10/06/09 Corn Sugar – Also referred to as “brewer’s sugar,” the most fermentable and commonly used adjunct. Often used instead of the more expensive barley malts, and usually used for priming. Increases alcohol level without increasing body. Flaked Corn (Flaked Maize) - Provides depth of character to lighter beers. Increases alcohol but not flavor, color or body. Color is 0-1 SRM.

10/07/09 Belgian Candi sugar- A Belgian sugar used in brewing, especially stronger beers such as dubbel and trippel; basically this is an invert sugar, i.e. one that has been converted from sucrose to a mixture of fructose and glucose by heating with water and some acid, usually citric acid. It is used to boost the alcohol content without adding extra body to the beer and without forcing the yeast to produce invertase, which some drinkers claim adds an undesirable taste to the beer. Also used as a priming sugar, to aid in bottle-conditioning and carbonation, with the same benefits as listed above.

10/08/09 Some beer glassware info.: Snifter - Used for brandy and cognac, these wide-bowled and stemmed glasses with their tapered mouths are perfect for capturing the aromas of strong ales. Volumes range, but they all provide room to swirl and agitate volatiles. Goblet (or chalice) - Majestic pieces of work, ranging from delicate and long stemmed (Goblet) to heavy and thick walled (Chalice). The more delicate ones may also have their rims laced with silver or gold, while the heavy boast sculpture-like stems. Some are designed to maintain a 2-centimeter head. This is achieved by scoring the inside bottom of the glass, which creates a CO2 nucleation point, and a stream of eternal bubbles and perfect head retention as a result. Shaker Glass – otherwise known as a tumbler or todays American pint glass. This glass was never meant to be used for beer and does not benefit beer’s aroma, head retention, or complexity of flavors. However, since most people can not afford to own ever type of glass; shakers are good as default glasses.

10/9/09 Unpopular beer styles: Biere de Garde:: The Biere de Garde is golden to deep copper or light brown in color. They are moderate to medium in body. This style of beer is characterized by a toasted malt aroma, slight malt sweetness in flavor, and medium hop bitterness. Noble-type hop aromas and flavors should be low to medium. Fruity esters can be light to medium in intensity. Flavor of alcohol is evident. Earthy, cellar-like, musty aromas and flavors are okay. Diacetyl should not be perceived but chill haze is okay. Often bottle conditioned with some yeast character.

10/12/09 From Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher: Drinking a hoppy beer with spicy food, will only intensify the spicy heat in your mouth. For contrast to the hoppyness try rich and or sweet foods. One suggestion he gives is carrot cake.

10/14/09 For some beer freshness information check out these 2 links: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/327 http://sites.google.com/site/freshbeeronly/

10/15/09 (from Brew365.com) Wet hopping is the use of fresh hops that a have recently been picked. Hops are not hard to grow in most areas of the US. They are grown from a rhizome, which is a root-like ‘stick’ that is planted. Wet hopping is a fun and rewarding way of using home-grown ingredients in your beer. Because of the moisture content of fresh hops as compared to dried pellets, plugs, or whole hops you might get from a manufacturer, one ounce of fresh hops will impart much less bitterness than a comparable mass of the same variety that has been dried. Dry hopping is the process of adding hops into your beer after the onset of fermentation – either in the primary or secondry fermenter (if one is used). Because there is no boil, not bitterness will be imparted to the brew. However, the volatile oils that make up the aroma aspect of hops will be released into the beer. Usual amounts of hops are anywhere in the 1 to 2 oz range … but if you like hops, knock yourself out!

10/16/09 Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned (including secondary fermentation) and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. Cask ale may also be referred to as real ale, a term coined by the Campaign for Real Ale, often now extended to cover bottle-conditioned beer as well.

10/17/09 In 1997, eight Trappist abbeys – six from Belgium (Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle and Achel), one from The Netherlands (Koningshoeven) and one from Germany (Mariawald) – founded the International Trappist Association (ITA) to prevent non-Trappist commercial companies from abusing the Trappist name. This private association created a logo that is assigned to goods (cheese, beer, wine, etc.) that respect precise production criteria. For the beers, these criteria are the following: 1) The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey, by or under control of Trappist monks. 2) The brewery, the choices of brewing, and the commercial orientations must obviously depend on the monastic community. 3) The economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance and not toward financial profit.

10/18/19 Brewing Water (Beertown.org): Making up 90-95 percent of beer, water is an important ingredient in the brewing process. Tap water will work, but overly chlorinated water can result in harsh flavors in the finished beer. Chlorine can be removed by boiling or filtering, or you may choose to use bottled water. Factors such as mineral content and pH of brewing water can a have significant effect upon the final product, although these are of less concern in extract beers than in all grain beers. Certain minerals may be added to beer to achieve flavors found in beers brewed in certain areas of the world, for example the famous English pale ales of Burton-on-Trent are brewed with the very hard water found in that region. The more common mineral used in brewing include Calcium Sulfate (gypsum), Calcium Chloride, Sodium Chloride (table salt) and Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom salt).

10/19/09 Belgian IPA (BeerAdvocate): Inspired by the American India Pale Ale (IPA) and Double IPA, more and more Belgian brewers are brewing hoppy pale colored ales for the US market (like Chouffe & Urthel), and there’s been an increase of Belgian IPAs being brewed by American brewers. Generally, Belgian IPAs are considered too hoppy by Belgian beer drinkers. Various malts are used, but the beers of the style are finished with Belgian yeast strains (bottle-conditioned) and the hops employed tend to be American. You’ll generally find a cleaner bitterness vs. American styles, and a pronounced dry edge (very Belgian), often akin to an IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel. Alcohol by volume is on the high side. Many examples are quite cloudy, and feature tight lacing, excellent retention, and fantastic billowy heads that mesmerize (thanks, in part, to the hops). Belgian IPA is still very much a style in development.

10/22/09 (Brew365.com) Amarillo Hops: Characteristics: Amarillo is a relatively new American hop variety that has been described as “super cascade.” The bitterness is between 5 and 11% AAU, making Amarillo a good hop for flavor and aroma additions. The flavor profile is very citrusy, especially leaning toward a distinct orange flavor and aroma. I also find Amarillo to be somewhat sweet until it mellows out in a beer. This hop was reportedly discovered and introduced by Virgil Gamache Farms Inc. and resulted as a mutation of another hop variety. Citra Hops Characteristics Citra is a new moderately-high acid (10-12%) US hop variety releaset sometime in 2008. Citra is a cross between several hop varieties including Hallertau Mittelfreuh, U.s. Tettnanger, E.K. Goldings, and other unknown varieties. The aroma is reported to be very fruity (citrus fruits especially.) Descriptors I have seen used include: grapefruit, lime, melon, gooseberry, lychee fruit.

10/24/09 Supporting your local brewery is one of the important part of being a craft beer drinker and or advocate. Please check out Supportyourlocalbrewery.com for information on how to get involved in Craft Beer Activism.

10/21/09  Winter Warmer Description:
These malty sweet offerings tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.

Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap “Winter Warmer” on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the “wassail” tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief “spice” in beer. American varieties many have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor.

11/23/09 Mashing is a step in the brewing process that combines crushed Malts with hot water in a mash tun to convert complex starches into simple sugars that are more readily fermented. There are many variations of mashing, but the single infusion mash described below is easily done with home equipment, and suitable for most popular beer styles. During the malting process barley grains develop many enzymes that are needed for mashing. These enzymes, when heated with water in the mash, react with the starches in the malt and produce maltose. Maltose is a favorite food for yeast during fermentation. After the mashing process, hot water is used to extract the sugars from the grain in a process called sparging to produce a sweet liquid called wort for brewing.

12/03/09 (Beerfacts.net)

Myth A “beer belly” is caused by drinking beer.

Fact A “beer belly” is caused by eating too much food. No beer or other alcohol beverage is necessary. According to research conducted at University College London, Beer has been falsely blamed for expanding waistlines. The study (conducted in the Czech Republic, which has the world’s highest per capita beer consumption,) analyzed the beer drinking habits and weight of more than 2000 men and women. According to the results, light to moderately heavy beer drinkers were no more overweight than non-beer drinkers. Because of beer’s high calorie and carb content, it was previously blamed for adding extra pounds and causing the dreaded Beer Belly. But researchers warn, the study is not a license to consume beer carelessly. As with most any simple pleasure, enjoy your brew in moderation.

12/21/09: Sorry for not updating this page for a while here are some cool craft beer videos that I found recently:

12/28/09 Continuing with the beer related videos here are two more great ones:

1/4/10 (BeerAdvocate)

Alcohol By Volume
Alcohol by volume (ABV) simply represents what portion of the total volume of liquid is alcohol. Our liquid of choice is, of course, beer. And to determine the ABV of a beer, a brewer typically uses what’s called a hydrometer, which is an instrument that aids in measuring the density of liquid in relation to water (it essentially free-floats in a cylinder or liquid). The hydrometer will be calibrated to read 1.000 in water (at 60°F), and the denser the liquid (example: add sugar to the liquid), the higher the hydrometer reading.

Okay, so how does this relate to beer? Well, before yeast cells are introduced to ferment beer, the liquid is called “wort (pronounced wert),” and it’s full of all kinds of sugars that were previously extracted from the grain. A brewer will take a hydrometer measurement of the wort (at 60°F) to determine what’s called the original gravity (OG). Then yeast is pitched into the wort, and fermentation begins. As the yeast cells eat the sugar in the wort, they create two wonderful by-products: carbonation (CO2) and alcohol. And once the brewer has determined that our hungry yeast have had enough (could be days, weeks or months), s/he’ll go ahead and pull another hydrometer reading (at 60°F) and record what’s called the final gravity (FG).

Notice that all measurements were taken at 60°F. That’s because the temperature of the liquid will impact the hydrometers’ measurement of the liquid, and the hydrometer was calibrated with water at 60°F. So in order to maintain controlled calculations … you get it. Otherwise you’d need to make adjustments in calculations, and we don’t want to worry about that.

Calculating the ABV
Say our brewer crafted a high-alcohol beer. The OG measured at 1.080, and the beer stopped fermentation with a FG measurement of 1.011. Simply subtract the FG from the OG and multiply by 131.

1.080 – 1.011 = 0.069 x 131 = 9.039%
So we’ve got a 9 percent alcohol by volume beer. Easy!

3/27/10

Check out the following videos that I’ve watched and enjoyed recently.

• Series of home brewing instructional videos release by the Brewer’s Association on their YouTube Channel.
• History of Allagash Brewing and background story behind many of their brews: click here

4/15/10

• Brewers Assocation Releases Top Breweries of 2009
• Two beer books that I’ve read and recommend to all: 1. Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher 2. The Brewmaster’s Table by Garrett Oliver

4/27/10

The World’s 50 best beers according to GQ magazine

Home Brewing: Some info. on decoction mashing which is good for brewing warmer weather styles like pilsners and wheat beers.

I recently asked Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewer’s Assocation: What causes the vapor or “smoke” that rises from a beer bottle upon opening? and he answered “That smoke when cap is popped is actually supercooled air from sudden pressure differential.”

5/6/10

Have recently brewed a witbier I thought I’d share some good info. with you that I found about what makes wheat beer special. click here

5/16/10

New Home Brewing Video Blog: Brewing TV

BREWING WHEAT BEER (homebrew.com)
Wheat malt’s characteristics have important consequences in brewing, especially in wort production. Wheat mashes are considerably more troublesome than malt mashes, and sticky mashes and slow run-offs are the rule. Those brewers fortunate enough to have upward-infusion mash vessels and rake-equipped lauter tuns will have a much easier time than most of us who struggle along using infusion mash tuns that were perfectly satisfactory until we started brewing wheat beer.
For the brewer with a typical infusion mash tun, wheat brewing is often a slow and laborious process. What follows is a distillation of the experience and advice of several experienced wheat brewers. You may not choose to use all these techniques, but be aware of them – you may need them.Try to avoid grists that contain more than 50% wheat malt and large amounts of grist that produce a deep mash bed, at least until you are experienced and comfortable with wheat mashes. Wheat mashes are so sticky and generally gloppy that it’s a good idea to keep them on the thin side, at least 1 bbl of mash liquor per 100 lb of grist. Use plenty of foundation water – at least 2 in. – over the false bottom plates. Mash in a proportion of barley malt first to ensure that some husk rests over the false bottom. Wheat malt can tend to ball up, especially if you don’t have a premasher to do the really hard work for you. Be sure to mix the wheat and barley malt together as uniformly as possible; any layer or clump of wheat malt will blind the area below it and block run-off.After conversion at your preferred temperature and time, you might consider remixing the mash with very hot water to raise the temperature to 76-78 degrees C (168-172 degrees F). The increased temperature will reduce the viscosity of the wort and mash and make run-off much easier, but it’s an awful lot of work. To do this, heat an appropriate amount of liquor to boiling in the kettle, then underlet into the mash tun and stir like a madman.

For breweries equipped with mash vessels and rakes in the lauter tun, working with wheat is much easier. Thorough mashing-in is eased by the agitator in the mash vessel. A short proteolysis rest at 50-52 degrees C (122-125 degrees F) will help run-off by breaking down some of the high molecular weight proteins and gums without excessively degrading foam performance. High mash-off temperatures (76-78 degrees C or 168-172 degrees F) are again beneficial in reducing wort viscosity. In the lauter tun, use the rakes liberally to keep the bed open and draining well. Rake systems that provide a lifting action close to the false bottom help prevent clogging of the slots and are useful in wheat beer brewing. Home brewers can rake and grain bed easily using a kitchen or table knife. Because the danger of leaching out husk flavor is reduced, you can use hotter sparge water than usual, up to 80 degrees C (176 degrees F), to reduce wort viscosity, but by all means harden or acidify your sparge water as usual. Wheat mashes compact all too easily, so sparge and lauter more slowly and carefully than usual to prevent a set mash. It is common for wheat mashes to take up to 50% longer to sparge and lauter than normal mashes.

Regardless of your mashing equipment, wheat worts are turbid and will never clarify as well as normal worts, so recirculate only enough to get the particles out, usually 10-15 min. The high protein content of wheat wort means that the hot break in the kettle is quite spectacular and large amounts of trub are deposited in the whirlpool, so be careful in drawing off the hot wort. Cold break volumes are also relatively large.

Wheat beer fermentations using conventional ale yeasts proceed normally; some brewers feel that wheat proteins are beneficial to yeast nutrition. Excessive foaming may occur in fermentors with insufficient headspace, in which case silicone antifoam agents (available from specialty brewery suppliers) can be used to advantage.

6/17/10

The International Bittering Units scale, or simply IBU scale, provides a measure of the bitterness of beer, which is provided by the hops used during brewing. Bittering units are measured through the use of a spectrophotometer and solvent extraction. ^[1]

This technique was adopted at the same time as another method based on measuring the concentration (in milligrams per liter; parts per million w/v) of isomerized α acids in a beer, causing some confusion among small-scale brewers.^[2] The American Society of Brewing Chemists, in the introduction to its methods on measuring bitterness, points out some differences between the results of the two methods:

While the results of the IAA [isomerized α acids] methods are practically identical to those obtained by the [I]BU method for beer brewed with fresh hops, the IAAs of beer brewed with old or poorly stored hops, and with certain special hop extracts, can be significantly lower than the [I]BU figure.^[1]

The bittering effect is less noticeable in beers with a high quantity of malt, so a higher IBU is needed in heavier beers to balance the flavor. For example, an Imperial Stout may have an IBU of 50, but will taste less bitter than an English Bitter with an IBU of 30, because the latter beer uses much less malt than the former. The technical limit for IBU’s is around 100; some have tried to surpass this number, but there is no real gauge after 100 IBUs when it comes to taste threshold.

A light American lager might be as low as 5 on the scale, while barley wines, India pale ales, or imperial stouts can range up to 100 or higher. Measures for other beverages include:

• Belgian Lambics: 11–23
• Blonde ale: 15–30
• Kölsch: 18–25
• Märzen/Oktoberfest: 18–25
• Ordinary English bitter: 20–35
• Porter: 20–40
• Brown ale: 15–25, with North American styles higher, 25–45
• Bohemian-style Pilsener: 30–45, sometimes it can range up to 100 (e.g. German Bitterpils)
• India pale ale: 40 or higher
• An Irish stout: 25–60 (e.g. Guinness ~45 IBU)

A formula craft brewers use to estimate IBU is:

, where

• W refers to the weight of the hops used,
• A refers to the alpha acid percentage, which is influenced by many factors, including cultivation method, species, and time of year — hops are often sold labeled with this percentage
• U is the percentage of alpha acid that is actually used during the boiling process
• V means the volume of the wort,
• K is a constant factor that adjusts the measurement to account for the units used.
  • For grams and litres K = 10.0.
  • For avoirdupois ounces and imperial gallons K = 1.61.
  • For avoirdupois ounces and US gallons K = 1.34.

There are several different methods for finding U, which can yield very different results. Generally, U increases with longer boiling times and decreases with higher boil density.

6/30/10 – Growing your own hops

Here are some informative videos I found with useful information on growing your own hops.

7/7/10

Here are a couple videos about the history of Dogfish Head and Allagash

Dogfish Head

Allagash

7/18/10

Here are some cool sites to check out to see the state of U.S. beer sales and general craft beer news…

• Beer Business Daily
• Beer News
• All About Beer Magazine
• Beer Marketer’s Insights
• Beer Tap Tv’s Beer Buzz
• Craft Beer Locator

8/8/10

Wild Yeast (info. taken from wyeastlab.com)

Brewing beer with wild yeast and bacteria adds a new level of complexity to an already complex process. Making beer with these specialty cultures is less precise and much less predictable than brewing with a single yeast strain. The rewards however can be tremendous if a brewer has patience.

The most important factor to keep in mind is that these cultures take time to fully develop and do their jobs. A good lambic or sour style beer usually takes 1 to 2 years to fully develop. The temperature at which the beer is fermented and then stored will play a large role in determining how quickly the characteristic aromas, flavors and acidity develop.

Growing and Managing Wild Yeast and Bacteria

Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis are, in many modern brewers’ minds, the only desirable microorganisms in the brewing process. For the vast majority of beer styles, this is true. There are, however, a few styles of beer that require what are considered spoilage organisms to create the desired profile.

In the traditional setting nature acts as the source of the desired cultures. Cool ships and fermenters that are open to the air allow a host of microbes to enter the wort. It is the specific combination of these microbes and their sequence of activity in the fermentation that creates the unique and complex profile of lambic and sour beers.

The following is a list of the cultures involved in true lambic fermentations and the sequence of activity:

• Enteric bacteria (3 to 7 days)
• Kloeckera apiculata (3 to 7 days)
• Saccharomyces species (2 weeks)
• Lactic acid bacteria (3 to 4 months)
• Brettanomyces yeast (8 months)
• Oxidative yeasts (8 months)

Each one of these groups of organisms adds some character to the finished beer; however three groups in particular do the lion’s share of the fermentation and contribute the bulk of the flavor characteristics. Typically, it is impractical to try and manage all of these cultures. The enteric bacteria and the Kloeckera apiculata are not readily available and contribute the least amount of character to the final beer. The Oxidative yeasts are also not readily available and also contribute very little to the final profile of the beer. That leaves the Saccharomyces yeast, the lactic acid bacteria, and the Brettanomyces yeast.

The bulk of the available sugars in the wort are fermented by a Saccharomyces strain. In modern lambic brewing, the rate at which fermentation begins is much quicker than in a traditional lambic. The brewer has a large number of choices on how to begin the fermentation. The easiest choice is to use a prepared lambic culture that contains the Saccharomyces culture along with the lactic acid and Brettanomyces cultures. The other choice is to use any other commercially available Saccharomyces culture. If the prepared lambic culture (Wyeast 3278) is used, it is important to keep the primary fermentation temperature relatively low (68-72°F) in order to keep the lactic acid cultures in check. If the temperatures get too high, the bloom of the lactic acid cultures can inhibit the Saccharomyces cultures.

If the brewer chooses not to use a prepared lambic culture, then any Saccharomyces culture can be used for primary fermentation. The primary fermentation should be allowed to progress for about two weeks before adding the lactic acid cultures. This allows plenty of time for the primary culture to establish itself and complete the bulk of the fermentation.

When the main fermentation is complete and the Saccharomyces population in suspension begins to decrease, the lactic acid bacteria start to increase in population. If a prepared lambic culture was not used, this is the time to add the lactic acid bacteria. It is important to note that Lactic Acid Bacteria is very sensitive to even moderate levels of IBU. Keep IBU levels below 10. The lactic acid cultures responsible for souring a lambic beer are: Pediococcus and Lactobacillus (Wyeast 5733 and 5335 respectively). The temperature of the fermentation should be allowed to rise to allow the lactic acid cultures to establish themselves. The sourness will continue to increase for up to 2 years.

The final players in the homebrewed version of a lambic beer are the Brettanomyces yeast. The available cultures are Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus (Wyeast 5112 and 5526 respectively). If a prepared lambic culture has not been used, the Brettanomyces cultures can be added anytime after primary fermentation is complete. The Brettanomyces cultures are slow growers that are able to ferment complex sugars that Saccharomyces is not able to utilize. These cultures do not add a significant amount of alcohol to the beer, but they are the primary contributors to the aroma of the finished beer. The characteristic horsey aroma and flavor are by-products of Brettanomyces metabolism. These cultures also produce large amounts of ethyl lactate and ethyl acetate along with some acetic acid. These cultures can remain active for 16 months.

For the home brewer, the prepared lambic culture is the best choice for producing a great lambic beer. The cultures contained in the lambic blend will perform their jobs in sequence as long as the primary fermentation temperature is kept under control. If a brewer is looking to make a Berliner weisse or a sour brown, then the lactic acid cultures should be added with the pitching yeast in primary fermentation. Once again, it is important to keep IBU levels below 10.

The lactic acid cultures and the Brettanomyces cultures are both slow growing cultures that have complex nutritional requirements which makes growing and maintaining the cultures problematic. It is extremely important that brewers using these cultures understand that the beer will take 1 to 2 years to develop the desired characteristics.

For more info. on brewing with wild yeast click here (wyeast) and here (white labs).

8/12/10

Beer Freshness / Bottling Dates

While shopping at my local beer stores I often find it hard to interpret the codes on the bottles to find out when the beers I want to purchase were bottled and or until when will they taste fresh. One site that I’ve used to decipher these codes is Fresh Beer Only! I hope this link helps you pick which bottles to purchase next time to visit your local beer store or beer bar. Cheers!

9/1/10

2010 Brewers Association Style Guidelines

American-Style India Black Ale

American-style India black ale has medium high to high hop bitterness, flavor and aroma with medium-high alcohol content, balanced with a medium body. The style is further characterized by a moderate degree of caramel malt character and medium to strong dark roasted malt flavor and aroma. High astringency and high degree of burnt roast malt character should be absent. Fruity, floral and herbal character from hops of all origins may contribute to aroma and flavor.

Original Gravity (oPlato) 1.056-1.075 (14-18.2 oPlato) ● Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (oPlato) 1.012-1.018 (3-4.5 oPlato) ● Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 5-6% (6 -7.5%) ● Bitterness (IBU) 50-70 ● Color SRM (EBC) 25+ (50+ EBC)

Check out this article on the above style