Topics

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Off-Beat Homebrew Contest

« on: September 30, 2011, 06:53:24 pm »

I've volunteered to judge a small homebrew contest tomorrow.  As it turns out the format is kind of unusual.  The entrants are supposed to supply 3gal, and after the judging takes place they are going to open up to the public for tasting.  I didn't know this until today.  As it so happens I'm the only BJCP judge at the event.  I told the guy not to worry, to get me a few volunteer judges and together we'd knock out the 25 or so entries in the morning.

The coordinator was stressing because he was under the impression that a BJCP contest had to follow some specific protocol, and he was relieved when I told him we'd just wing it.  I'm not going to worry too much about it.  I'm not entering the contest, but am bringing a couple bottles of ten different beers for the tasting, including my latest helles that turned out quite well.

Are there a lot of contests that march to their own drummer when it comes to format?

32

General Homebrew Discussion / Bottle Condition Before Lagering?

« on: September 20, 2011, 05:29:55 am »

Lets say I'm brewing a lager and want to bottle condition.  It seems to me that bottling after primary and letting it condition and do a diacetyl rest at say 65F for a week or so prior to lagering would be more efficient than lagering, then bottling and waiting for it to carb and the yeast to drop again.  Is there a preference here, or a problem with doing it this way?  Other than bottles being a little less space-efficient in the lagering fridge?

33

Homebrewer Bios / Lennie Rosenkrans for Mayor

« on: September 16, 2011, 12:49:13 pm »

My name is Lennie Rosenkrans, aka tom sawyer on the AHA brewing forum.  I am a native son of, and currently reside in Hannibal MO.  I’m a biochemist by training, work at a cement plant for funds, but I live to ferment.  I’ve been brewing for something like a dozen years, cranking out many mediocre batches of extract brew at high fermentation temperatures in my early career, followed by a brief hiatus and then the more recent run of good AG brews done the right way.  Mark Twain himself would be proud of my beer, even as he sued me for copyright infringement on the sawyer monicker.

I am the founder and self-appointed Supreme Commander of the Hannibal Area Homebrewers Association, or HAHA.  Our motto is, “What the helles are you laughing at?”  OK not really.  We started as a dedicated group of four brewers, several Irish folk musicians and a few innocent bystanders, with some overlap between subsets such that there were around eight of us at most.  Since then our ranks have swelled to six brewers, a rotation of talent within the Irish folk band and the innocent bystanders are no longer innocent.  We might add up to a dozen at this point.  Meetings include music, good food and usually a demonstration of some sort.  Last meeting the demo was nude belly dancing.  OK not really.

I brew small batches so that I have a chance to brew often and still keep up on consumption.  I try, in fact I NEED to brew on a weekly basis.  It’s a sickness, as many of you can attest.  I brew all-grain using a Dennybrew cooler MLT and the patent-pending batch sparge method.  I’m currently delving into no-sparge and step mashes, and this year I’ve pledged to use mostly domestic base malts to see for myself what this country has to offer.  My friends and I procure bulk supplies from St Louis.  Shout out to Kent at MO Malting.  We turn every pickup into an impromptu tasting, last time we tasted fourteen different beers (we brought twelve).  So far our record is 420lb of malt in the Prius with plenty of room to spare.  Still got 48mpg for the entire 200-mile round trip.  But I digress.

My house brews are Best Bitter rotated with APA for me, and a variety of wheat beers for the wife.  I also do a lot of wild brews and have an 11gal barrel full of Flanders Red that I pull from every six months, solera-style.  Good stuff, getting better all the time.  I brew lots of different styles and will have at least ten on hand at any given point in time.  I also make wine and have around 1200 bottles of various kit, fruit and fresh grape wines in the basement, along with three small barrels for aging wine.  Makes it difficult to decide what to have at the cocktail hour.  Its beer for me, two days out of three.

  I really don’t have any favorite malts or hops per se, they all have their places.  I also don’t have favorite recipes.  I just work off the style guidelines and create variations on the theme.  I keep records and have a binder full of recipes, but I rarely look back once the beer is consumed.  Nor do I name my beers, other than the general style and date of birth.  This is just a general philosophical deal, even my pets’ names are Dog #1, Dog #2 and TC (short for The Cat).  OK not really.  What I do love is variety.  They say it’s the spice of life you know.  When it comes to variety, my brewing is a veritable habanero.  Although I’ve never brewed a pepper beer, hmm…

I became a Recognized BJCP judge last year.  Sounds fancy until you find out its the lowest rank you can get without flunking out.  My aim was to find out how much I knew about brewing.  I know a lot about brewing, just not so much about judging.  Someday I’ll try again, Grand Master is within reach.  OK not really.  Certified is a distinct possibility though.  To practice up I’ve been judging some contests and have met many excellent brewers and cool people in the process.  No overlap of subsets there (just kidding.)  I even entered some brews and won a couple of medals.  Who knew they had a category for Worst of Show.  My wife comes along and she’s become an awesome stewardess.  Her job as a high school science teacher means she has great organizational skills and the ability to keep a bunch of unruly kids in line, exactly what’s needed at your average homebrew contest.  You know who you are.

In any case, I would like to nominate myself to be homebrewer of the decade, but I’ll settle for HOTW.  Yes I am shameless.  No, really.

34

All Grain Brewing / Rahr Old World Pils Is Bohemian Pils

« on: September 12, 2011, 07:44:22 am »

I had asked about this malt some time ago on another site and got no feedback. I searched the web and found no info either, Rahr has almost no data on their individual products. I suppose they are selling mostly to breweries and they deal with these guys directly. In any case, I had purchased a sack of this stuff and gave it a whirl yesterday in a Belgian pale ale. On a hunch I assumed the "Old World" meant it might be less well-modified than a normal malt, so I did a protein rest and then stepped up and did a long, 90min sacch rest at 150F. I got usual efficiency with this program so I was satisfied that I'd at least gotten good conversion.

In any case I was still curious so this morning I called Rahr and they sent me to Brewers Supply Group and I eventually talked with someone who gave me the scoop. This malt is made from Moravian barley and is less well modified as I suspected. Basically its the domestic equivalent of a Bohemian pils. I'm actually glad I made the selection, since I do enjoy a German lager.

35

Beer Travel / Limestone Brewing? Plainfield IL, Chicago burbs

« on: August 11, 2011, 07:39:13 pm »

Anybody have experience with this place?  I'm heading to Minooka in the morning to visit relatives and wanted to try a new brewpub tomorrow night, this one is fairly close and seems to have a decent beer menu.

36

General Homebrew Discussion / Non-Belgian Uses for Belgian Candi Syrups

« on: August 02, 2011, 08:52:09 am »

I have a full range of candi syrups (purchased from candisyrup.com), including clear, amber, D1 and D2. The thing is, I'm kind of burnt out on dubbel, I've never been a big fan of tripel, dark strong or golden strong.  In short, the only Belgian beers I'm currently fond of are Flanders red and lambic/kriek. I've used some of the dark syrups in my Flanders reds, but you can only brew so much of that.  I have 16gal going plus at least 5gal bottled. Thats enough.

So my question is, what can I use these syrups for? Don't say pancakes, and I already tried some amber on vanilla ice cream and it was just so-so. I put a little amber in my most recent best bitter, its still fermenting so I don't know how that will come out. My hope was to give it some caramel flavor that would complement the biscuity malt of the Maris Otter. Otherwise, I'm thinking the darker stuff will work in a brown ale or porter, and the clear syrup might work in a CAP.

Suggestions?  Recipes?

37

All Grain Brewing / Saving the Planet, Going Domestic

« on: July 22, 2011, 04:59:53 am »

I'm thinking of spending the next six months or so trying to brew with only domestic malts.  The thought is to reduce the number of food miles from my ingredients.  Doesn't hurt that domestic malts are significantly cheaper as well.  Anyone else do this and how much am I giving up in the process?  I brew a little bit of everything, but my house beers are APA, best bitter and hefeweizen.

38

All Grain Brewing / Rahr Pils vs Rahr Old World Pils

« on: July 22, 2011, 04:55:19 am »

I am wondering if anyone has tried either of these and/or if someone knows the differences between the two.  I'm thinking of trying one of them on my next order.

Also I love Rahr 2-row but have heard some less than outstanding reviews of the pale malt.  Any feedback on this?  I love bitters.

39

Commercial Beer Reviews / Pubarschknall Anyone?

« on: July 05, 2011, 11:53:01 am »

We had a German consultant in a few weeks ago, a fellow out of Cologne Germany.  He was talking to a friend about beer and crazy translations, and mentioned that his father and brother like a beer called Pubarschknall.  According to him it literally translates as "fart a$$ bang" and was named because when the beer would get somewhat old it would cause some serious digestive disruption.  I looked it up on the web and apparently its a brown ale that is only 1% ABV.  One web translation had it as "beer-fueled flatulence", just slightly less surly than the literal meaning mentioned earlier.

Just thought I'd share, and see if anyone has tried this ale.

40

General Homebrew Discussion / BU:FG as a Hopping Tool?

« on: June 16, 2011, 07:17:21 am »

Just read about this in Strong's book and I admit I hadn't ever heard of it before.  My initial impression was that it made sense inasmuch as the bittering is perceived as part of the finished beer, not the wort.  Of course its not necessarily a stand-alone value because a big, dry beer vs a big sweet beer are going to show bitterness differently.  Presumably the sweet will balance a higher bitterness, whereas the higher ABV of the dry one will accentuate the bitterness.  So I suppose we should be looking at both and getting in a range that is acceptable on both ends.  Better yet, it'd be nice to combine the two into a single simple formula.  Somebody should really work on that.

First question, who has been doing this math and what sort of value ranges are you finding to be preferable?

Second question, how do you utilize both paramaters so you cover all the bases?

I have my ideas but thought I'd listen to others' opinions first since I really haven't mulled this over much.

41

General Homebrew Discussion / Recipe-wise, Ever Fail To Perfect A Style?

« on: June 15, 2011, 06:51:50 am »

I posted a thread about recipe development that has some interesting insights into the ways people come up with original recipes.  I did it because, while I've been successful at times, there have been a few styles that I've never been able to brew to my satisfaction.  Belgian dubbel and Dusseldorf alt are two examples of styles I've brewed multiple times and have yet to be really content with the outcome.  I've even worn myself out drinking the mediocre attempts and have had to give up brewing them for awhile.  Its frustrating not to be able to brew something that does justice to a style.  I'm not talking about brewing a beer that rivals a Westmalle or Zum Uerige, but it should have some of the essence of the style.

So this thread is about those styles that have eluded you so far.  I know that we are often our own worst critics, but we're often the most knowledgable set of lips to slurp down the products and we want to brew to our own satisfaction first and foremost.

Anybody else got a testimonial?

42

General Homebrew Discussion / Who Dumps Beer?

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:43:53 am »

I recently met a really serious brewer who said he will brew and evaluate a beer, and oftentimes just dump it if it doesn't live up to his expectations.  Given that several iterations might be necessary to develop that perfect recipe, I can see the utility of this.  I've never been scared to dump beer, especially since I make small batches.  I wondered how many of you do this routinely?  Its a waste in one sense, but as a hobby I don't think its much more expensive than any other and life's too short to drink mediocre beer.  As long as you don't run short of course, which never happens at my house.  I'd give it away but I don't know that many people who like homebrew, plus giving away beer that has one flaw or another (unless very slight) seems kind of wrong.

43

General Homebrew Discussion / Recipe Development

« on: June 13, 2011, 08:37:49 am »

For those of you that like to tweak and come up with your own recipes, how does your thought process work and what references do you utilize in finding a base recipe to work from?

Myself, I usually look at the BJCP style description, then I go to BCS and to Northern Brewer's recipes, and work from there.  I'll also check Designing Great Beers if the style is covered, although I can tell the info is somewhat dated as far as the types of specialty malts involved.  And lets face it, in a lot of cases the specialty malts make the difference.  I'll brew the beer and evaluate it, then consider changes at that point.  I've just started entering a few beers in comps, and these evaluations also help.

So how do you experts develop these excellent recipes I'm drinking at the competitions?  I'm sure a good brew club comes into play for some.

44

Wood/Casks / Cask Conditioned Mini-Keg

« on: June 09, 2011, 06:42:02 am »

I was inspired by Brewing TV's how-to's on cask conditioned ales, so I decided to give it a shot on a scale appropriate for my needs.  I had an old 5L Warsteiner mini-keg sitting on a shelf so I inspected it for potential use.  It has a plastic bung on one head that comes complete with a hard spile.  I can vent the cask by pressing sideways on the spile, this is how you'd normally let air in as you draw from the keg.  It has a spigot on the side of the keg, about 1" above the other head.  This is positioned perfectly to let me draw brew without pulling the yeast, gelatin and hops from the very bottom.  Plus the spigot is made where you pull it out but you still have to turn it to open the tap so it won't push out from the pressure of carbonation.

In any case, I had a small batch of Best Bitter done so last night I put together my cask.  First I put some boiled priming sugar solution (I used 25g of jaggery, a kind of brown sugar from India), then I racked the beer into the keg nearly to the top, then added a little gelatin in solution, then a few First Gold hop pellets.  I bunged and rolled and shook it gently.  I put the keg in the kitchen so it would be relatively warm and carbonate quickly.  Now comes the hard part, waiting!  I'll check back in when I tap and see how it worked, though I see no reason why this won't go exactly as planned.

45

General Homebrew Discussion / My First First Place (Brag Warning)

« on: June 05, 2011, 06:06:27 pm »

I judged a contest in Champaign IL (BUZZ Boneyard Brewoff) and entered some beers.  My kriek got a first place and third in BOS.  I was pretty pleased with this, especially since Jeff Sparrow was judging the category.  It is my second time entering a contest, and this beer got a second the other time I entered it.

Enjoyed judging three flights too, and I happened to help judge the categories that produced the first and second place BOS.  First was a Munich Helles and second was a British Mild, both brewed by the BUZZ Club's own Anthony Benjamin.  I think that means I can tell a good beer when I taste it.

Last part of my brag, I won a stirplate and the two volume set of De Clerck's books in the raffle.  That was one heck of a haul.

Other than a slight hangover this morning, it was a banner weekend.