Brewing Water Advice

My Home Brew club is having party that's called Convert A Bud Drinker.

We are planning to brew a beer of some sort (TBD) where we use Bud lite, Miller Lite, or Silver Bullets as our boil water.

No kidding!!! :rockin:

I'm guessing it will be an extract, maybe something like a bigger pale ale.

Just curious if any of you have tried this?

Let know what you think, even if you just want to be a post whore.

You guys are using a light BMC for your boil water? Never heard of that before, sounds interesting, but also a little disturbing.

Thats a dumb idea...In fact very dumb...are you kidding

I'll be interested to hear how it turns out. I don't think it's very practical, but what the hell give it a shot.

Cheers

+1 on what the hell are you thinking?!?!

for one thing beer has way too low of a Ph for use as water for brewing. im sure other people can tell you everything else thats horribly wrong with that idea.

kingjam said:

Thats a dumb idea...In fact very dumb...are you kidding

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No kidding!!! Dumb as it might sound. Looked at the club minutes. They were considering it for an AG batch.

I was always taught to only use tap water for brewing if it tastes good.

Very disturbing.

-a.

I see this as way to ridicule bud/miller/coors drinkers. Insinuating that they are drinking something close to water.

A keg of Coors brewing water is $88.

The pH may not be good for mashing or sparging but its no different than some peoples municipal water. We could always add some gypsum to bring the pH down...

You need to find a new brew club hahaha

kingjam said:

You need to find a new brew club hahaha

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To be honest with you, as wacky as this may be you have to admit it would be fun to do.

I thought its a fitting part to woo the BMC crowd over to the dark side.

I would never want to pony up the dough myself to try this.

It will be a novelty to say we used water, I mean beer, to make better beer.

I think it is an interesting idea. Strange to be sure. I would probably not do a light beer as your "water" might cause some strange flavors.

Redweasel said:

I think it is an interesting idea. Strange to be sure. I would probably not do a light beer as your "water" might cause some strange flavors.

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It would have to be a full bodied beer most likely an amber style. Maybe an IPA... I think the hopped water is gonna add a weird twist to the flavor profile.

Have you ever boild beer for brats or cooked with beer. A. it makes beer smell bad and B. its going to boil over all the time because of the carb. If you are going to do what you say, the results are going to be nothing short of nasty.

I say go for it. It's a completely ludicrous idea, and I applaud you for it.

kingjam said:

Have you ever boild beer for brats or cooked with beer. A. it makes beer smell bad and B. its going to boil over all the time because of the carb. If you are going to do what you say, the results are going to be nothing short of nasty.

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I have boiled brats before and think the nastiness is from all of the fat; beef, pork, or chicken then add the spices+ animal casings (sometimes pork intestines). Enough said..

You raise a good point about the carbonation & boil overs. It'll be a one-time thing. Like you said with brats. It can be done. How good are the results?

I'll be honest with you I wasn't involved in planning this crazy idea. If it was up to me I'd make a ordinary lawnmower beer w/ city water. Regardless of how the beer turns out it should be a fun time.

The carbonation should be lost quickly during the boil.

I have no idea what the pH of a BMC product is, but I would think this would just lead to bad mash efficiency... not make it impossible.

My biggest concern is that BMC products are... 5% ethanol already. You'd lose a lot of that in a 60 minute boil, but you'd still have some. So you might have to think about some high gravity brewing techniques like a big starter, robust yeast strain, etc.

Still... This sounds like an interesting experiment!

I don't even know what to say....

In addition to a big starter, you are going to need some yeast nutrient too...I'm willing to bet there the mineral content of BMC is minimal at best.

Crazy. I would never do that. but let us know how it works out.

All Good Points!!!

Regarding mash efficiency & pH - We could use some "5 Stabilizer" This would help us get to 5.2 easier and we will need to be prepared to adjust the pH in either direction.

The alcohol loss is another point. We should consider mashing in at 1.3 or higher. When we mash out we should make up for alcohol evaporization and grain absorbtion.

Yeast nutrients is an easy addition too.

BTW - Thanks for the critical thinking!!!

Here is some more of my critical thinking...Don't do it...get some nice spring water and have a great brew day making great tasting beer.

Peanut butter & chocolate? DON'T DO IT! Can you taste my sarcasm? The scientist in me says do it, but expect to crash and burn.

There is nothing wrong with an experiment. Im thinking boiling it would eliminate the Alcohol and in turn be like brewing a beer with corn flavored water. That doesn't sound all bad because the hops cover it up. I would make like a three gallon batch at the most, Thats a lot of beer to buy just to do an experiment.

This sounds just crazy enough to be funny, if anything else. But I don't think any BMC drinkers are going to be converted by drinking the result, which will most likely taste really bad.

You will want to de-carb the beer first or boiling it could create quite a mess. Let it sit out for a day and go flat.

Seems like an extract woud also be the way to go. Seems like you would need to boil the alcohol out of it before doing anything else.

I won'y try this (brew days are hard to come by) but I'm very curious about the result. Keep us posted.

I can't wait to here how this turns out....I love experiments (especcially if someone else is footing the bill.)




Wouldn't it be interesting if it made the best beer you ever had???

Revvy said:

Wouldn't it be interesting if it made the best beer you ever had???

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Like I said - peanut butter & chocolate

Without knowing much about the chemistry of the process, provided you could get the pH right, I would be most concerned about the alcohol impeding any conversion during the mash. Boiling off the alcohol prior to mashing might be a better way to go. But at that point, you're almost getting away from the novelty and crazyness of the experiment.

Can't wait to hear the results.

kingjam said:

Thats a dumb idea...In fact very dumb...are you kidding

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k1v1116 said:

+1 on what the hell are you thinking?!?!

for one thing beer has way too low of a Ph for use as water for brewing. im sure other people can tell you everything else thats horribly wrong with that idea.

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kingjam said:

You need to find a new brew club hahaha

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You know, I've always found HBT to be relatively open-minded about way-out-there brewing techniques, from spontaneously fermented geueze to massively hopped irish ale (?) to porkfelwein. I guess these posts are the exception that proves the rule.

kingjam said:

Have you ever boild beer for brats or cooked with beer. A. it makes beer smell bad and B. its going to boil over all the time because of the carb. If you are going to do what you say, the results are going to be nothing short of nasty.

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I bet that's what the sumerian husband said to his wife... BEFORE he tasted the weird smelling concoction she made from sprouted grain and water. Brewing anything combines elements of the yucky (fermenting is a nasty-looking process) with the sublime. I've never tried to use BMC as mash liquor, but I'm sure interested to hear how it turns out.

Danek said:

I say go for it. It's a completely ludicrous idea, and I applaud you for it.

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Revvy said:

I can't wait to here how this turns out....I love experiments (especcially if someone else is footing the bill.)



Wouldn't it be interesting if it made the best beer you ever had???

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Exactly. BMC is some expensive brewing water. Anyhow, I LOVE this idea. Please let us know how it turns out. I'm particularly interested to see if and how much ph5.2 is needed to get the pH back up to the 5-ish range. I wonder if you could treat with a bunch of calcuim carbonate to raise the pH, and then brew a stout.

LOL!
Sounds like a fun experiment in the vein of what its all about...an adventure!
Best of luck and I hope to read updates!

Wicked Daddy said:

This sounds just crazy enough to be funny, if anything else. But I don't think any BMC drinkers are going to be converted by drinking the result, which will most likely taste really bad.

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Wicked Daddy,

I think you are right. This wouldn't be the best way to convert a bud drinker. I re-read the meeting minutes (Since I didn't attend). This will be a separate club event from Convert A Bud Drinker. The potential club n00bs will be less insulted if this is their 2nd event.


The club was looking for a name for this crazy event. I believe the first idea was "SWILLMORPH"

Any ideas for names???

Schlenkerla said:

The club was looking for a name for this crazy event. I believe the first idea was "SWILLMORPH"

Any ideas for names???

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How about "Tap the Crockies"?

How about, "Coors Make-Over Night!"

Guess What....

We are doing this!!!!!!

I believe 100 cans of BMC will be sacrificed for the beer Gods :rockin:

BMC Imperial Pilsner

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 17.00
Anticipated OG: 1.080 Plato: 19.30
Anticipated SRM: 4.5
Anticipated IBU: 73.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 17.00 lbs. Pilsener Germany 1.038 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Sterling Pellet 7.80 33.4 90 min.
1.00 oz. Sterling Pellet 7.80 27.2 45 min.
1.00 oz. Sterling Pellet 7.80 8.1 15 min.
1.00 oz. Saazer Pellet 3.00 2.3 10 min.
1.00 oz. Saazer Pellet 3.00 1.9 1 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.20 Oz Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

Fermentus S-23 Saflager S-23


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Name:

Total Grain Lbs: 17.00
Total Water Qts: 21.25 - Before Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 5.31 - Before Additional Infusions

Tun Thermal Mass: 0.00
Grain Temp: 80.00 F


Step Rest Start Stop Heat Infuse Infuse Infuse
Step Name Time Time Temp Temp Type Temp Amount Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1 3 15 133 128 Infuse 141 21.25 1.25
Step 2 5 90 148 143 Infuse 210 7.95 1.72
Mash Out 5 10 152 152 Infuse 175 12.76 2.47


Total Water Qts: 41.96 - After Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 10.49 - After Additional Infusions
Total Mash Volume Gal: 11.85 - After Additional Infusions

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
All infusion amounts are in Quarts.
All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.


Notes
-----

Use Bud, Milller, Coors as Mash & Sparge Water.....



Batch Sparge....



4 Packs of yeast S-23

Hooray! :rockin: :cross:

Awesome.

Let us know how this goes. Groovy Experiment.

Well - We did it.

We heated up the BMC to about 175F then let it cool before mashing in with it. No joking or sarcasm, it smelled like piss.

The pH was about 4.2-4.4 or so after doughing with 17lbs of pilsner the pH was about 5.2! :rockin:

It smellled like somebody pissed in the mash!! It had a stale beer, piss, and sweet malto-meal aroma for about 90 minutes.

We then dumped another 50 cans or so (~5 gallons) of BMC got that up to 175F. Numb to the smell and due to half a mini-keg of Heine in me.

Lautered & Sparged. We acheived 78% mash efficiency. :rockin:


Then we boiled it for 90 minutes so we would cook-off all traces of DMS.

We pitched about 5 packs Saflager-23. It had a slow start but is cranking away now.

I got a lot pictures. I'll post them in the next few days.

OMG I NEED to see some pics. the more the better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did the smell subside after the boil?

My Homebrew Club



Mash Liquid

Starting the first pour for heating the liquor tank. Perfect Pour 1

The boil and yes its easier to boil over when brewing with beer...

WOW....I forgot all about this experiment.

Cool!