Topics

1

General Homebrew Discussion / North Country Malt to stop selling to homebrewers

« on: August 19, 2010, 08:32:35 AM »

Thread on Beer Advocate

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/2970833

This will really raise my brewing costs if they stop selling in bulk to homebrewer clubs

Quote:
We recently acquired Brewcraft and intend to open up other distribution points in the near future.

However, we appreciate the continued business our loyal homebrew customers have given us. With that being said we intend to continue to make our current product line available to our current home brew accounts but we will not be accepting new home brew customers. Homebrew customers who have done business with North Country Malt Supply and Mid Country Malt Supply over the past 12 months can place orders by calling our toll free number (NC: 888-368-5571 - MC: 866-428-1438) or by e-mailing: orders@northcountrymalt.com.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kelly J. Kuehl - Director of Sales
The Country Malt Group

2

Events / 14th annual New England Homebrewer’s Jamboree

« on: August 16, 2010, 11:36:39 AM »

If you're able to make it this is a great event and lots of fun.

I'll be there with the SouthShore Brew Club, we'll have 10 taps flowing.


LOCAL HOMEBREWING CLUBS HOST 14TH ANNUAL HOMEBREWER’S JAMBOREE TO BENEFIT “The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire”
 

The 14th annual New England Homebrewer’s Jamboree is being held on Saturday, September 11th, 2010 at the Branch Brook Campground in Campton, NH.  The gates will open at 10am.  It’s a $10 donation for adults (which includes a separate ticket good for a day of door prizes) and kids are free for this celebration of handcrafted beverages. This event is open to the public. The Jamboree is being sponsored by the Winnipesaukee Area Brew Crew, the Concord Area Homebrewers & the Southern Maine Homebrewers. Organizers and sponsors also include Fermentation Station Homebrewing and Fine Cigars of Meredith NH & Shapleigh Hops Craft Brewing Supply, Shapleigh Maine. 

Family entertainment will include children’s games and music throughout the day provided by Jim Tyrrell (www.jimtyrrell.net) & Equinox Entertainment DJ Services.  There will be a food vendor on site for Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.  Overnight camping is available.  Overnight with hookups are $30 per sleeping unit per night, and $25 per sleeping unit field camping.  Please call the Fermentation Station at 603-279-4028 for more information and reservations. The informational website is www.homebrewersjamboree.com.

Homebrewers may enter beverages for the people’s choice competition, for an entrée fee of $3 for each sample of 2 bottles. Judged categories will include several varieties of beer, wine, meads and ciders.  Bring your judge’s cap!  Participants of legal age may sign up to judge the morning of the Jamboree. ID’s will be checked. There will also be sampling from several area microbreweries and among attendees. Come check out several home brewers actually brewing their own beverages on site!

Any and all proceeds above costs will be donated to the Make A Wish Foundation of New Hampshire.  We were able to donate almost $4000 in 2009, and are hoping for a larger donation this year.  Please join us for a fun-filled day of fellowship and homebrewing!

3

Yeast and Fermentation / Top cropping, how much liquid are you ending up with?

« on: August 16, 2010, 04:56:55 AM »

I havent been able to find a picture of what I am using when top cropping yeast but it looks like this , though it has as a longer handle and is only concave, not cupped as in the picture but the hole pattern is right on.



I usually end up with a full container of foam that ends up being a very small layer on the bottom of the jar after sitting in the fridge.

Obviously I'm not expecting to pull slurry off the krausen.

4

The Pub / You know you're a homebrewer if............

« on: August 13, 2010, 09:57:38 AM »

Some might have seen this before:


You KNOW You're A Homebrewer If ...

1. You take a personal day off from work to brew on a Wednesday to have an adequate yeast starter for the 1.100 Specific Gravity Belgian being brewed on Saturday.

2. You refuse to pay $8.00 for a beer in a restaurant because you can make 5 gallons for that much.

3. You scan the Belgian Ales at checkout yourself so the clerk won't disturb the yeast sediment.

4. You live in a small one bedroom apartment, and you have two refrigerators.

5. You wonder what everything would taste like if mashed, boiled and fermented.

6. Your computer passwords are all related to beer.

7. You make hummingbird food by boiling the sugar water for 1 hour and then sanitize the feeder with Iodophor.

8. Your house doesn't have air conditioning, but your beer room does.

9. Your pet rabbit will only eat crushed German pilsner malt.

10. "Pick up CO2" is on your shopping list.

11. You see the acronym R.D.W.H.A.H.B. and know what it means. *

12. You get all your exercise from moving carboys.

13. You take your wife out to garage sales in hopes of finding brew gear.

14. You hate to wash the family dishes, but think nothing about standing over a sink for hours cleaning empty bottles.

15. You have used a bottle opener on a twist-off cap.

16. Your wife starts buying two of every kitchen utensil so she doesn't have to search the brewery when it's time to cook.

17. You ask the guy at the hardware store if something is "food grade".

18. You've ever spent the afternoon in a hardware store staring into space, trying to improve your wort chiller/fluid transfer.

19. You pre-heat your thermos cup to have a thermal mass of zero.

20. A "beer run" is now classified as a 3 hour escapade at the local homebrew shop.

21. You have ever parked your car in the rain to keep your beer out of it.

22. You have never taken a microbiology course but you know all about Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

23. You measure purchases with how many batches of homebrew you could have brewed.

24. Your children believe that Santa Claus would rather have a glass of homebrew than milk.

25. You worry about channeling when you "sparge" your coffee.

26. You asked your phone company if they have a phone number ending in 1056.

27. You can estimate hair color in degrees Lovibond.

28. You have a separate email folder for homebrew.

29. You can name at least 10 different varieties of hops, but can't name 10 Congressmen.

30. You understand how water chemistry and pH affect the mash, but barely passed high school chemistry.

31. Your wife left you for someone who doesn't brew.

32. You have your local homebrew supply shop on speed-dial right above 911.

33. You own a stock-pot big enough to bathe in.

34. You have more varieties of beer on tap than your local bar does.

35. You take two fermentors with you shopping for refrigerators.

36. A smelly, moldy, disgusting college-dorm fridge is a gift from the gods.

37. You tackle your wife in the kitchen before she sneezes.

38. You have moved clothes out of your closet to make room for more fermentors.

39. Your child's science project is on fermentation.

40. You've ever got up to check an airlock in the middle of the night.

41. You have more refrigerators for beer than you do for food.

42. Going to a brewfest is part of your honeymoon.

43. You plan your family vacations by which breweries you can visit.

44. You and the local bottle-grannies have come to an accord over collection zoning.

45. You have more airlocks than the International Space Station.

46. You've tasted the finest commercial beer and said, "I can do better."

47. You have more kegs than your average fraternity.

48. Staring at a bubbling airlock is more exciting than the Superbowl.

49. You pour your coffee carefully to avoid hot side aeration.

50. You bring a 3-gallon corny to a cook-out with its own neoprene jacket.

51. You've kept a log of the temperature in your basement for the past 5 years.

52. The presence of a basement was a major factor in the selection of your new home.

53. You have room in your fridge for 7 different types of beer, 6 packages of hops, 4 vials of yeast, and two cans of rice syrup, but no room for milk for the kids.

54. You schedule your lunch break around trips to the homebrew store.

55. You start asking questions about other people's worts.

56. Your 5 acre yard is completely mulched with spent grains.

57. You have multiple propane tanks but only use charcoal grills.

58. You own more stainless steel than your local hospital.

59. You get up in the middle of the night to dry hop.

60. You plan your days off around when the homebrew supply store is open.

61. You have 45 gallons of bottled beer in the basement and wonder if you should double the batch you are brewing on Saturday.

62. Your basement looks like the set of a 1930's horror movie.

63. Your 5 gallon propane bottle has never been connected to a barbecue.

64. You don't brew much until your wife leaves town for the weekend, then you brew 30 gallons.

65. You have more than two refrigerators.

66. You have bottles of bleach and no white clothes.

67. You hear someone say "sock hop" and you think they're dyslexic.

68. Your neighbors think you started a bottle recycling center.

69. You use old, leftover hops as potpourri.

70. You've got more cooking utensils and gadgets than your spouse does.

71. You return from New Year's Eve parties with a trunk full of empty champagne bottles.

72. You always make sure to take the truck, rather than the car, to the brew supply store.

73. You name your new puppy "Fuggles" or "Growler".

74. You send a holiday card to the owner of your brew supply store.

75. Your house smells like a brewery.

76. You buy more pantyhose than your wife (...for hops!)

77. You kidnap the family thermometer to test the temperature of the wort.

78. You hear the term 'malted milk' you think they are talking about a stout.

79. You've ever bought a case of beer saying, "I paid for the bottles, the beer comes with them for free."

80. You've ever had 6 or more cases of EMPTY beer bottles in your house before you had a party, not after.

81. You've raided the Boy Scout bottle collection/recycling for old bottles.

82. You've ever left your local soda bottling company with your trunk and back seat full of 5 gallon Cornelius kegs.

83. You give clothes to Goodwill just to get more room in your closet for beer and equipment.

84. Someone says they've had a yeast infection and you ask what they were brewing at the time.

85. You get crown seals and hop bags for Christmas presents.

86. You've ever bought returnable beer bottles with no intention of EVER returning them.

87. You're surfing the 'Net at 3:40 am looking for homebrew websites or recipes.

88. You cancel a date because your wort hasn't reached pitching temperature yet.

89. You can't remember that last time you popped open a flip-top beer can.

90. You think the term pitch has nothing to do with baseball.

91. Your cupboards have more brewing items and bottles than they do food and plates.

92. You don't think that 10 gallons of beer is a lot.

93. You've ever cut a hole in a refrigerator.

94. Walking across the kitchen floor sounds like Velcro.

95. You've ever asked the question, "By weight or volume?"

96. You own a sterile trash can.

97. You've ever tried to improve a Budweiser by stirring in a hop pellet.

98. You've ever mopped the ceiling.

99. Your linen closet has 3 fermentors in it.

100. You know how to pronounce Hallertau Mittlefruh.

101. Your 10 year old son comments on the head retention of his Root Beer.

102. You are entertained by watching a carboy of fermenting beer.

103. You own the biggest pot in the house (even counting your wife) and no one else is allowed to touch it.

104. You spend more time worrying about a newly brewed batch of beer than work/school/money.

105. There appears to be rabbit food in your freezer.

106. You take longer to order your beer than your meal when you go to a restaurant.

107. Your five year old son comments on the clarity of his apple juice while holding his glass up to the light.

108. You have more refrigerators/freezers than you have TV's.

109. Your pint beer glasses are cleaner than any other glass in the house.

110. Any large container suddenly appears appropriate to use in brewing.

111. Your neighbors spread a rumor of you being a witch because they saw you outside sprinkling "green stuff" it to a huge steaming kettle while stirring it with a giant wooden spoon, grinning wildly and muttering strange, unintelligible words.

112. You walk around Home Depot and you can think how to use most everything as brewing equipment.

113. You have more styles of beer available at home than most bars.

114. You get constant use out of your turkey fryer and have never fried a turkey in your life.

115. You fantasize about making hop scented little tree car air-fresheners.

116. You take "airlock hits" to get huge whiffs of your fermentation.

117. You call in to work "brewing".

118. You know that a Hopback is a piece of brewing equipment and not a bodily action.

119. You think it's cool to taste assorted homebrews from 4 oz glasses.

120. "Pitching" hasn't a thing to do with sports.

121. You think an active fermentation full of moving proteins is a thing of beauty.

122. You buy a chest freezer with no intention of putting food in it.

123. Your work friends ask, "What's brewing?"

124. You wake up in the middle of the night to tweak your hop/grain bill according to how the brewing went in your dream.

125. You frequent home improvement stores with no intention of actually improving your home.

126. At home improvement stores, you find your opening line to the employees almost always begins with "OK, this is gonna sound a little weird, but I need......"

127. Your basement/garage/kitchen has a name...... (fill in the blank) Brewery.

128. Your wife calls you at work to tell you your airlock is bubbling away because she knows you were worried about your fermentation lag time that morning.

129. You can be mesmerized for an hour watching a twirling sparge arm.

130. You have a section on the bookshelf devoted to beer books.

131. You can name all the types of hops and yeast, but can't name all 50 states.

132. An exciting weekend involves things like mashing and racking.

133. You pick your nose and pull out a hop leaf..... and aren't fazed.

134. You can seriously use the word "bunghole" in a sentence without laughing.

135. Your beer gets its own room.

136. You smell your beer before drinking it.

137. You frequent Lowe's so often the employees begin talking about you ("Look, there's that guy again!")

138. You inform your wife she can no longer park her car in the garage since the space needs to be devoted to the brewery.

139. In May you already know what kind of beer you'll be serving at Christmas.

140. Your co-workers call you "the Brewmeister".

5

All Things Food / Bluefish, yeah Bluefish!

« on: August 08, 2010, 12:19:14 PM »

EDIT
Just realized I didnt put this in the recipe forum................... they all go with beer

Four Bluefish recipes for anyone who can get it FRESH
To me the key with most fish is SALT, people often think "well its a saltwater fish, how much could it need?"
More than you think  

Baked Bluefish and Tomato

Pre-heat grill to medium (or set oven to 400)
Spread a big piece of tin foil out and lube it with olive oil
Place skinned filets down in a pattern so that when you are done it looks like one big giant piece of fish (this depends on how many are eating)
The goal is to have the fish be the same thickness. Back of filet to front of other, etc.
Salt and pepper both sides of all filets liberally and squeeze some lemon on there (till the juice runs down your leg)
Use either fresh vine ripe tomatoes or canned (crush em like a BOSS)
Cover the filets. Add some more salt and pepper and fresh basil.
On top of all that a can of olives (pimento stuffed or black, your choice)
Wrap that tin foil up tight and bake for about 40 minutes.
Serve over rice or even pasta

Blackened Bluefish

Get a cast iron pan red hot on the highest setting your grill can take.
No, it aint hot enough go have another beer.
Ok, now get your scaled filet (skin ON) and salt it up, both sides.
To that some Paul Prudhomme, Emeril SW Bam (or find one on the interweb and make it yourself) season it up real nice.
Let the fish warm up a little to room temp, have a beer that pan probably aint hot enough yet anyway.
OK put some canola oil in the pan........... dont start a friggin fire!
Now put the Bluefish SKIN SIDE UP in the pan, let it rock like that for maybe 3 minutes then turn and burn for 2-3 more.
Serve that up with some corn on tha cob and dirty rice.


Broiled Bluefish

Season skinned filets with salt and place them on a lightly oiled piece of tin foil.

Mix up soy sauce and mayonnaise to the consistency and color of a Friendlys Mocha Frappe. Now add a few tablespoons of Horseradish and grind in some black pepper.
Add hot sauce of your choice and to your taste, kick it up a notch or three....... dont go to 11
Broil or grill over medium coals for 20 minutes or so.
Serve over steamed jasmine rice.

OK, now the one you probably never even heard of

Fried Bluefish

Oh hells yes FRIED BLUEFISH

Cut the filets up into chunks and put into a bowl of milk.
Let it sit while you get the oil heating up, brown the bread in the oil dont burn it. Use more oil than you think you'll need so it stays hot hot hot

Drain the chunks well and roll around in corn meal.
Drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown.
Salt and pepper immediately after removing from the oil.
Make a Wasabi soy sauce, serve with cold beer, french fries.........maybe get some duck gravy for those fries

6

Yeast and Fermentation / One Porter boil, two yeasts same FG.

« on: August 08, 2010, 11:17:00 AM »

Brewed a 1.050 Porter on 7/17/2010

It was a 12 gallon batch that was split into two fermenters, aerated the same and fermented at the same temps (both in a large swamp cooler) only difference was the yeast.

Both got equal amounts 175ml of thick slurry and both were First Gen used just one time in similar gravity beers.

The US-05 batch
FG 1.014

Wyeast 1968 batch
FG 1.014

OK, so what?

Well, I hear that US-05 "dries stuff out too much" etc.
Seems to me that wort production has more to do with the attenuation of a beer than anything else.

New World Porter

70.5    15.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.038      3
  5.7     1.25 lbs. Amber Malt                    France         1.032     35
  2.3     0.50 lbs. Brown Malt                    Great Britain  1.032     70
  6.8     1.50 lbs. Special Roast Malt            Belgium        1.033     40
  9.1     2.00 lbs. Crystal 45L                   Great Britain  1.034     45
  4.5     1.00 lbs. Black Malt                    Great Britain  1.027    525
  1.1     0.25 lbs. Carafa III                    Germany        1.030    600

  1.00 oz.    Columbus  60 min.
  0.50 oz.    Pilgrim  10 min.

7

General Homebrew Discussion / BYO's American Black Ale article.................?

« on: July 02, 2010, 04:22:55 AM »

How can they say that the beer Greg Noonan was brewing in the 90's cant be substantiated?
I'm sure the current brewers at the Vermont Brewpub can pull out some of Gregs old notes...................

If its because this beer is solely reliant on hops grown in the Cascadian region then we better re-name the American IPA and IIPA too. Arent about 100% of those beers also reliant on Cascadian hops?

Side, my thorn has one in it

8

General Homebrew Discussion / Geeking out a little...........? Party and MY BEER

« on: July 01, 2010, 10:15:03 AM »

Made up some descriptions (using different sources) for the three beers I am bringing to a party this weekend.

Started out three years ago, I brough a keg and my Aunt had to return a keg of beer that wasnt empty
Two years ago............ returned about half a keg.
Last year, they got a 1/4 barrel and I brought two corneys............. yup, returned half the 1/4 barrel.

This year we decided that I supply the beer (no problem, I love doing it anyway)

Classic American Lager
(AKA Pre-Prohibition American lager)

Pre-Prohibition American lagers differ significantly from modern  pale lagers (Budweiser, Molson, Stella Artois, Rolling Rock etc ) having higher flavor profiles than we expect from this style today.
Brewed with 20% corn and although still a very light lager has a fuller mouthfeel and higher bitterness being hopped to twice what you find in todays “fizzy yellow beers”
This is what American Lager used to taste like!

.........yes I can use the Fullers name 

Fullers ESB

ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering.
 Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation.
Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruit.

Despite "bitter" being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. They key to an ESB is balance.

Bavarian Hefeweizen

A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50% Wheat and 50% Barley.

 Much of the beers character comes from the yeast which produces phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples.

Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol.
The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance.

Too Geeky?
Not Geeky enough?
Anything you would change?

9

General Homebrew Discussion / Oregon cancels homebrew contest at the State Fair?????????

« on: June 29, 2010, 09:19:32 AM »

Really?

http://beervana.blogspot.com/2010/06/olcc-cancels-homebrew-contest-at-state.html

http://www.katu.com/news/97269679.html

SALEM, Ore. – Law enforcement officials are putting a stop to the home-brew and home-wine-making competitions at this year's Oregon State Fair.

10

Events / Great American Beer Festival??

« on: June 22, 2010, 11:09:30 AM »

Anyone have an idea when the AHA members only sessions sell out?

11

Yeast and Fermentation / What generation is that yeast?

« on: June 19, 2010, 06:23:19 PM »

You build up a starter, brew a beer with it and harvest that slurry.
Is that Generation I or Generation II?

I've always called it Gen II............what say you?

12

All Things Food / Brussel sprouts with Hefe

« on: May 26, 2010, 05:41:41 AM »

Made these the other night and they were VERY TASTY

Got my wok going with some olive oil and added three cloves of garlic to the cold oil.
Once the garlic browned up a little I took it out and added the sprouts.
Stir fried them for a bit until the outer layers got all brown and caramelized.
Was going to add water and steam them a little but since I had half a liter of Hefeweizen in my hand , I though why not.
Added about half of that and put the lid on the wok.
Cooked until they were starting to get tender then removed the lid to allow most of the beer to evaporate.
Added some more olive oil, half a Vidalia onion and stir fried until the onion softened.
To that I put one 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with garlic and chile pepper.
Lid back on for 5 minutes and then removed until the tomato was cooked down to a thick sauce.

It was really outstanding, just a hint of the clove from the Hefeweizen made it very interesting.

13

General Homebrew Discussion / I think we put too much in the barrel

« on: May 17, 2010, 11:33:52 AM »

7 gallons of Imperial Stout to the mop bucket

I planned on putting just foil over the top once it got going but never did. Blew the airlock to pieces.

The stuff in the stainless container will top it off once its about done.
Fermenting at 67 (basement 62) so it was just fermenter dynamics/too much in the barrel that led to this.
Lesson learned for next time

14

All Grain Brewing / Turbid mash?

« on: May 05, 2010, 07:06:32 AM »

We're doing a wine barrel Lambic

Going to go with some sort of a turbid mash and long boil

Boil will probably go 2 hours but we dont want a 12 hour brew day so we're thinking of turbid mash options.

15

All Things Food / Greens

« on: April 22, 2010, 07:42:37 AM »

Specifically Collard Greens

Last Fall we didnt clean up the garden and left some stuff in the ground.
Notably Collard Greens.
One of the first green things to sprout up was some leaves off the Collard plants that were in the garden 

Figured, just let them go and see what happens.

We harvested them Tuesday (one plant started to show signs of going to seed)
Sauteed some onion and garlic and braised the Collards with some chicken stock.

These were the best Collard Greens we have both ever eaten.
Tender, sweet just really special.
Suffice to say I'll leave the plants in the garden next year too