Topics

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Summer Beers in London

« on: August 31, 2011, 08:13:00 AM »

From a recent trip, I was surprised at how light many of the Best Bitter and Bitter ales were.  Often they were like a Cream ale, and some approached a Pils.  Didn't take notes of all the beers, but here are pictures of a few.

These might fit in the BJCP guidelines, but it was a surprise after not being there for about 6 years.

One of these is a Dark Star American Pale Ale at 4.7%.  Uses low color Maris Otter and chinook, cascade, centennial.  Had this one often.  Taken at a new place with the original name of "Craft Beer" as can be seen on the logo glasses.


This was taken at The Rake.  Can't remember the beer's name. 


Had several others before we started to photograph the beers.  The old standbys are still amber to medium copper.   The Chiswick (left) and Pride (right) at the Fullers Brewery tap, the Mawson's Arms.

32

Zymurgy / 2011 Gold Winning Strong Ale - Hey! That's My Beer's Name!

« on: August 24, 2011, 02:35:03 PM »

Just got the Zymurgy with the NHC winners in the mail today.  Looking at the winning recipes is always fun, and a good place for ideas.

I did a double take when I saw the title of the Category 19 winner - "Creative Destruction Barleywine".  Hey - that was my beer's  name!  

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/CreativeDestructionBarleywine

Looking at the malt bill and hop times and rates, it was very similar.  Gravity was kicked up a notch, or 2.

I am flattered and humbled at the same time.  Very cool.  Very cool indeed.

33

Commercial Beer Reviews / Timothy Taylor Landlord Best Bitter

« on: August 18, 2011, 07:30:37 AM »

Dang - this is one nice propper pint!

34

Ingredients / 2011 Hop Crop - and the Homebrewer?

« on: June 24, 2011, 07:42:11 AM »

We all know that some varieties are in short supply now.  Will 2011's crop produce enough for the commercial market and leave enough on the spot market for the homebrewers?

It looks like the growers have responded with new acreage for 2011 in the varieties of hops that are used by the craft brewers and the homebrew community.  Citra, Simcoe, Centennial, etc. - all the usual suspects.  According to Matt Brynildson during his talk at the NHC, hops in the Yakima valley can produce 80% of the mature yield in the first year due to the climate and soil conditions.  This looks to be good for the prospects of making more hop forward beers.

Overall acres are down, and hops like Galena, CTZ, and Willamette have taken that hit.

Amarillo is never in these reports, as they are grown on one farm.  Matt said that there are about 700 acres of Amarillo (did not say if that was for 2010 or 2011).  He did say more of that is going overseas, as those are now becoming popular in Belgian beers.

You can read here to see the numbers.  Hope for a good harvest.

http://www.usahops.org/userfiles/file/Statistics/NASS%202011%20June%20Hop%20Acreage.pdf

35

Homebrew Competitions / Announcing the ABC BrewCrews 5th Annual Homebrew Competion - Call for Entries.

« on: April 17, 2011, 10:32:27 AM »

The ABC BrewCrews 5th Annual Homebrew Competition is open for entries.  The home page is here.
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/

The Grand Prize is to have your Award Winning beer brewed on the Arbor Brewing Companies 7 Barrel system and have it served in the Brewpub.
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011BrewsCrewsPoster.pdf

This is a BJCP/AHA sanctioned competition, sponsored by the Arbor Brewing Company.  Official rules are found here.
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/rules-info/official-rules/

All BJCP categories (1-28) of beer mead and cider are open for entries.  One entry per subcategory is allowed, 2 bottles per entry to be submitted.  The first entry is $7, and additional entries are $5 each.  Some styles may be aggregated together for award categories, see:
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/rules-info/aggregation-of-styles/

Entries may be shipped to the Corner Brewery, or dropped off at the locations listed in the link below.  Please read the shipping and drop off dates for each location carefully as they vary due to logistical reasons.
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/rules-info/shipping/

Judging and the Awards ceremony take place on June 4, 2011 at the Corner Brewery, 720 Norris St.Ypsilanti, MI  48198.
http://brewscrews.aabg.org/rules-info/judging-and-awards/

If you are interested in judging, the judge registration link is on the homepage.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

36

All Things Food / New Book Coming Out

« on: April 04, 2011, 09:59:09 AM »

We were at a beer dinner last week that paired the food with Jolly Pumpkin beers, but that is not the reason for this.

The retaraunt's owner is Chef Brian Polcyn, who co-wrote this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298

He said he has a new book coming out soon titled "Salumi".  Italian sausage, should be a good book.

37

Ingredients / Sources for Pickling Lime and Magnesium Chloride.

« on: February 26, 2011, 08:38:41 PM »

For those of us in the frozen states, pickling lime is hard to find this time of year.  None was found in the grocery stores or hardware stores, or big box stores, as canning is a seasonal activity for those stores.  I did find it in a farm supply store, where the canning section is there year round.  Not the first time I have bought a brewing item at the farm store.

Still on the hunt for Magnesium Chloride.  The local health store did not have it.  Suggestions as to where to try?

Edit: searching around, I did find that pickling lime is also known as Kalkwasser. 

38

Ingredients / US Goldings Vs East Kent Goldings

« on: February 17, 2011, 11:23:44 AM »

I need to ask this before I use the hops.  An order from hopsdirect contained a Lb. of US Goldings vs. the EKG I had ordered.   They shipped a pound of EKG the same day I e-mailed them,  and said to use the US Goldings and/or share with friends.  I shared some with friends and will use the rest. 

So the question is, what is the perception and experience?  What other hops do they work well with, in yor experience? 

My idea is an APA using them with Centennial, maybe a little Amarillo.

Great customer service from hopsdirect.com, I must say!

39

Ingredients / Check Out Some New Info on Palmer's Speadsheet - HBD

« on: February 04, 2011, 07:45:04 AM »

This was posted this morning on the HBD.  John has a new version that fixes some things.
Find the "Message From John Palmer", link to his spreadsheet attached in the post.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

40

Ingredients / Weyermann Bohemian Pils Malt

« on: January 10, 2011, 07:17:18 PM »

There 20 pounds of this in the garage, and it will be mashed soon.  Doing a Bo-Pils, go figure.

Does this need a protein rest?  Any advice is appreciated.

41

Equipment and Software / Al vs. SS. Which Heats Faster?

« on: November 22, 2010, 05:31:47 PM »

AL vs. SS myths, time for an experiment.

AL can be used for a boil kettle.  No it is ok if seasoned.  Busted.
AL causes Alzheimers.  This has been Busted by scientific research.
AL will heat the wort faster due to the higher conductivity of the AL over SS.   Well how much faster?

The overall heat transfer coefficient is what is important for a system.   The system I use is a propane burner, the pot then the wort, so there are 3 heat conductors in series.  People on the internet always say that AL will be faster due to the much higher conductivity.  If you look on the web you will find the following for AL, and SS.

AL =  250 (W/m-degree C)
SS = 16  (W/m-degree C)

So the AL has greater than an order of magnitude of  advantage in heat transfer per unit thickness

So to see how much time I was wasting on a brew day, I was able to do a quick test, since we recently were given a  AL pot that as very close to a ss one we had.  These are both about 10 quarts, and are very close in diameter and height, you have to get them side by side to see that the AL one is about ¼ inch taller.  I thought there would be a small advantage to the AL, for what it is worth, but not enough to worry about.

Both pots were filled with 2 gallons of water.   The Aluminum pot was put on first, and the temp was measured with a digital thermometer.  Started  the time at 110F, since my brother called and interrupted,  and went to 200F, just because I was heating some of the sparge water.  The AL was taken off and the SS was put on, and the propane valve was not adjusted (30 pounds in a 40 pound tank, so it was running steady).  Both were uncovered.   So what was the time?

AL = 15 min. 55 seconds
SS = 15 min. 20 seconds

Whoa!  What the heck? 

One clue is that the digital thermometer was jumping 3 to 4 degrees +/- with the AL pot vs. about 1 degree with the SS pot.  The AL pot was even stirred several time while trying to take a steady reading, which should have helped its convection heat transfer.  My guess it that the AL pot had higher convection currents out the sides   These pots are as high as they are in diameter, so when you do the math, there is 4 times the surface are on the sides than on the bottom.  The AL can transfer heat to the wort better in the bottom, but it can lose it faster through the sides.

This is far from a conclusive test, but when someone on a random website says my AL kettle will be faster, I will not lose any sleep.  I have some bigger SS and AL pots to try. 

AL is faster - Busted?  More heating experiments are in order.  If you have any data to share, please do.  Or just flame me if you want.   

42

Yeast and Fermentation / Suggestions for 1450 Denny's Favorite

« on: December 02, 2009, 06:55:29 PM »

I have a pack of the 1450 for Denny's Rye IPA.   Brewed this several times, but not with the recommended yeast.

Any suggestions for a smaller beer for the first beer, then use the yeast cake for the Rye IPA?

Anyone can comment, not just Denny!