Topics

256

General Homebrew Discussion / Whatcha brewin' this week? - 2010 Jan 7 - 2010 Jan 13

« on: January 07, 2010, 04:37:13 PM »

Nothing for me this week, but I'm leading a tasting for the Falcons covering the following beers:

Fuller's 1845
Victory Old Horizontal
Green Flash Barleywine
Bigfoot 2001 (draft)
Bigfoot 2003 (draft)
Pizza Port San Clemente - Killer Dana DIPA (to contrast DIPA from BW)

257

Yeast and Fermentation / MOVED: Zymergy magazine?

« on: January 06, 2010, 11:42:36 AM »

This topic has been moved to General Homebrew Discussion.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=883.0

258

General Homebrew Discussion / Whatcha brewin' this week? - 2009 Dec 31 - 2010 Jan 6

« on: December 30, 2009, 10:23:10 AM »

Bing!

What's on the brewery decks folks?

259

General Homebrew Discussion / A Double Question - Most Interesting Beer and Best Beer of the Year

« on: December 29, 2009, 11:57:31 AM »

So let's reflect on the year to be remembered (and brag just a bit).

What was the most interesting / creative / experimental beer you did this year

What was the beer you were happiest with / proud of / sucked back so fast it vaporized?

For me - I think the most interesting ones I did were the series of "Fantome" inspired beers that I talked about over here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=111.0

The best beer that I made in terms of kicking my ass, taking names and flashing out of existence about as fast as I've ever seen was a beer I brewed with my cohort Jonny Lieberman - The Audacity of Hops / The Audacity of Aretha Franklin's Hat. The Hat version was fermented in steel, the Hops was in glass. They each got different dry hopping schedules. The Hat, straight out of the keg, was potent enough to slap your head into LEO and you couldn't wait to get back down to Earth to take another sip. We poured both through a set of Randalls at the Southern California Homebrewer's Festival and despite the sick, sick plethora of beer on tap, each keg was blowing foam within 3 hours

Damn that was a good beer. Slap yer mouth good.

260

Homebrewer Bios / John Palmer

« on: December 10, 2009, 09:47:44 AM »

Guess we're looking for more than just Dave's now!


Two score and seven years ago, two parents in Midland, MI raised a determined young boy who wanted to make things. Make things and catch fish. About this same time, he tried his grandfather's homemade root beer for the first time, and declared it to be the "best stuff in the world!" The root beer was made in a large stoneware crock with Hire's extract and tended to make the bottles explode, but it was worth it. As time passed and catching ever-larger fish to impress the girls seemed to lose it's effectiveness, John went off to Michigan Tech to learn metallurgy. Metallurgy, snow, and drinking local beer were engaging pastimes for many years but it was finally time to leave Michigan and seek his fame in fortune in Southern California. Girls had nothing to do with it.

The the local aerospace industry of Southern California proved to be a very nourishing environment for the up-and-coming metallurgist, but the lovely beaches of Orange County tended to starve a sophisticated beer drinker. It was the heyday of Corona girls serving beer with lemon, but their beauty and it's style was kind of smooth after a while, give him two-hand hefty biersteins any time. It was the dark lager beer in particular that he missed, and being an engineer, he decided that actually brewing some could not be that hard. A couple trips to the local homebrew supply store and that first disappointing batch of beer was made.

Ah the twists of fate - that first batch was cidery and did not taste anything like the beer he had in mind. It made him more determined than ever to analyze the brewing processes and determine the best method for brewing his beer. And thus was born his five year mission to explore strange new beers, to seek out new recipes and new brewing techniques, to boldly explain what no one had explained before, at least not quite in the same way. Several years were spent writing and re-writing the material and then the book was published online at howtobrew.com, the first comprehensive brewing book on the internet. A year later, it was published in hard copy, and a few years later it was revised and published by Brewer's Publications in 2006. Many people ask if brewing beer and writing about beer is his full-time job, but no, it's is just a cherished hobby. His secret identity is being a metallurgist and quality manager for a large heat treating corporation.

John always enjoys having a beer and sharing experiences with other brewers at weekend competitions and conferences.

261

General Homebrew Discussion / Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Dec 2 - Dec 8?

« on: December 02, 2009, 12:17:26 PM »

Rollover Beethoven!

I'll start us off.. I think I'm going to brew a Pecan Smoked Maple Wee Heavy 

262

The Pub / Congrats to Gary and Erin - Maya Glass arrives

« on: November 20, 2009, 12:45:30 PM »

Gary just sent out an email to folks announcing that yesterday morning (Nov. 19), Maya Glass arrived.

Post here to send your congratulations to Mr. "AHA Director" Gary Glass and his wife Erin "BA Membership Coordinator". After all I'm sure the BA's mailboxes can only handle so much traffic!

263

Beer Recipes / Big Ghost Saison 3 Ways

« on: November 06, 2009, 04:49:56 PM »

So I'll add this to the wiki at a later date, but as a treat earlier this year I got (via a friend) a cleaned up culture of Fantome from the guys down at the Bruery.

Back in late May, early June, I brewed a sessionable Saison that I called "Lil' Ghost" which had pils, oats and a few other touches to 1.055.

In August, I bumped it up for the club's 35th Anniversary Party and brewed 31 gallons of a 1.092ish beer called "Big Ghost"

31 Gallons at 1.092, 44IBUs, 10SRM

55 lbs Dingeman's Pilsner Malt
20 lbs Munich Malt
4 lbs Flaked Oats
2 lbs Aromatic Malt
5 lbs Cane Sugar (added to the boil)

Mash at 149-150F for 60 minutes, recirc and bump to 168F

Hops
5.oz Magnum (14%AA)  for 90 minutes
3 oz Saaz (3.5%) for 0 minutes

Fermented with either:
Fantome Slurry from Lil Ghost
Wyeast 3711 French Saison / WLP565 Belgian Saison I

The beers were fermented separately and then at kegging time, 3 kegs (from my portion) were produced: straight of each and a single keg mixed together.

The Wyeast/Whitelabs keg - spicy with a lot of fruitiness. Big sort of Caramel flavor to the finish
The Fantome - dry, strong grapefruit rind and strawberry. noticeable funkiness at 3 months
The blend - much rounder than either beer straight. Carries a little bit more of the tanginess of the Fantome than would be ideal.

All told, my ranking of preference would be Fantome > Blend > Wyeast/Whitelabs

264

Homebrew Competitions / Annual Doug King Memorial Specialty, Experimental and Lager Competition

« on: November 05, 2009, 12:50:53 PM »

So every year we choose to remember our brewing comrade Doug King who passed away while transporting festival/band gear for the Maltose Falcons. Doug was the go to guy for us. If there was an event, a festival, a brew session, Doug was there helping out and teaching. (Doug was even the guy who taught me all-grain brewing)

Doug had a weird and wacky brewing spirit. Probably most famous for a clone beer called DougWeiser - The Beer of Kings, he added everything you could to a beer. Nothing in the kitchen was safe - leftover tortillas? in the mash! rye bread? in the mash! chocolate birthday cake? - in the mash (after scraping off the frosting!)

In that spirit we encourage everyone to enter our little competition. The rules are simple - If it's a lager or if it's weird it has a home here. This year we're also doing an Imperial Anything category (with classes for 1.080-1.100 and 1.100+) as well as a "Custom Home Smoked Malt Challenge" - if you smoke your own malt at home (or get some from an industrious friend) enter this style!

Details on http://www.maltosefalcons.com/

Entry size - 2 bottles (or anything equivalent.. e.g. kegs, growlers, pet bottles, carbonator bottles, etc)
Entry cost - $5
Entries due: January 9th, 2010