermentor. If that’s your thing, cool. I personally like using an inline heat exchanger but I have access to a cold liquor tank and small pumps. I do pump the wort with cold break into the fermentor, but I either dump the cold break or rack the beer off of it when it settles. A copper coil with a cold hose water flowing through it can do the job good enough. If you have that and a whirlpool you are in great shape! (we’ll get to the whirlpool later, okay?)

Break is not all bad, yeast need protein too. Some compounds in hot and cold break can serve as a yeast nutrient. Proteins are key to a good head on beer too, so don’t over do it! Some styles of beer are supposed to have haze so just adjust your haze removal regime to tailor it to the style you are brewing and you’ll be well on your way to better, world class beers.

If you have any other tips, feel I missed something, or disagree leave me a comment here or on Facebook!

Is your homebrew cloudy? Do you like beer with clarity? Do you find yourself with cloudy beer even after the yeast has flocculated? It’s okay that your beer has haze to it. It just means it contains more protein than the visually translucent brew. Why do you have more protein!? It is not because you are trying to yolk to shredded status. (No matter how much we kid ourselves.) It might be because you are new to all-grain or it might be because you are unaware of carrageenans. Carra-what? Carrageenans. It’s sulphated polysaccharides in such a structure that it coagulates proteins. Poly-huh? Coagula-who? Let’s make this really simple;

Carrageenans are a sugar that is extracted from a seaweed commonly called ‘irish Moss’ even though it is mainly exported from China and the Philippines. This sugar has such a structure that it binds to proteins. The type that brewers use, Kappa, forms gels with proteins in the presence of potassium. This is largely useful because chill haze is a protein and wort has potassium ions! It’s considered food safe and comes in several forms. When given the choice of using Irish moss or processed kappa-carrageenans I go with the processed type. I figure if I’m going to add something to my beer it should be the substance I intend to use. (You don’t put the entire barley stem in with the mash.) I add it 5 minutes before the end of boil. (That means at the 55 for you 60-minute boil folk.) Most companies say 1 tablet for 5 gallons but I find I can get away with breaking up the tablet and using it on 3 to 4 different brews. I can find tablets for $0.25. So… 5 cents for clear beer? Sounds worth it to me. If you have any other tips, feel I missed something, or disagree leave me a comment here or on Facebook!

Useful Sites:

1. https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/beer-haze-cloudy-homebrew/
2. https://www.morebeer.com/products/kick-carrageenan-tablet-1.html