Messages

106

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: "Twanginess" aftertaste to my Pale Ale

« on: March 22, 2013, 08:41:37 AM »

I wouldn't immediately assume infection, based on the information given, unless the bottles are getting worse over time, and not just your dislike for the off flavor but that the off flavor is getting more potent over time.

There are a few possible causes for an off flavor that you're not likely to replicate, such as stale ingredients in an old and poorly treated extract kit, but I would look at what possible causes you can control and should improve even if they are not the direct causes of the off flavor here. Like other people here, I strongly suspect the off flavor is a product of fermentation.

You used liquid yeast but didn't mention whether you made a starter. You could probably get away on this beer without a starter but if the yeast was a little past its prime or struggled to get moving you could have some off flavors from stressed yeast that could have been avoided with a starter.

The temperature is the likely culprit with that yeast. For these cleaner strains you really want to keep it down in the 60s for the first several days until the majority of fermentation is complete. If you have the space, money and willingness to commit to it, a fridge and temp controller is your best bet to control fermentation temperatures. If you're not ready to sock the extra money into brewing or lack the space for the fridge, you can also reasonably regulate temperatures using the tub of water/ice method. You won't be able to dial in a temperature and control it there all day every day but it's a good starting place to keep you out of the weeds.

107

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Using my Homebrew to raise money for charity

« on: March 22, 2013, 08:29:58 AM »

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/government-affairs/statutes/california

California state statute § 23356.2 allows the manufacture of beer for personal or family use, and not for sale by a person over the age of 21. The aggregate amount of beer with respect to any household shall not exceed 200 gallons or 100 gallons if only one adult resides in such household.

Any beer manufactured pursuant to this section may be removed from the premises where manufactured for use in competition at organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions, including homemakers' contests, tastings, or judgings.

It seems like there could be a bit of leeway as to what constitutes a homemaker's tasting. I wonder if there's any interpretive case law concerning this statute. It would be a simple search on Westlaw or LexisNexis.

I would be surprised to find any homebrewer has challenged the state ABC's construction of that rule in a court willing to issue a written opinion, let alone by receiving formal opinion from the ABC itself. When I had unlimited Lexis and Westlaw access I checked for all homebrewing judicial opinions in the country and only came across a few cases where prisoners were challenging punishment for making hooch in their cells and then several prohibition era cases.

If you apply the last antecedent rule to the comma placement and standard rules of statutory construction you wouldn't splice out "tastings" and give it any meaning inconsistent with the words around it. So a "tasting" would be limited to an event similar to a "competition at organized affairs", "exhibitions", "competitions", "contests", or "judgings". In that framework it's unlikely a "tasting" would stretch so far as to include giving the beer away for charity. Even if it did, the list following "including" is illustrative and therefore would not be binding on either the courts or ABC. (Expressio unius est exclusio alterius.)

Under the CA statute the charity could probably sponsor a homebrewing competition and take entry fees but that is definitely not the same as giving the charity your beer and letting them sell it or include it in a raffle or included in the cost of admittance to a charitable event. For the charity to distribute beer or host any sort of tasting it likely needs a permit from the ABC. Probably not worth the effort or liability on the charity's part. Similarly I would not encourage a business, whether it normally sells alcoholic beverages or not, to sponsor an event where beer is given away without doing a lot more research on CA law and the required permits.

108

Beer Recipes / Re: Low gravity saison

« on: March 20, 2013, 01:17:53 PM »

I FWH a saison and thought the smoother bitterness actually left the beer a little lacking. I think you need some of that sharper bitterness for the style although it doesn't need to become an IPA in disguise.

109

Beer Travel / Re: Small Town Brewpubs

« on: March 20, 2013, 01:13:28 PM »

Well I always say we are the biggest smallest town in Texas. San Antonio has a pop of 1.5 million and only two brewpubs in the city that I'm aware of.

But you have at least four times the number of brewery/brewpubs as Fort Worth.

110

Going Pro / Re: New Texas law?

« on: March 20, 2013, 01:11:16 PM »

My understanding is that the bill prohibiting different prices was dropped and the other three parts have been merged together into a single bill so either all passes or all fails.

111

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: suggestions for belgian yeast

« on: March 20, 2013, 07:22:17 AM »

My experience with 575 was also that there was some serious drift in the blend over batches. Of course, the first two batches I used it on were 10% so there was likely selective pressure to support the strongest strain of the three, so using it on more gentle beers would probably show less drift or at least less drift so quickly.

112

Hop Growing / Re: Incomplete vernalization?

« on: March 19, 2013, 08:15:56 AM »

I'm interested to see how that works out. Here in Texas we get maybe a handful of days where it stays at or below freezing for the full day and night so I'm concerned my hops aren't going into a good dormant state over the winter.

113

Ingredients / Re: Belma Saison follow-up

« on: March 19, 2013, 08:13:27 AM »

That's what I'm reading pretty much everywhere and even in dryhopping the results are pretty mild to virtually non-existent. Some people seem to have good results using them in a blend with other hops but they still aren't getting a lot of character from the Belma hops. I've also read a few people say they used them for bittering but didn't seem to get a lot of bitterness out of it, although I'm not sure exactly how alpha acids can be milder in one hop but not in all others.

I'm sitting on a couple pounds in my freezer myself so I plan on doing a little experimenting and if I am getting the same results as everybody else I guess I will continue to use them for bittering until somebody smarter about hops than I figures out a better use.

114

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Second beer, tastes like slightly flavored water

« on: March 19, 2013, 08:01:58 AM »

Unless you left out the extract or ended up with a lot more than five gallons I'm not sure how it would be that watery. Since your SG was 1.052 neither of those seem to be the case.

115

Going Pro / Re: Soda making

« on: March 19, 2013, 07:49:51 AM »

I'm intrigued by the idea even though I don't drink a lot of soda anymore. There's a local brewery that I believe just received their licenses to brew but has been producing and selling soda for the past couple of years while they have tried to get their brewery put together and licensed. They started off as homebrewers so I'm sure they would be open to share some info, especially since it is unlikely you would compete in the local market with them. They are Armadillo Ale Works out of Denton, TX. Not sure if their website is up yet but google should uncover a facebook page or email.

As a caveat, I have not tried any of their beers or sodas, so I have no idea how good their products are.

116

Beer Recipes / Re: Wee heavy and oak

« on: March 18, 2013, 07:44:41 AM »

I have a hard time imagining the subtle flavors of a single malt scotch come through in a beer, especially a big beer, unless you're using something with a lot of smoky character. I think about the bottles of Macallan 12 and 18 I have and just don't see those flavors coming through as anything more than a dry whiskey flavor. If that's the case, it probably makes more sense to use a cheaper blended scotch or even a Canadian whiskey to get that drier whisky character. Just not sure it's worth the price of single malt scotch to upend the bottle into a beer.

I do agree that sometimes bourbon isn't the right kind of whiskey for a beer because it adds more sweetness and a scotch ale is one beer style that already has enough sweetness on its own. I have had bourbon barrel aged scotch ale and thought the barrel could have been better used elsewhere. I've had a rye barrel aged scotch ale and thought it worked well.

117

Ingredients / Re: What's the strangest ingredient you've ever used?

« on: March 18, 2013, 07:39:38 AM »

I added a pill of an amino acid to some sugar I was caramelizing to test a hypothesis. It made sugar water taste like beef. That's probably the weirdest thing I've ever done.

Mesquite pods are probably the next strangest ingredient I've used.

118

All Grain Brewing / Re: Switching to All Grain

« on: March 15, 2013, 09:00:26 AM »

BPA is in #7 plastic (confirmed in the article posted). Plastic coolers are #2 plastic.

119

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dryhopping a Belgian Pale Ale

« on: March 14, 2013, 09:52:37 PM »

I really like Amarillo's orange character in a BPA.

120

Going Pro / Re: Homebrew clubs

« on: March 14, 2013, 08:52:23 AM »

I'm not too bothered by it because a lot of pro brewers are brewing what the head brewer or owner is telling them to brew so they are not let loose to brew their own ideas and own techniques at work like they can at home. Think about the homebrewers who work at the BMC breweries. They can't brew craft styles in those breweries so I don't see a reason why they should be excluded from competing alongside the rest of us.