Fermentarium.com

A very cool hop chart!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:53:58 +0100

I posted this earlier on twitter and it was very popular. This is a very impressive hop chart. It looks like it was done by a designer named Zeke Shore. You can see more about him on his web page, after you're done drooling over the pretty hop chart. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day dinner alcohol ideas

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:04:50 +0100

Really, pretty much everyone needs or wants a drink at Thanksgiving. It’s the unfortunate truth that a little tipple helps you tolerate old Uncle Bob who will insist on regaling the table with his crazy conspiracy theories for hours on end. Thanksgiving is a holiday notorious for forcing people to be around others they would not normally tolerate but are regretfully related to, so a little alcohol can lubricate normally painful interactions. The key however here, is the word LITTLE—otherwise mixing alcohol and people you can’t stand is bound to end poorly with horribly hurt feelings and/or the cops. The following is a list of good alcohol choices or uses for Thanksgiving.

Lambics

Lambic beers are a specific style of beer with several types but the fruit added lambics are some of the most commonly seen and excellent choices for Thanksgiving drink companions. In particular, the raspberry and cherry lambics go great with turkey. Samuel Adams offers a cranberry lambic every year that might be fun to offer guests. Lambics are known for their somewhat tart and sour taste. Combined with the fruit additions the beer is very sweet and sour, although some brands such as Lindemans are much more sweet than others (I’ve heard Lindemans framboise (raspberry) described as “liquid sweet tarts”). Lindemans’ lambics also have very nice looking labels and can add to a Thanksgiving tablescape or buffet.

Basting Turkey with Bourbon

Bourbon is an excellent addition to a Thanksgiving meal and can come in handy in many holiday situations. Basting a cooking turkey with bourbon gives it a very nice flavor. Just have a cup of bourbon next to the oven and when you baste the turkey with pan juices, throw a few tablespoons of bourbon in too. Of course, the baster may need some for themselves as well. A little for Tom, a little for you. Makes cooking turkey a hell of a lot more interesting. Bourbon is also a common ingredient for turkey glazes and gravies.

Pumpkin Beers and Cider

There are quite a few different pumpkin beers on the market. Most use spices reminiscent of pumpkin pies such as allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Some brewers add pieces of pumpkin to the mash, others add a puree of pumpkin, no matter how it’s made, pumpkin beer is a fun and unusual fall themed drink for this fall holiday. There are few drinks more associated with fall than cider. Shockingly many people have never had alcoholic cider and think of it only as a non-alcoholic fall kiddie drink. Hard cider is actually very easy to make if you wish to deeply impress your guests—although if you haven’t made it before, do a test batch a few months ahead of the holiday. There are excellent brands of bottled cider at any liquor store as well such as Woodchuck and Woodpecker.

Thanksgiving cooking with beer and wine

Beer and wine can add a great flavor to many elements of the Thanksgiving meal. The first use is before the turkey is even cooked as an addition to a brining solution. Brining a turkey means creating a solution of salt and spices which is used to soak the entire turkey (a thawed or fresh one) for up to 36 hours—24 hours is the usual recommended time—before cooking. Brining is kind of pain in the butt, especially if you don’t have extra refrigerator space because the turkey needs to be kept cool the entire soaking time, BUT it produces unbelievable results. To use beer, substitute a dark beer for water in the brining recipe. Brining produces a super moist turkey utterly unlike those dry stringy birds you remember from nearly every Thanksgiving. It may be a pain, but brining produces a transcendent turkey. Wine makes an excellent addition to gravy. Many chefs use a few tablespoons to cups (depending on how much gravy you are making) to “deglaze” a pan while making gravy. Deglazing basically means pouring a liquid—in this case wine—into a pan that has been used to cook something and still has all the little brown tasty bits (called “fond”) in it. The wine dissolves the fond or gets it unstuck from the pan and adds a tasty note to the resulting gravy. You can use either white or red wine for making gravy and port also works well.

Quick Shots: Chimay Brewery Tour

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:53:03 +0100

Apparently this video has been around for over a year, but it's the first time I've seen it. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

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Monster storm brewing over beer and energy drinks

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:36:08 +0100

The story

Yesterday Monster Energy drinks fired a shot at a Rock Art Brewery over their Vermonster beer. Monster Energy drinks says the name Vermonster beer is too close their Monster Energy drinks line of energy sodas. They sent a cease and desist letter to Rock Art Brewery. Apparently they think consumers might confuse Vermonster beer with their Red Bull knock off soda.

The Monster Drink Battle

Matt Nadeau, the owner of Rock Art Brewery, isn't taking the fight lying down. He's mobilized the internet, which is typically against corporate bullying. He's posted more info about the battle on his website. His Web site calls the battle "Rock Art Brewery vs. Corporate America." Here's the story in his own words!

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The battle is now all over twitter and facebook. #monsterboycott is quickly becomming a trending topic on twitter. To show your support for Rock Art, join the Facebook group Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster!

If you're a blogger, feel free to leave links to your article about this story in the comments.

(Source: Google)

Making hard cider at home Q&A

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:42:19 +0100

Is my cider fermenting?

Many beer homebrewers panic when first making cider. When you make beer, you see lots of activity in glass carboys. Cider doesn't do this. Cider does not have the active fermentation you see in beer. If your fermenter isn't airtight, you may not see much activity at all. This isn't a problem. The best way to see if your cider is fermenting is to check the specific gravity. Measure the specific gravity of your cider, wait two days and then measure the specific gravity again. If your cider is fermenting, the second specific gravity will be lower.

Why does my cider fermentation smells like ass?

Yes. Cider often produces lots of hydrogen sulfide while fermenting. Unfortunately for us, hydrogen sulfide can be detected by smell in quantities as low as 2 parts per billion. Cider fermentations can make your fermentation room smell awful. Some describe the smell as rotten eggs, farts, or wet dog rolled in swamp water. In time the smell will dissipate, and your cider will be fine!

Can I use the apple juice from Target/Wal*Mart etc...?

Yes. You'll hear lots of debate about the quality of the apple juice from grocery stores, but if you buy 100% apple juice with no sulfites you will get a good cider. I've used Mott's apple juice, Archer Farms apple juice, and several other commercial brands with great success. I've also used organic apple juice and freshly squeezed apple cider. The fresher apple juice makes a better apple wine, while the commercial stuff is great for making Hornsby/Woodchuck-style ciders.

My cider is VERY dry? How do I sweeten it?

To back sweeten the cider, you can use Splenda, lactose, or other non-fermentable sugars. Another option is once the fermentation is complete, you can add potassium sorbate to stabilize the cider. After stablizing, you can add honey, sugar, more apple juice, or a can of frozen apple juice concentrate. I usually keg my cider, and before I'm ready to serve it I'll add the frozen concentrate. This way I don't need to add the sorbate or worry about renewed fermentations. This won't work if you bottle your cider.

Can I use pasteurized cider?

Pasteurization does not affect the fermentation. Pasteurization kills most of the bacteria in your cider by heating the cider to a point where the harmful bacteria cannot survive. This does not affect the fermentability of the cider.

Should I use apple cider or apple juice?

Both are pretty much the same thing. Cider is unfiltered apple juice, and usually very cloudy because of the unfiltered apple particles. Apple juice is clear. Both apple juice and apple cider will make an exellent hard cider.

Can I naturally ferment my cider?

If you got your cider fresh directly from apples and it isn't pasteurized, you probably can ferment your cider without adding yeast. If it's from the store, you need to add yeast. Apples contain wild yeast naturally, so it should start fermenting.

Many people use this technique with great results. Some also produce an undrinkable beverage using this technique. This is too unpredictable for me, and I use wine or cider yeast every time. Using known yeasts give you more predictable results and fewer failures. This doesn't mean you can't produce a great cider using a natural fermentation. The choice is up to you.

Can I use beer or wine yeast for the cider?

Yes, but beer and wine cider yeasts tend to strip the cider of its apple flavor. Your best choices are WLP775 English Cider Yeast or WLP720 Sweet Mead Yeast. These will leave more apple flavor in your cider.

Drink ideas for your Halloween party

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:34:30 +0100

Halloween is not a kid only holiday—adults can get in on the scary fun too. Even kid centered Halloween parties can offer some themed drinks for the adults (just make sure they are clearly marked). Few things are more boring than kids’ parties, so throw the adults a bone why don’t ya? That, or throw your own adults only themed bash.

Spoooky Rims and Trims

For a cool effect, use red gel icing (available in the bakery isle of grocery stores with the cake decorating stuff) on the inside rim of glasses to make a “blood rim”. Squeeze a small ring around the inside of a glass—martini glasses work especially well—with a few streaks going down and add cocktail of your choice. The gel will drip down and slowly dissolve into the liquid giving a cool “bleeding” effect.

Another fun holiday related rim idea—use colored sugar. Use orange, purple, and green sugar to line cocktail rims.

Black licorice can make great looking and fun swizzle sticks and straws in cocktails.

Scary Ice

Halloween ice cube trays

Strike some fear into drinker’s hearts with Halloween themed ice, which you can make with specialized ice trays such as these very cool skull and crossbones ones found at Amazon!

Even regular ice cubes can be Halloweened out by the addition of candy corn or olives (they look like eyeballs).

Ice Faces

You can also make some very interesting larger ice for punch bowls by using plastic face masks. Seal the eye and mouth holes of the mask with taped on plastic wrap (taped on the front of the mask, make sure it’s tight so it won’t bow out when water is added). Put mask, front side down, in a container that has raised sides (such roasting pan), and stuff paper towels or newspaper around the mask to keep it from falling over. Pour water into the hollow part of the mask and place in freezer for at least 24 hours. Once thoroughly frozen, take mask out and dip the front in a bowl of hot water to loosen the ice, then turn the mask over to free the ice face. Float ice face in punch bowl. For a super creepy effect, add red or green food coloring to the water before you pour it into the face, or add some spots of red or green jello.

Halloween Jello Shots and Shapes

Put a holiday spin on Jello shots by making orange and purple ones. You can also create jello shot shapes in Halloween forms. Pour the liquid jello onto a cookie sheet with raised edges, chill for several hours, then use Halloween cookie cutters to make bat, pumpkin, etc.. shaped jello shots.

Pumpkin Ice Cooler

Pumpkins make great, fun coolers for beers and a stylish party decoration. Take a large pumpkin (larger the better), and cut a wide top, you can get creative with the edge either using the traditional “v” notching, a more modern circular cut, squares, whatever. Scoop out the guts and toss (or keep the seeds for roasting). The easiest way to cut pumpkin tops is to use the small saws with handles they sell in the specialty pumpkin carving kits. Put ice in the pumpkin, and place beers in the ice. If you want to get really in the spirit of the season, fill the pumpkin cooler with pumpkin beer.

Pumpkin Beers and Themed liquors

Every fall quite a number of brewers release a pumpkin ale. Beer Advocate has an excellent listing and reviews of each. Pumpkin ales often are evocative of pumpkin pies, using some of the same spices. Many of them also have great looking labels which can add to a Halloween party’s ambiance.

There are other liquors that work well for Halloween including black vodka (looks really cool in mixed drinks), pumpkin vodka, pumpkin schnapps, and even pumpkin wine.

It isn't easy drinking green

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The word green—formally a noun, now typically an adjective—is applied to just about anything possible (green dog food!). Opinion polls and the American tradition of the focus group both have found the populace expressing more concern for the environment, hence a deluge of green labeled products in the last few years, including alcoholic drinks—most notably beer and wine. If one wishes to indulge but doesn’t wish to have the guilt of wrecking the environment added to the inevitable stupid-crap-people-do-when-drinking, what should you look for?

Organic drunkenness versus conventional

A drink that uses organic ingredients is a good for the planet right? Suprisingly there really isn’t a lot of hard research (read published, peer reviewed studies in scientific journals) on this subject. It’s probably most accurate to say under certain circumstances, it may be less bad on a short time scale or better on a longer time scale. Which is better for the planet, conventional versus organic agriculture is—all advertising by the organic industry aside—extremely complicated. “Better for the planet” for the purposes of this article means less polluting, less non-renewable energy consumption, less damaging to the soil, less production of greenhouse gases, and less negative impact on biodiversity.

Pollution

Organic agriculture is easier on the environment than traditional production methods in a some ways. Organic methods eschew the use of chemical fertilizers, using animal or plant based products for this purpose instead. This has several benefits but also some drawbacks. Manure based fertilizers maintain or even improve soil fertility with much less pollution—chemical fertilizers, because of their chemical composition, easily leach into groundwater, lakes, or rivers which can cause oxygen sucking algal blooms that kill everything. Organic agriculture certainly comes out on top in the pollution department.

Energy Use

The creation of chemical fertilizers involves the use of a non-renewable ingredient—natural gas. However, animal and plant based fertilizers can also use quite a bit of energy—for transportation—and can produce the greenhouse gas methane during their composting and cow fart stage. Manure fertilizers also contain less nutrients by weight than chemical fertilizers. Also added to the what-is-greener equation: organic fields can produce less crop per area than traditional methods, meaning more land is needed to get the same yield. Depending on the location, methods, and crop in production, organic versus traditional agriculture may come close to similar levels of energy use but this is obviously, highly variable. In a 22 year study assessing the differences in energy use between conventional agriculture, organic animal manure agriculture and organic plant manure (legume) agriculture, researchers found the organic systems used 28 and 32% less energy than the conventional system (Pimentel et al. Bioscience 2005 55:7).

Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse gas production in both types of agriculture comes from the combustion of fossil fuels required to run all the equipment needed (including transportation), fertilizer production (including the production of animal and plant based organic fertilizer), and soil processes that occur during production. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Organic production generally involves increased tillage or tractor usage which is damaging to the soil and releases CO2 into the atmosphere. However, using manure as fertilizer replenishes soil carbon and can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Like I said, complicated. Which presumably explains why I had such a hard time finding scientific studies that compare the net greenhouse gas emissions of organic versus traditional agriculture. Since I could not find such a study after quite some time looking, I’m going to hazard a guess. Since organic agriculture can use less energy than traditional, I’m going to say overall it probably also produces less greenhouse gases—but that’s not a given. A qualified maybe here.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the number of different species (plant, animal, bacteria, fungi, you name it) in a specific area or habitat. Higher numbers are assumed to be good, but there is significant debate in the science of ecology—as opposed to “environmentalism” which is something else—whether this is the case. In general parlance and most certainly in marketing materials for organic products however, the more creepy crawlies = good, less = bad is the dominant thinking. Organic agriculture wins hands down in this category. A metastudy (a study of many different, related studies) published in 2005 (Biological Conservation 113), found land under organic agriculture had significantly higher biodiversity than conventional agriculture in most cases. The difference was attributed to more animal friendly cultivation methods such as the non use of pesticides and herbicides in organic agriculture.

Although there isn’t really enough scientific evidence to satisfy me (meaning multiple studies done with a variety of crops in a variety of places in both organic and conventional paired plots for several years), it does seem safe to say choosing beer or wine with organic ingredients is probably more green than the same products made with conventionally grown ingredients. And if you like bugs, organic is definitely better. However, because it’s a complicated calculation, consuming alcohol made from organic ingredients most likely isn’t as green as people think it is. If you choose a beer or wine that is organic but shipped from a long distance instead of locally, the pollution and greenhouse gas production from the transportation alone may negate the environmental benefits of organic growing methods.

Local Drinking

There’s been a big upsurge in interest in local eating and by extension, drinking. Eating and drinking local means exactly what it sounds like—going out of your way to purchase and consume locally made products. The idea here is to reduce transportation effects on the environment. Now living in the Front Range of Colorado makes this easy—there are many local craft breweries and quite a number of wineries in the state on the Western Slope. However, if you live somewhere that’s not too hot for growing either grain or grapes, drinking locally will be significantly more difficult. However, anytime you can reduce transportation required for the creation, distribution, and sale of an item, the more green it will be. AND, walk to the liquor store/pub instead of drive, that will also increase the green quotient.

Of course, the ultimate local drinking is to grow the ingredients and make the beer or wine yourself. Grapes are fairly easy to grow in many parts of the U.S., but growing enough of your own barley can be a bit of challenge. Hops however, are very easy and can even be grown in containers. Compost the leftovers and you will really be able to feel environmentally smug.

Sustainable Brewers and Wineries

Another option for green drinking is purchasing products from breweries or wineries using sustainable methods or technologies in production. New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado is well known for their sustainable, green practices such as their use of wind powered electricity and using more efficient brew kettles. As far as wineries go, many wineries are switching to organic production or biodynamic production—which is essentially the same as organic with some ridiculous new age mysticism thrown in for good measure.

Greener Drinking Tips

Walk to the bar/liquor store
Buy beer or wine made with organic ingredients
Grow your own ingredients and make your own beer or wine
Buy from local breweries or wineries
Buy from brewers or wineries using green technologies
Compost your vomit

Great American Beer Festival 2009 Photos

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:16:49 +0100

Here's the breakdown of this year's festival (from the back of the t-shirt):

3 Days
460 Brewers
2,086 Beers
3,374 Beers in the competition
2,712 Volunteers
31,500 People attending
28 Years and still going strong
0 Larger festivals in the nation!!

These images are resized, but these and other photos are available in their full size in the flickr account. If we took your picture and you don't see it here or on the flickr page, it didn't work out. Sorry! And without further delay, here are the pics. Links will take you to the flickr page.

Drunks expecting deposit get withdrawl

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:46:22 +0100

Three sexy women were arrested for scamming drunk men out of their money. The young women in their 20s targeted drunk men outside bars offering rides home or after hour parties. Once the man was lured into in the car, the sirens would slip their hands into the men's pockets removing their cell phones, cash, and wallets.

The three women slipped their hands into the pants of more than 50 "victims" before the law caught up with them. The vicitms included lawyers and NYU professors. One drunk lost $5000 to the three women. There was no word on how many men were "repeat victims".

The sexy sting worked like this. Tiffany Rasberry, 21, and Barbara Labady, 22, lured men into a car offering to take the man to an after hours party. One lawyer got into the car, and then needed to stop at an ATM machine on the way. The two girls watched him punch in his PIN, then when they got back into the car they ran their hands into his pockets removing his wallet. The third woman, Subhanna Beyah, 21, feigned illness. He stepped out of the car to let her out, and the car sped away with his wallet and PIN. Within thirty minutes the women had removed $1600 from his account.

The lawyer has apparently never seen X-Men 2 or he'd know Magneto's famous line, "Never trust a beautiful woman, especially a beautiful woman who's interested in you". Luckily for him, he noticed his wallet missing and called the cops right away. The three vixens were arrested for multiple counts of grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

The women's defense was "it was an alternative to turning tricks".

(Source: New York Post)

How to make a Key Lime Wit beer

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:19:32 +0100

If you're paying attention at all to the beer world you've probably heard the lawsuit InBev and Labatts has brought against Ontario-based Brick Brewing for copyright infringement. Here's how Brick Brewing has allegedly infringed on InBev's copyright.

The Budweiser label has the letters "BL" with a lime under it. Brick Brewing has "Red Barron Lime" spelled out with a lime under it.
Both beers use a green and silver color scheme. (Look out Philadelphia, the Eagles logo might be next)
Both beers use a web site featuring attractive people in swim suits to promote the beer. (Lust for Lime vs Bud Lime)

Somehow the fact Red Baron Lime costs 25% less wasn't listed as a reason for the suit. Here's a recipe to piss Budweiser off. This beer tastes far better, and you can make it at home! Just make sure you don't have images of limes in your logo, no green and silver, and use ugly people for your website (you can use pictures of me for that ;) )

The Key Lime Wit Recipe

The recipe is a modified version of my Belgian Wit recipe.

4 lbs Belgian 2-row Pilsner malt
3 lbs Belgian wheat malt
2 lbs Flaked wheat
8 oz Belgian aromatic malt
4 oz Flaked oats

1.0 oz Kent Goldings (bittering for 60 minutes)
0.5 oz Kent Goldings (flavoring for 15 minutes)
0.5 oz Saaz (aroma for 1 minute)

3/4 tsp cracked coriander (for 15 minutes)
2 oz fresh Key Lime zest (for 15 minutes)

White Labs WLP400 or Wyeast 3944
SG 1.048 - 1.050
FG 1.010

Mash the grain at 150°F (65°C) for 90 minutes. Ferment the beer at 65°F.

When looking for Belgian wheat malt, look for the white wheat malt. It's usually around 3°L, and makes the beer really white. I've had great results with this malt, but you can use wheat malt if you can't find the white wheat malt.

I use key limes instead of regular limes. The flavor is better than regular limes. I think the reason is the store bought lime zest tends to lack flavor, while the key limes have a better zest. This is purely anecdotal, and if you have access to fresh limes you might get better results.

When you carbonate the beer, carbonate to 2-2.5 volumes. If you are bottle conditioning, use 1 ¼ cups of extra light malt extract that was boiled for at least 10 minutes.

If you need an extract version of the recipe, replace the grains with 7.5 lbs liquid wheat malt extract (LME Wheat).

I'd keep this beer cold for about 2 weeks after fermentation and carbonation if you are kegging. The beer has a slight bite at first, but mellows quickly. You should beok if you are bottling. When I brought this beer out to my neighborhood, the keg was drained in one night. This is the ultimate crowdpleaser... well unless Budweiser lawyers are in the crowd.

How to connect multiple kegs to one CO2 tank

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:18:37 +0100

A reader from Chapel Hill Homebrew asked, "What additional equipment is required to run multiple kegs off of a single CO2 tank?"

Use a gas distributor

The easiest way to add more kegs to one CO2 tank is to add additional gas lines via a gas distributor. This allows you to supply gas to multiple lines. The distributor has one barb for gas input, and many barbs out for gas output. You simply connect the gas input to your CO2 tank, and then add gas lines for each gas out. The distributor also contains valves which allow you to turn off unused gas lines.

To add a gas distributor you will need the distributor, gas line from your tank to the distributor, gas line from each out barb to your keg, a gas disconnect for each line out, and clamps for each end of each gas line. You can find these parts at your local homebrew store or online at your favorite homebrew supply website. A two-way distributor can cost about $30 USD, while an 8-way distributor can cost about $120 USD.

Each keg you connect using the distributor will be at the same pressure to which your CO2 tank regulator is set. This set up is perfect for dispensing beer from multiple kegs, since the dispensing pressure should be the same for all kegs. If you are carbonating your beers at different gas pressures for each keg, then you will need a different approach.

Use a Double Body CO2 Regulator (or more)

To supply beer to multiple kegs at different pressures, you need more regulators. The regulator controls the pressure at which you supply gas. You will need a regulator for each pressure you want to supply gas. You can also find these online if you cannot find them at your local homebrew store.

To add a double body CO2 regulator you need the double regulator, gas line from each barb on your regulator, a gas disconnect for each line out, and clamps for each end of each gas line. This setup will allow you to carbonate one keg while dispensing from a second keg. A double body CO2 regulator runs about $130 USD.

Mix and match gas supply equipment

You can also mix and match. For example, my system uses a double body CO2 regulator which connects to several gas distributors. I use these to connect to a 20 pound CO2 tank so I can carbonate 8 kegs at once (at 2 different pressures). Piecing the parts together is very easy, and soon you can have many kegs running at the same time at your next party!

Drunk and naked

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Drunk and naked seems to be a theme. Usually these people are found robbing quickie stores or getting stuck in chimneys. Here are a few different naked drunks.

Not a burglar, just a drunk naked lady

Wearing white fishnet stockings and nothing else, Sherry "Cougar-in-training" McNeal, 47, repeatedly slammed herself into a Ridley Park, Philadelphia home. The neighbors heard the ruckus and thought she was trying to break into the house. Well technically she was trying to break in, because the door was locked.

The police arrived to arrest the naked burglar, only to discover she was a guest at the home. She didn't know how she got outside, and she didn't know why she was naked. Her equally inebriated host had no clue either. They were both cited for disorderly conduct and told to stay inside. No word if the police needed eye bleach after the incident, or if the President will invite her over to the White House for a beer.

(Source: philly.com)

I'm not sober, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night

An Australian man also wearing nothing down under, lost his way in a New Zealand hotel. Undaunted by being lost, he crashed in the first available hotel room he could find for a night's rest. Unfortunately for him, the couple currently occupying the room had a problem with this.

While the intruder was passed out, the couple called for help. Actually the man phoned the hotel staff, while the woman hid in the bathroom. When the police arrived, the drunk man of course had no idea how he got naked or where his friends were. He was given a hotel robe and a ride home. No charges were filed against the man, because everyone involved had a good laugh over the incident. If this happened in the USA, he'd probably have to register as a sex offender.

(Source: Reuters.com)

Review: Beer Compass for the iPhone

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:22:55 +0100

Beer Compass is a simple $0.99 application for the iPhone. You want beer, and the beer compass finds it for you. The application doesn't really find beer, with a press of a button it searches for all the bars and restaurants nearest to your location. Then with great fanfare (and lots of noise which you cannot turn off) Beer Compass gives you a list of possible bars.

Beer Compass knows your next bar

It looks like the application uses the Google Maps API to find near by watering holes. The selections returned include restaurants and bars. For some reason, it also returned a chiropractor. I guess the application can only be as good as the data behind it. Sometimes Google hiccups. The application then passes off the selected bar to the Google Maps iPhone application which gives you directions from your current location to the bar.

Results

Beer Compass did find all bars within a short range from my location. I can see this application being very helpful when you are out on a pub crawl, especially in a neighborhood you are unfamiliar with. Hopefully in future versions Beer Compass will give you the option to turn off the noise, but the fact the application can quickly find all the nearby bars with directions a drunk can follow makes the application well worth the price!

Harvest Ready Hops

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:22:08 +0100

Homebrewers who recently started growing their own hops are all asking the same question right now. Are my hops ready to harvest? Here are the signs you need to look for.

Paper feel

When you feel the hop cone in your hand, it will feel either spongy or papery. When the hops are ready to pick, you want it to have a papery feel. The cone will start to open slightly and feel much drier than a few weeks ago. If you squeeze the cone, it will compress slightly before springing back into shape.

Slight browning at the tips of the hops

Hops ready for harvest will turn a lighter green compared to the leaves. The hop cones might also have a little brown at the tips. It will look like spotting, or as if the tips of the cones are lightly burnt like toast.

Aromatic

Grab a cone in your palms, and roll the hop between your hands. The hops will be much more aromatic when they are ready to go. When you smell them, you will smell the unmistakable aroma of hops. It smells like the hop pellets you add to your homebrew.

Yellow lupin

You should also see yellow lupin near the lupin glands in the hop. This is easily seen at the top of the hops. The color is not subtle. The yellow will be bright, and is sometimes referred to as "traffic paint yellow".

Review: Brew Pal for the iPhone

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:18:31 +0100

I frequently look on the iPhone for interesting new applications to add to my iPhone. I always search the applications with the terms "beer" or "wine" in hopes of finding something better than a virtual glass of beer. Every now and then I find something cool.

I was quite surprised to find a homebrew recipe formulation program for the iPhone.

First Looks

When you first run Brew Pal, you can't help but be impressed with the user interface. It's easy to navigate and it looks professional. The interface is simplier than any brewing software for the personal computer, but there are far fewer features. For a iPhone application, this is perfect. You really only want the features you really need.

Ease of use

The program does not come with instructions (most iPhone apps do not), but it's very easy to figure out. The buttons at the bottom of the screen help you through the steps of creating a recipe. Each step must be filled in the order of the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The screen is fairly intuitive. It uses standard icons from the iPhone, so you can make good guesses how to use the application. One feature I thought was nice was the edit button on each ingredient line. In other applications, you need select the edit icon to trigger an edit. In Brew Pal you can select the line (the ingredient name) to trigger an edit, although for some odd reason it is difficult to press the actual edit button. If it is a design choice, I prefer the way Brew Pal works.

You can save recipes for later use too. I find this feature useful, because I can enter my most often used recipes and use the iPhone as a quick reference while brewing. There are several other nice features like timers, carbonation calculators, a BJCP style reference, and a flavor wheel. The program can even "guess" what style you are making based on the ingredients you enter. I thought it was pretty cool. Brew Pal did guess an Oktoberfest/Märzen or a Scottish/Irish ale based on my recipe.

Issues

The application is not without minor issues. You can skip ahead to other steps, but the program will not let you enter information until enough information is entered in a previous step. For example if you do not enter a grain or extract, you cannot calculate your water amounts or temperatures for your mash. The program will not let you set a mash temperature. I'm not sure why you can't enter information in the order you want.

There are also a few ingredients missing. When testing out the application, I was making a Märzen. When I started adding ingredients, I immediately ran into issues. The first problem I encountered was I could not find CaraMunich malt. The list of malts is not complete.

I also ran into issues adding the malts I could find. I was trying to add 2 ounces of a specialty malt. The program only allowed pounds of grain, so I needed to convert ounces to pounds. This is 0.125 pounds. The problem is the edits only allow for 2 decimal places. It would be nice if the program allowed you to enter ounces. I'm currently switching to metric (which I'll write about later), and the problem exists in metric as well. If you need to enter 55 grams of grain... well you can't. You can only enter two decimals worth of kilograms.

There is an email feature which is very nice. You can email the current recipe to any email address. I emailed my Märzen to myself, but the program had troubles with the ä. The recipe looked great as it was formatted for HTML, but it failed to understand the umlaut, and used garbage characters in the name.

Results

Overall I think the application is great for playing around with recipes, or using it as a reference while brewing. For $0.99 you really cannot go wrong with the application. I'd recommend the program and hopefully the minor issues will eventually be fixed in time. Really the biggest issues for me were the missing grains and decimal places. Definately worth $0.99!

Russian swig swine flu (H1N1) non-cure

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:56:05 +0100

The Russian H1N1 flu remedy

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Kingdom has 16,556 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus (can I still call it the swine flu). Models by UK's Health Protection Agency estimates there are currently 110,000 people infected with the swine flu (+/- 50,000 people). The Russian soccer team is traveling to the UK next month for the World Cup qualifying round. How does the Russian soccer supporting organization, VOB, feel about this?

"We don't want our team to be without any support for such an important match so we urge our fans to go to Wales despite the health warning," spokesman Alexander Shprygin said.

Good plan.

The soccer organization [read NOT a health organization] does offer suggestions for their soccer fans to prevent infection from the virus, a virus to which humans currently have no immunity. They suggest drinking Welsh whiskey. The irresponsibility of this suggestion does not stop there. VOB head Shprygin also goes on to say drinking the whiskey "should cure all symptoms of the disease." People around the world are dying from the H1N1 virus, and the Russians were holding out on a cure all along. Just drink Welsh whiskey.

"Russian fans don't fear anything or anybody so this virus will not stand in our way of supporting our team."

The Russians will bring home some interesting souvenirs with this attitude, most notably the H1N1 virus.

Does alcohol prevent colds?

Well, sort of. If you are rubbing it on your hands it will help prevent colds. Drinking Welsh whiskey, however, is not likely to help you. An alcohol-based hand cleaner will probably work better (as a hand sanitizer, not as a beverage!).

This belief probably comes from your grandmother's remedy of a hot toddy. The idea is the alcohol destroys germs in your bloodstream. Unfortunately, there are no scientific studies showing alcohol will help you repel cold infections, however, there are plenty of studies demonstrating too much alcohol will make a cold worse. Too many drinks will weaken the immune system, making it much more difficult to fight off your infection.

There are some studies showing positive effects from moderate drinking of alcohol, but nothing conclusive. There are many studies showing alcohol has a negative effect as well. Alcohol dehydrates your system, which could prolong your symptoms. Until a study comes out with rock solid evidence, I'd abstain from alcohol when you are sick.

Is there anything red wine can't do?

Red wine seems to be an exception. Moderate amounts of red wine will help keep you healthy (2 glasses a day), but it is not the alcohol helping you. Red wine contains high amounts of antioxidants, which help to keep you healthy. Of course you could also drink grape juice or some other beverage with high amounts of antioxidants, but that is not nearly as much fun.

(Source: Reuters)

How to get out of a DUI/DWI

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The US Supreme Court may have inadvertently given drunk drivers a free ride. In June they ruled in a 5-4 decision, the Constitution's Sixth Amendment guarantee "... to be confronted with the witnesses against him" is not satisfied by a sheet of paper. This means the lab technician responsible for processing your blood sample from your arrest must appear in court to discuss the results showing just how drunk you were.

Here's the problem with this. Many crime labs which process drug and DNA samples are already heavily overburdened. The labs barely have the time to process the lab work. Technicians do not have the time to show up in court and read the lab results.

This will also increase the workload for state courts. Many drunks plea bargain, but now many might take their case to court with the hopes the technician won't show up. Several cases have already been overturned in Virginia just because the technician could not appear to testify against the drunk. Expect more cases to get dropped as the word gets out about this technicality.

The ruling came from a case in which Luis E. Melendez-Diaz allegedly stashed cocaine in a Boston police car while he was under arrest (great idea - the police will never think to look in their own car). The drugs were sent off for analysis, and the results were entered as evidence against him. Scalia wrote Melendez-Diaz "was entitled to 'be confronted with' the analysts at trial." The conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

(Source: Washinton Post)

Badger cherry bender blocks traffic

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:27:47 +0100

Here's a beer nut you might not expect. A badger, the animal, in Germany got drunk on over-ripe cherries and passed out in the road.

A motorist called the police to report a dead badger in the road. When the police arrived, they found the badger was not dead and was in fact drunk and passed out. They prodded the badger which would not move. Eventually they were able to move the badger out of the road by poking it with a broom.

(Source: Reuters)

Underage possession of alcohol may be legal in SC

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:12:57 +0100

In South Carolina, buying alcohol by anyone under 21 is illegal, but one judge ruled this does not prevent them from possessing or consuming alcohol. A twenty year old was cited by the Richland County Sheriff's department in March for posession of alcohol. To the surprise of everyone, the courts sided with the twenty year old.

South Carolina Magistrate Mel Maurer in Richland County says the state constitution barring 18 year olds or older from possession or consuming alcohol is unconstitutional.

"The constitutional decision to allow 18 year olds a vast array of freedoms, including the ability to fight for our country, suggests that the privilege of alcohol consumption as well should be extended to our citizens who are 18 years old and above," the twenty year old's attorney Joe McCulloch writes.

I agree.

If groups like MADD and other anti-alcohol activist groups really are interested in helping curb binge drinking by underage individuals, I think they should focus their money and effort on education and responsibility, not abstinence (of alcohol). "Just say no" is not working, and restricting the rights of individuals based on age for any reason is wrong.

Of course the ruling is already being appealed to the circuit court, although I admit my limited knowledge of the legal system doesn't understand why. The ruling says the 20 year old is not guilty and you can't retry him, so doesn't this end it? My guess is they can contest the ruling without retrying the individual.

We will keep our eyes on this case as it progresses through the courts.

(Source: WISTV.com)

How I would reverse engineer Southern Tier's Crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout recipe

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:14:34 +0100

Research the beer

I actually haven't tried this beer, but several people asked me for a recipe on Twitter. There isn't a recipe available in any clone books, but that's never stopped me before. Last year I cloned Avery's Samael for my sister with fairly good results. It's not hard to clone recipes, it just takes some research.

When I cloned Samael, my first stop was to the web site to look at the description of the beer. Usually breweries give details about the beer which help to reverse engineer it. On Avery's site they listed the ingredients used, the bitterness, and alcohol content. From there it wasn't too hard to figure out the rest. I thought it was a fluke of good luck, but when I went to Southern Tier's website I found the same information. Here's what they said:

10.0% abv • 25º plato • 195º L • 22 oz / 1/6 keg
2-row pale malt / dark caramel malt / vanilla bean / lactose sugar /
kettle hops: columbus / aroma hops: horizon

This almost makes it too easy. If the site doesn't give the exact details, you can still figure out much about the recipe from the description.

Another website to check out is BeerAdvocate. This site won't have the recipe, but there will be many reviews from other beer lovers. The reviewers might pick out some flavors you might miss. BeerAdvocate also will give you insight into how dry or how sweet the beer is, what flavors other people notice, and other hard to find information about the beer.

Base Malts

The beer style is a sweet stout. This means the beer will use pale ale malt as the base malt. You can find this in the BJCP Style Guidelines if the website doesn't give it away. You're not going to find too many pilsner malt stouts.

The alcohol content will tell you how much malt to use. The beer is 10% ABV, so playing with the numbers in your favorite beer recipe program you can estimate the amount to use.

Specialty Grains

Since this beer has a malty caramel flavor, you'd naturally think crystal malts. If you didn't, now you know (luckily their website helps us out). The dark colors could come from a variety of malts, but Southern Tier's website claims they use "dark caramel malt" and no other specialty malt. I picked the darkest crystal malt in my software and added it until the SRM was within the style limits.

Adjuncts

This is the trickiest part to figure out, and probably will take some experimenting. The beer has a healthy amount of lactose and vanilla. I'd add a pound of lactose to start with. I've seen many reports about how sweet the beer is, so this number may need to rise higher. The high alcohol content with a pound of lactose will put this beer higher than the style guidelines, but it may need to go even higher.

The vanilla shouldn't be added until after fermentation. You can use two vanilla beans soaked in a cup of vodka. This works well, but I would not add the beans directly to the fermented beer. I've added beans in the past, but the results are random and I hate explaining what are the little black dots in the beer. I make an awesome vanilla porter which uses 4 ounces of natural vanilla extract. The 4 ounces of natural vanilla extract produces the best results for me. I think this amount would provide a strong but not overpowering vanilla taste and aroma. Again you might want to experiment with this amount.

Hops

Their website claims Columbus bittering hops, and Horizon aroma hops. I probably would have guessed a different hop for this beer, and I certainly wouldn't have added an aroma hop. The aroma hops really surprise me. I'd be curious to know why they are adding aroma hops to a "dessert beer".

The website does not list the IBUs for this beer, so we'll have to do some guesswork. We know the beer is sweet and malt forward from descriptions on Beer Advocate. Many of the reviewers note the beer is sweet, caramel-y, and like a dessert coffee. Some even said it was too sweet to have more than one beer.

The BJCP style guidelines list the milk stout style IBUs between 20-40 IBU. We'll assume we need to be at the start of this range to make it sweeter. We should target somewhere between 20 and 30 IBU. Plugging this number in to our favorite beer recipe program yields between 0.75 and 1 ounce of Columbus hops (14% AA).

I would not add more than one ounce of the aroma hops for 5 minutes. Southern Tier lists Horizon hops as an aroma hop. I really think you can skip it, but to be safe to match the clone, you can add an ounce at the end of your boil.

Yeast

The yeast is a total guess. I went with White Labs WLP006 British Bedford or Wyeast 1099 Witbread Ale yeast, because both are a safe bet for sweet stouts. Both will finish with low esters, which will help bring out the sweet maltiness.

The Southern Tier's Crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout Clone Recipe

Here's my guess at the recipe for the Southern Tier Crème brûlée Imperial Milk Stout.

14.75 lbs Pale Ale malt
3.25 lbs Crystal/Caramel malt 120L
1.0 lbs Lactose (milk sugar)
0.75 oz Columbus hops (14% AA - 60 minutes)
1.00 oz Horizon hops (12% AA - 5 minutes)
4.00 oz natural vanilla extract (at bottling or kegging)
White Labs WLP006 or Wyeast 1099

S.G. 1.104
F.G. 1.026
IBU 26.5
SRM 31
ABV 10.19%
Pre-boil 6 gallons / Batch size 5 gallons

Mash the grains at 160 F for 60 minutes. Carbonate the beer using your favorite method at 2 volumes. This is at the low end for the style, but I think this will help to give more of a creamy mouthfeel.

I probably won't get a chance to try this recipe until August, but if you get a chance to try it before me let me know how close I got. Either way, this looks like a very tasty recipe I'll make for my neighborhood's Oktoberfest!

Fermentarium.com

A very cool hop chart!

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