Posts Tagged ‘Brewing’
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Class six was in the seventh week thanks to Easter, and the nice holiday that Les gave us. The weather warmed up quite a bit, and I was initially not looking forward to drinking a ton of heavy, darker beers so far into April. Maryland Homebrew Day member Stefin Clapham presented a flight of excellent beers, and I have to say that I enjoyed this tasting session pretty thoroughly despite not feeling like I was in the right season to drink them. The technical topic presented by CRABS member Glenn Quinting — mashing — is probably the most important activity we’ve discussed so far, and I hope to put as much of what I’ve learned from this session to use in my own brewing.
As usual, we started with some questions to answer, and we also did our first legitimate scoring of a beer. Then we moved into “Guess that beer,” and most of us — even the more experienced folks who had already been through the course — were completely stumped. We tasted a beer that featured almost no hop character, but was still pretty malty. There was some light ester going on, but without that hop character it was difficult to pinpoint what the style was, let alone what kind of beer it was. I guessed bock, as there was some minor alcohol heat to it, and the color seemed appropriate, and I was totally off the mark. It turned out to be Morland’s Hens Tooth Strong English Ale, but the bottles were a bit old, per Les’s admission. Despite the age on the bottles, this was a great exercise. (more…)
Tags: Beer, BJCP, Brewing, Mashing, Porter, Stout
Posted in BJCP, Brewing, Geek-Out, Science | No Comments »
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Oh boy! Yesterday’s class was intense! Not that you should really expect any less considering the fact that it was focused on the all-important hop plant, and the intensely hopped Pale Ales and Bitters. We also did a couple of short exercises to test some of our developing knowledge. Les gave us a pop quiz of sorts, requiring us to talk about some of the things we learned in our water session, and also a bit about general BJCP rules. Then we played “Name That Beer,” a game in which we are given a blind taste of a particular style of beer — one that we tasted the previous week, and try to guess specifically what style it is down to its country of origin. This week’s beer was a Munich Helles. I guessed a German Pils, but this was a rather hoppy example of the Helles so Les said that would be a pretty fairly understandable mistake.
CSI member, Lisa Klein presented the technical topic on hops, going over a little bit of their historical use; alternate uses; similarities to another intoxicating herb whose name I’ll leave up to your imagination; isomerization; the different uses for specific kinds of hops based on their alpha acid content; beta acids, essential oils, hop formats – whole leaf, plug, pellet, and extract; what an IBU is (International Bitterness Unit —which strangely enough is only referred to as international in the US. Everywhere else just calls them bitterness units. Kind of a head scratcher, huh?); why beers get skunky, and a fair bit beyond all that too. (more…)
Tags: Aesthetics, Ales, Beer, Bitter, BJCP, Brewing, Hops, IPA, Pale Ale
Posted in BJCP, Brewing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
This past Sunday saw me at my third BJCP course. The technical topic — water — was something I had a broad understanding of, but no real depth of knowledge. Light lagers are something most of us are familiar with — some people experience that familiarity with less enthusiasm than others, and the class was largely unified in its disdain prior to the tastings. More on that later…
I spoke with the technical topic presenter — Zymurnauts president Kevin Berry — prior to class, and noted my particular interest in the topic. He made sure to tell me that it was dangerous territory to tread as he feels that once you’be begun altering your water profiles it’s difficult not to do so every time you brew. Having seen his presentation, I can understand the sentiment entirely. Most typical beer drinkers don’t think about how important water chemistry is to the final flavor of their brew, and how much of an effect its had on the geography of beer styles throughout history. Sure, we’re marketed to by the macro-brewers about how clean their water is, or that it comes from the Rocky Mountains, but that doesn’t even tell half the story about water profiles. (more…)
Tags: Beer, BJCP, Brewing, Lagering, Water Profiles
Posted in Aesthetics, BJCP, Brew History, Brewing, How do I do that?, Measurement, Science | No Comments »
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
In the last Release the Yeast we talked about how yeast does the work that eventually gives us alcohol; this time we’re turning our eyes to the other staff of life – bread, more specifically sourdough bread. Funny thing is, sourdough cultures aren’t just exclusively used for breads and bread products like pancakes and biscuits; you can conceivably make beer with them too.
So what is it?
Sourdoughs are symbiotic relationships between wild yeasts and a lactobacillus bacteria; one such is named Lactobacillus Sanfranciscensis, for its discovery in San Francisco — the spiritual home of modern sourdough. The yeasts provide the leavening action — or puff — to the dough. The sour flavor is the result of the growth of the bacteria, and its acid production. Different lactobacillus strains produce different levels of sourness, some like San Francisco’s are very aggressive, others — like the Parisian strains — are much more mild in character.
In antiquity, all breads were sourdough breads. Most anthropologists believe that the first leavened breads were baked in Egypt. You can imagine how this was discovered, unused flatbread dough suddenly rising with the breath of the gods out of nowhere, that was then baked and deemed divine in flavor and texture. Not until yeasts were actually isolated and then made widely available did humanity know how to make a bread that wasn’t the result of a yeast organism captured in the wild and then cultivated as sourdough. (more…)
Tags: bread, Brewing, Fermentation, sourdough, wild beer, Yeast
Posted in Brewing, Food, Geek-Out, How do I do that?, Release the Yeast, Science | No Comments »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Note: This is another article geared to beginning brewers. If you’ve brewed before, you probably have a fair share of experience with extract brewing and know all of this, have all the equipment mentioned, and otherwise have no need to read on — but you should feel free to do the people this article is directed to a favor and chime in with advice of your own.
In the last “How do I do that?” I provided a general list of equipment you would need to brew beer. This time we’ll actually talk about how to do an extract brew.
The following is a recipe for the first beer I made, courtesy of Wootown member and Vice President, Lloyd Snyder. I’ll explain the process from start to finish. (more…)
Tags: Beer, Beginner Brewing, Brewing, Fermentation, How do I do that?
Posted in Brew History, Brewing, How do I do that?, Measurement, Recommended Reading, Science | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Note: This article is definitely audience specific to beginning brewers. If you’ve brewed before, you probably will know all of this, have all the equipment mentioned, and otherwise have no need to read on — BUT with that said, hopefully you’ll do me and the intended beginner audience the favor of commenting with your own advice, etc.
So you’re feeling ambitious and you want to brew your own beer for the first time, eh? Even with no experience, you can make a fairly respectable beer in around two weeks with basic equipment.
First things first, you’re going to need equipment, but where to buy it, and what will you need? My first piece of advice is simple. Google this : “Homebrew shops near [your zip code here].” Or, you can check out Beer Advocate’s BeerFly application, which will provide reviews as well as locations. I can’t emphasize enough the value of getting actual face to face interaction with a homebrew shop owner or employee who has been brewing for a long time. The advice an actual person can give you is infinitely more valuable than anything I can tell you here. Sure, there are plenty of online homebrew shops, but I really think a beginning homebrewer is missing out on a wealth of information and interaction by using one. Seriously, go to a physical location. Besides, you don’t have to pay for shipping when you pick it up yourself. (more…)
Tags: Beginner level, Brewing, Brewing Equipment, How do I do that?, The right stuff
Posted in Brewing, How do I do that?, Measurement, Science, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »