Festbier, a German lager traditionally brewed for Oktoberfest, is the perfect beer to enjoy at fall gatherings (or while donning a lederhosen, no judgement!). While traditionally a fall beer, its something you might want to plan to brew during the summer, since it’s a lager that can take some time and conditioning. This golden brew boasts a malty sweetness, balanced with a subtle hop bitterness, and a clean, crisp finish.

Understanding the Festbier Style

Festbier, known as the current Oktoberfest beer on the Wiesn (Oktoberfest), is a style that has evolved over the years. In the past, Oktoberfest beers were slightly darker and heavier (more amber), but as tastes shifted toward lighter, more drinkable options, the modern Festbier emerged.

It typically has an alcohol content of 5.8-6.3% ABV, lower than its amber cousin, the Märzen. Festbier’s malt-forward profile is balanced with a mild hop bitterness, and it is characterized by its golden color, brilliant clarity, and a dense, creamy white head.

The AHA brewer style guidelines state “the beer should be bready or biscuity, and the malt aroma and flavor should be present. Sweet maltiness is medium-low to medium and leads to a muted clean hop bitterness. Malt flavors should be of light toast rather than strong caramel. Low level caramel character is acceptable”.

Commercial examples are Buergerliches Ur-Saalfelder, Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest, Paulaner Oktoberfest, Weltenburg Kloster Anno 1050.

Brewing Tips for Festbier

Recipe:Fest

Selecting the right malts is crucial for achieving the desired flavor profile of a Festbier. Base your grain bill around Pilsner malt, which will provide a clean, crisp backbone. Complement the Pilsner malt with Munich and/or Vienna malts to add a subtle bready, toasty character. I also use a bit of Biscuit for extra breadiness. I add a touch of dextrine malt for extra foam, but I’m starting to question if it’s needed. I’ll have to experiment more on this and report back.

Traditional Festbier recipes rely on German noble hops, such as Hallertau, Tettnang, Saaz, or Spalt, for their delicate bitterness and subtle floral or spicy aromas. These hops will help balance the malt sweetness without overpowering the overall flavor profile. I use Saaz LupoMAX hops because with the higher alpha acids, I can add 60 g (2 oz) total of hops. I add a bit more since I’m at altitude, so if you’re using the recipe, make sure the IBUs are somewhere around 21. Magnum could also be a good choice for the same reasons (high AA, low leaf matter). You might also consider using the flavor hops as first wort additions instead of waiting for the boil.

Festbier’s maltiness can be enhanced by employing a step mash, which involves holding the grains at different temperature rests during the mashing process. A step mash can improve malt flavor and increase fermentability, leading to a smoother, more rounded beer. I use a typical Hochkurz mash on the Grainfather, because it’s very simple to program the times in.

Lager yeasts, such as Bavarian lager yeast, perform best at lower temperatures (around 50°F/10°C). Maintaining consistent and cool fermentation temperatures is key to achieving the clean, crisp lager character that defines a Festbier. I’ve had good results with Ferments W-34/70. I like the dry yeasts for these beers, because I’m not looking for a lot of flavor in the fermentation and dry yeast is so easy to use.

Fests benefit from an extended fermentation and conditioning period. After primary fermentation, perform a diacetyl rest at 60-65°F (15-18°C) for a few days, and then lager your beer at near-freezing temperatures for at least 4-6 weeks. This extended conditioning period will produce a smoother, cleaner-tasting beer.

Pressure Fermenting Festbier

For those who have access to a pressure fermentation setup, this method can offer several advantages when brewing a Festbier. Pressure fermenting can speed up the fermentation process, suppress ester formation, and reduce the risk of oxidation. Here are some tips for successful pressure fermentation of Festbier:

1. Equipment: To pressure ferment, you will need a fermenter that can handle pressure, such as a stainless-steel unitank or a specialized plastic fermenter designed for pressure fermentation. Additionally, you will need a spunding valve to regulate the pressure within the fermenter.

2. Determine Your Desired Pressure: While pressure fermentation can be done at various pressure levels, 10-15 psi is a typical range for lagers. This pressure level allows for a faster fermentation while still maintaining the clean, crisp profile that Festbier requires. It’s also well under the pressure yeast experiences in commercial breweries, so there’s little chance of it stressing the yeast. We’re targeting a CO2 volume of 2.4 to 2.6.

3. Monitor Temperature and Pressure: During pressure fermentation, it is crucial to keep a close eye on both temperature and pressure. Use a temperature controller to maintain a steady fermentation temperature, and a pressure gauge to ensure that the pressure remains within the desired range. Make adjustments to the spunding valve as necessary to regulate pressure.

While pressure fermentation can provide natural carbonation, it may not always result in the exact carbonation level you desire. If necessary, you can still use a CO2 tank to fine-tune carbonation levels after fermentation. Release the pressure in the fermenter using the spunding valve, transfer the beer to a keg, and adjust the carbonation using a CO2 tank and regulator. You can also adjust the pressure once you keg the beer.

4. Consider a Closed Transfer: One of the benefits of pressure fermentation is the ability to perform closed transfers, which can help minimize oxygen exposure and reduce the risk of oxidation. When transferring your Festbier to a keg or other serving vessel, use a closed system that connects the fermenter directly to the receiving vessel, ideally using CO2 to push the beer through the lines.

5. Carbonate During Fermentation: An advantage of pressure fermenting is the ability to carbonate your beer naturally during fermentation. The CO2 produced during fermentation is captured within the sealed fermenter, dissolving into the beer and providing natural carbonation. This method can result in a finer, more delicate carbonation compared to force carbonation with a CO2 tank.

Conclusion

Brewing a Festbier can be a rewarding and enjoyable process, resulting in a delicious, malt-forward lager perfect for any celebration. Understanding the characteristics of the Festbier style, following brewing tips specific to this lager, and if you’re able to, experimenting with pressure fermentation techniques, you can create a memorable brew that will impress your friends and family. Prost!

 

Take a sip of craft beer. You’ll likely marvel at its complex, vibrant flavors. You’ve just  experienced the magic of hops. These little flowers pack a punch, contributing bitter, citrusy, floral, or piney notes to your favorite beer. The way hops are added to the brewing process can significantly impact the final product’s flavor and aroma. Let’s check out six different hopping methods: first wort hopping, dry hopping, aroma hopping, hopstand, mash hopping, and hopping during the boil, and how each technique affects the beer and their use in various beer styles.

Mash Hopping

Mash hopping is adding hops directly to the mash during the mashing process. This technique is relatively uncommon, as the hops’ volatile oils and alpha acids, responsible for aroma and bitterness, aren’t very soluble at the mash’s typical temperature range (148°F to 158°F or 64°C to 70°C). However, mash hopping can contribute subtle, earthy hop flavors to the beer.

Mash hopping is sometimes used in traditional English ales, like Bitters and Milds, where a more restrained hop character is desired. (How very British!) It’s also occasionally done by experimental homebrewers looking to add a unique twist to their brews.

First Wort Hopping

First wort hopping (FWH) involves adding hops to the wort as it’s being collected from the mash tun and transferred to the kettle. This process allows the hops to steep in the wort for a longer time, which can result in a smoother, more rounded bitterness compared to traditional kettle hopping. FWH is often done in traditional German beer styles, such as Pilsners and Bocks, but can also be done in other hop-forward beers, like IPAs or Pale Ales.

FWH can be a game-changer for brewers looking to create a well-rounded, smooth bitterness in their beer. FWH allows the hops to release their oils at a lower temperature, which means the beer will have less harsh bitterness than if the hops were added during a vigorous boil.

Hopping During the Boil (Flavor)

Hopping during the boil is what most brewers and homebrew recipes do, and it involves adding hops at various times throughout the boiling process. The timing of these additions determines the amount of bitterness, flavor, and aroma contributed by the hops. Early boil additions (60 minutes or more) contribute the most bitterness, while late boil additions (usually 30 minutes or less) contribute more to flavor and aroma.

Different beer styles call for different hop schedules during the boil. For example, a traditional English Bitter might have a single hop addition at the beginning of the boil, while an American IPA might have multiple hop additions throughout the boil to create a more complex hop profile. Hopping during the boil is a versatile technique that can be tailored to suit virtually any beer style. That’s why it’s the most common.

Aroma Hopping

Aroma hopping, sometimes called late hopping, involves adding hops during the final minutes of the boil (usually between 5 and 20 minutes before the end of the boil). This method is designed to maximize the volatile oils’ retention, which are responsible for the hops’ aroma and flavor. The late addition of hops reduces the amount of time they’re exposed to heat, which helps preserve these delicate oils. The oils are volatile, so the less we boil them, the more remain in the beer.

Aroma hopping is a popular technique for brewers who want to accentuate the hop aroma in their beer without adding a significant amount of bitterness. It’s often used in styles like IPAs, Pale Ales, and Belgian Ales, where a prominent hop aroma is desirable.

Hopstand

A hopstand, also known as whirlpool hopping or steeping, is adding hops to the hot wort after the boil has finished but before the wort is chilled. The wort is typically held at a temperature between 170°F (77°C) and 200°F (93°C) for a period of time, usually between 15 and 60 minutes, to extract the desired flavors and aromas from the hops.

The hopstand method can enhance the hop aroma and flavor in the beer without significantly increasing the bitterness. It’s often used with other hopping methods to layer the hop profile and create a more complex beer. Hopstands are popular in IPAs, Pale Ales, and other hop-forward beer styles.

Dry Hopping

Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to the beer after the primary fermentation has taken place. This technique is used to impart intense hop aroma and flavor without adding significant bitterness. Brewers typically use hop varieties with high levels of essential oils, which are responsible for the aromatic characteristics of hops.

Dry hopping is commonly done in American-style IPAs, Pale Ales, and other hop-centric beers, as it can enhance their characteristic hoppy aroma and flavors. The duration of dry hopping can range from a few days to several weeks, depending on the desired level of hop character.

Conclusion

Understanding the various hopping methods and how they impact your beer is important for your homebrew. Whether you’re brewing a classic Pilsner or a bold, hoppy IPA, the right hop addition technique can make all the difference in achieving the perfect balance of bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

Fermentation is the magical process that transforms bland grains and water into the delicious, bubbly brew we all know and love. Let’s explore the science behind this process, with a focus on the vital role of our microscopic buddies: yeast! These single-celled fungi are the stars of the fermentation show. There are many strains of yeast, but the most common one used in brewing is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Bacteria (Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Brettanomyces) is also used for sour beers, but that’s another story for another time. 

A YEAST’S DAY AT WORK

Now that we’ve met our microscopic friends let’s follow them through the beer-making process. Beer fermentation can be broken down into three main stages: aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration, and maturation. In each of these stages, the yeast is going through different processes, each affecting our beer in a different way.

Stage 1: Aerobic Respiration (a.k.a. Yeast Growth Party)

When yeast is first added to the sugary, malty wort, it’s like being thrown into a pool filled with their favorite food: sugar! This initial stage is called aerobic respiration, and it’s all about yeast growth.

In the presence of oxygen, yeast cells consume the sugar in the wort and produce energy, carbon dioxide, and water. This energy is used to create new yeast cells, which then consume more sugar and multiply further. Oxygen is a vital ingredient at this step. If you are working with a liquid yeast, or later generations of a dry yeast, you need to introduce oxygen through shaking, or for higher gravity beers direct oxygen aeration. 

Interesting enough, aeration isn’t as important for dry yeast. During this stage, yeast also produce a compound called sterols, which help strengthen their cell walls. The point of aeration is to provide yeast the means of synthesizing sterols and unsaturated fatty acids, which allow for cell growth/division. Strong cell walls encourage cell growth, but dry yeast already comes with enough sterols for growth in lower gravity beers (<1.060). Cell growth comes in handy later when they have to deal with the stress of alcohol production.

Stage 2: Anaerobic Respiration (a.k.a. Let’s Make Some Booze!)

Once our yeast have multiplied and used up most of the available oxygen, the party transitions to the main event: alcohol production! This stage is called anaerobic respiration.

In this oxygen-starved environment, yeast switch gears and start producing ethanol (alcohol) and carbon dioxide as waste products. This switch is made possible by a different metabolic pathway called fermentation.

During fermentation, yeast break down the sugar molecules into simpler compounds. These compounds are then transformed into ethanol and carbon dioxide through a series of chemical reactions involving enzymes. It might sound complicated, but just think of it as yeast turning sugar into booze and burps!

This stage is also where the yeast produce most of the flavors and aromas that make beer so unique. Yeast produce various byproducts like esters (fruity notes), phenols (spicy or medicinal flavors), and other compounds that give beer its distinctive taste.

Stage 3: Maturation (a.k.a. Beauty Sleep for Beer)

After the yeast have done their job and transformed the wort into a young beer, it’s time for the final stage: maturation. At this point, the yeast start to wind down and settle to the bottom of the fermentation vessel.

During maturation, any remaining yeast and other particles in the beer begin to clump together and fall out of suspension, a process called flocculation. This helps to clarify the beer and remove any remaining yeast or other solids.

As the beer rests, the flavors and aromas continue to develop and meld together. This stage is crucial for the overall quality of the final product, as it allows any harsh or unwanted flavors to mellow out and gives the beer time to reach its full potential.

Maturation can last anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the style of beer and the brewer’s preferences. During this time, the yeast may also continue to consume any residual sugars, further refining the beer’s flavor profile.

A TOAST TO YEAST

Now that we’ve looked through the beer fermentation process, it’s clear just how essential yeast are in creating the delicious brews we enjoy. From aerobic respiration to anaerobic respiration and maturation, these tiny fungi work tirelessly to transform simple sugars into complex, flavorful beverages.

So the next time you raise a glass of your favorite beer, take a moment to appreciate the hard work and dedication of the yeast that made it all possible. Cheers to yeast, the unsung heroes of the brewing world!

For hops there’s two essential yet sometimes confusing compounds, mostly because of the name similarity: humulone and humulene. These compounds play a crucial role in determining the flavor, aroma, and quality of our favorite brews. Here’s a quick look at their differences, and the roles they play in our beer.

Hops are the magical little flowers that give beer its distinct flavor and aroma. They’re packed with a variety of compounds, but two of the most important are humulone and humulene. While they might sound similar, each bring unique characteristics to the brewing process.

Humulone: Bitterness Supreme

First up, let’s talk about humulone. This compound is responsible for the bitterness in our beer, which is often measured in International Bitterness Units (IBUs). Its part of a collection of components called alpha acids (the others being cohumulone and adhumulone). When hops are added to boiling wort (the sweet liquid extracted from malted grains), humulone isomerizes, meaning it changes its structure. This process creates iso-alpha acids, which are the source of that bitter kick we all love in our IPAs and other hop-forward beers.

The amount of humulone in different hop varieties varies greatly. Some hops, like Columbus or Magnum, are high in humulone, making them ideal for brewing bitter beers. On the other hand, hops with lower humulone levels, such as Fuggle or Golding, contribute a more subtle bitterness. As brewers, we’ll need to consider the humulone content of the hops we’re using to achieve the desired bitterness in our final product.

Humulene: Aromatherapy for Beer Lovers

Now let’s move on to humulene. This compound is one of the primary components responsible for the aroma of hops. When we take a deep whiff of our favorite hoppy beer, we’re experiencing the power of humulene. This compound contributes to the earthy, herbal, and sometimes spicy aromas that make hops so appealing.

Unlike humulone, humulene is quite volatile, meaning it evaporates easily. When hops are added to boiling wort, much of the humulene is lost in the steam. To preserve and accentuate the hop aroma in our beer, we often add more hops later in the brewing process, during the “whirlpool” or “hop stand.” This technique helps us capture the delicate aroma compounds, like humulene, that would otherwise be lost in the boil.

Another popular method for showcasing humulene is dry hopping, which involves adding hops to the beer after the wort has cooled and during fermentation. This process extracts the aromatic oils without adding any additional bitterness. It’s a popular technique for creating those deliciously fragrant and hoppy IPAs we all know and love.

A Balancing Act

When it comes to brewing beer, understanding the roles of humulone and humulene is essential. These two compounds work in harmony to create the perfect balance of bitterness and aroma. As a brewers, we need to carefully choose our hops and brewing techniques to make the most of these two key players.

Understanding the differences between humulone and humulene will help us craft beers with a more refined and intentional flavor profile. The next time we’re enjoying a delicious, hoppy brew, take a moment to appreciate the intricate dance of humulone and humulene that makes it all possible.

Brewing beer is a delightful mix of art and science. One of the important detail aspects is temperature. Knowing the ins and outs of how temperature affects each brewing stage can make a world of difference in our final brew. Grab a cold one and let’s explore the essential temperature ranges and their effects on various stages of beer brewing.

Mashing: 145-158°F (63-70°C)

Mashing is the process where crushed malted grains meet hot water to transform starches into fermentable sugars. It’s all about finding the right temperature. This is crucial for enzyme activity. Enzyme activity is the process of breaking down the starches into simple sugars. These enzymes are converting the mash into something the yeast can eat.

There are two primary enzymes doing the heavy lifting during mashing: alpha-amylase and beta-amylase. Alpha-amylase prefers temperatures between 154-162°F (68-72°C), while beta-amylase is more comfortable at 131-150°F (55-66°C). To strike the perfect balance, we tend to use a mashing temperature between 145-158°F (63-70°C). That balances body with how much is converted into something the yeast can eat.

A higher mashing temperature means more unfermentable sugars, giving your beer a fuller body and some residual sweetness. On the other hand, lower mashing temperatures create a more fermentable wort, resulting in a drier, crisper beer. You can experiment with these temperatures to find which temperature works best for the style of beer you’re trying to brew.

Boiling: 212°F (100°C)

Next up is the boiling stage, where the wort (liquid extracted from the mash) is brought to a rolling boil for 60 to 90 minutes.

Boiling helps with:

Sterilization: Killing any unwanted microorganisms in the wort.

Protein coagulation: Encouraging proteins to clump together, later settling out of the beer, and improving clarity.

Hop utilization: Adding hops to the wort to contribute bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

A rolling boil at 212°F (100°C) is perfect for these tasks. Make sure to keep a consistent temperature and a vigorous boil going throughout this stage. There’s some experiments floating around playing with the duration of the boil. 30 minutes can shorten the brewday, but it will reduce some of the hop utilization. In that case, we’d need to add more hops to account for the boil time difference.

Cooling: 65-75°F (18-24°C)

After boiling, we need to cool the wort down to a yeast-friendly temperature. Quick cooling minimizes the risk of bacterial contamination and helps proteins precipitate out, reducing haze in the finished beer. The final cooling temperature is important, because a temperature too high can kill your yeast. Something slightly high, 100-130°F (38-55°C), can make your yeast struggle while creating a virtual Disneyland for bacterial.

The ideal temperature for pitching yeast depends on the strain and beer style you’re brewing. For most ales, aim for 65-75°F (18-24°C). Lagers, however, require cooler fermentation temperatures, typically between 45-55°F (7-13°C).

Fermentation: 45-75°F (7-24°C)

This is where the magic happens – yeast feasts on the fermentable sugars in the wort, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fermentation temperature significantly affects the flavor of your final beer.

Ales, which generally use top-fermenting yeasts, ferment best at 65-75°F (18-24°C). Cooler temperatures within this range create cleaner, subtler flavors, while warmer temperatures bring out more pronounced fruity esters.

Lagers, which use bottom-fermenting yeast strains, need cooler fermentation temperatures, usually between 45-55°F (7-13°C). This cool fermentation results in a cleaner, crisper flavor profile, typical of most lagers.

The yeast you use can move these temperatures around a bit. In fact, some lager strains have been shown to produce low esters, despite a warmer fermentation temperature. Kveik yeast goes nuts at 100 F° (38°C), and produces results that are strain specific.

Conditioning: 32-55°F (0-13°C)

Once primary fermentation is done, it’s time for conditioning. This stage, also called lagering or maturation, lets the beer develop its final flavors and reach optimal carbonation levels. 

Conditioning temperatures vary by beer style but generally range between 32-55°F (0-13°C).

Ales usually condition at temperatures similar to fermentation, while lagers enjoy extended cold conditioning at temperatures near freezing (32°F or 0°C). This cold conditioning process further clarifies the beer and develops the clean, crisp flavors associated with lagers.

Mastering the key temperature ranges throughout the brewing process is essential for crafting top-notch beer. From mashing to conditioning, each temperature range affects the beer’s flavor, body, and overall character. By nailing these temperature ranges, we can elevate our homebrewing skills and create beers that are truly a pleasure to drink. Cheers to that!

The beer style known as India Pale Ale, or IPA, has developed over time to encompass a variety of iterations, each with a distinctive flavor and aroma character. There seems to have been an increase in the number of IPA varieties recently. American, New England, West Coast, Belgian, Black, Session, Double, Brut, and Cold IPA are some of the most well-known IPA styles, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few others. Let’s quickly review each.

English IPA

The English IPA style is the original version of the IPA and is characterized by a balance of malt sweetness and hop bitterness. This is the famed beer that was transported to India for the British troops stationed there, and where the beer gets its namesake. English IPAs typically have a moderate to high level of bitterness, with a hop flavor and aroma that is earthy, floral, and herbal. These beers are brewed with English hops, which have a different flavor profile than the American hops used in other IPA styles. English IPAs also have a moderate alcohol content, typically ranging from 5% to 7% ABV. English IPAs are a the classic IPA that paved the way for the many variations of IPA, and it’s probably the IPA style we were drinking around 25 years ago.

American IPA

American IPAs  known for their bold hoppy flavors and aromas. They typically have a mix of citrus, pine, and floral hop flavors, with a bitterness ranging from moderate to high. American IPAs are brewed with American hops, which give them their distinctive flavor profile.  American IPAs also have a high alcohol content, typically ranging from 6% to 7.5% ABV or higher.

NEIPA

New England IPAs (NEIPA), also known as hazy IPAs or juicy IPAs, are a relatively new style of IPA that originated in the northeastern United States. They are characterized by their hazy appearance and juicy, tropical fruit flavors. NEIPAs are brewed using a large amount of hops, which are added late in the brewing process to preserve their aromatic qualities. They are also brewed with a type of yeast that produces a fruity flavor and aroma, adding to their juicy character. Omega yeast has quite a selection of genetically modified yeasts that accentuate these fruity flavors. I’ve found some to even taste like orange or grapefruit juice. New England IPAs have a lower bitterness than other IPA styles, making them a popular choice among beer drinkers who prefer a less bitter beer.

West Coast IPA

West Coast IPAs are another popular style of IPA that originated in the western United States. They are known for their bold, piney hop flavors and bitter finish. One of my favorites is Stone IPA in San Diego, CA. West Coast IPAs are brewed with a large amount of hops, which are added early in the brewing process to impart a strong bitterness. These beers also feature a dry finish, which helps to accentuate the hop flavors and bitterness. West Coast IPAs have a high alcohol content, typically ranging from 6% to 7.5% ABV or higher.

Belgian IPA

Belgian IPAs are a hybrid style that combines the hoppy bitterness of an American IPA with the spicy, fruity flavors of a Belgian ale. These beers are brewed using Belgian yeast, which imparts a spicy, fruity flavor and aroma. Belgian IPAs also feature a mix of European and American hops, which contribute to their unique flavor profile. Think Chimay, but much more hoppy. They typically have a moderate bitterness and a medium alcohol content, ranging from 6% to 8% ABV.

Black IPA (Cascadian Ale)

Black IPAs, also known as Cascadian dark ales, are a unique twist on the traditional IPA style. Cascadian comes from the heavy use of hops from the northwest United States region in the beer, although the beer is thought to have originated from Greg Noonan and Glenn Walter of Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington, VT. These beers are brewed using dark malts, which give them a dark, almost black color. Despite their dark appearance, black IPAs still feature a hoppy flavor and aroma, with a bitterness that ranges from moderate to high. They have a medium to high alcohol content, typically ranging from 6% to 7.5% ABV.

Session IPA

Session IPAs are a lower-alcohol version of the traditional IPA style. These beers are brewed with a lower starting gravity and less malt, which results in a beer that is less sweet and less alcoholic than a traditional IPA. Despite their lower alcohol content, session IPAs still feature a hop-forward flavor and aroma. They are an ideal choice for those who want to enjoy several hoppy flavored beers without the inevitable hangover you might get from a DIPA. They typically have an alcohol content of 4.5% to 5.5% ABV, and I really enjoy these in the summer!

DIPA

Double IPAs, also known as Imperial IPAs, are a much stronger version of the traditional IPA style. These beers are brewed at a higher starting gravity with much  more malt, which results in a beer that is more alcoholic and more sweet than a traditional IPA. Double IPAs also feature a higher amount of hops, which gives them a more intense hop flavor and aroma. They typically have an alcohol content of 8% to 10% ABV or higher. Double IPAs are a popular choice among beer enthusiasts who enjoy the bold, hoppy flavors of an IPA, but want a stronger, more intense beer.

Brut IPA

Brut IPAs are another newer style of IPA that is characterized by its dry, champagne-like finish. These beers are brewed using an enzyme, Glucoamylase (or Amyloglucosidase), that breaks down the residual sugars in the beer, resulting in a very dry finish. Brut IPAs are also brewed with a large amount of hops, which gives them a hop-forward flavor and aroma. They typically have a lower bitterness than other IPA styles, making them a popular choice among beer drinkers who want a less bitter beer. Brut IPAs have an alcohol content of 6% to 7% ABV.

Cold IPA

Cold IPAs are a newest style of IPA that was introduced in 2020, so new there’s still controversy if it is indeed a style. This style is characterized by its bright, crisp flavor and aroma, which is achieved by fermenting the beer at a lower temperature than traditional IPAs. Think lager IPA. Cold IPAs are typically brewed with a mix of American and New Zealand hops, which gives them a unique flavor profile that is both citrusy and tropical. These beers have a mild bitterness and a moderate alcohol content, typically ranging from 6% to 7% ABV.

IPA is a varied beer style that has evolved over time to include a wide range of flVORS. EVERY IPA style has its own unique flavor and aroma profile, making it easy to find a style that appeals to your personal taste preferences. Whether you prefer a bold, hoppy American IPA, a juicy New England IPA, or a crisp and refreshing Cold IPA, there is an IPA style out there that is sure to satisfy your thirst for hoppy goodness. Which is your favorite IPA? Is there one I missed?

Brew days can be long. I’ve heard some people’s days are over 6 hours. Yikes! Usually my brew days are around 5 hours, and that includes cleanup. I use a Grainfather, but these tips can help with any brewery you use. Substitute Grainfather for your brewery of choice.

 

1. Plan ahead: Make a checklist of all the steps you need to complete during the brew day, and make sure you have all the necessary ingredients and equipment ready to go. There’s nothing worse than starting your brew day and needing an emergency run to your LHBS.

2. Log time as you go: Keep a detailed brew log on how long each task in your brew day is taking. You can’t identify tasks to optimize if you don’t know which are taking the most time. You will want to focus on the tasks where you can save the most amount of time. Look for places where you can parallelize your tasks, like cleaning while the wort is boiling.
   

   Brewing with the Grainfather

3. Preheat your water: If you have a Grainfather, fill your Grainfather with the amount of water you need for your brew and preheat it to your desired temperature the night before. The Grainfather comes with a delay setting to start the heater at a later time, but other systems may have the same feature. This will save time waiting for the water to heat up during the brew day. When I wake up, it’s ready to go and I just need to add the grain to start my mash.

4. Measure out your ingredients ahead of time: Pre-measure all your ingredients before you start brewing. This will save you time during the brew day and help ensure accuracy.  I measure and sort out my grains the night before. I also have an electric grain mill, so when I wake in the morning I mill the grains and add them right away to the mash. Of course if it takes more effort for you to mash your grains, you can also mill them the night before.  I do this with hops too, and place them in ziplock bags with the time and type written on the bag. Then it’s just a matter of grabbing the right bag from the cooler and adding it to the boil at the right time.

5. Heat your sparge water at the same time: If you sparge with heated water, start warming it at the start of your mash. This can be done with a separate water heater. There are cheap large capacity coffee makers available, and you just need to heat the water. You don’t need anything fancy. You can also heat pots of water on your stove, just make sure you don’t get the water too hot, or you risk introducing astringency issues.

6. Start your boil right away: The Grainfather lets you keep track of your sparge as you go. I don’t bother with that. As soon as the mash is complete and I’ve lifted the grain basket, I start the boil. This way the wort is heating up during the sparge.

7. Clean as you go: Cleaning equipment and vessels as you go will save you time and help keep your brew day organized. Great times to clean are during the mash and boil. I clean the grain basket as soon as I’m done with the mash. I’m also rinsing any grain buckets of debris as soon as I can. This saves me cleanup time at the end of the brew day.

8. Consider a double batch: If you have the capacity and ingredients, consider brewing a double batch. This will save you time and effort in the long run. This is an option with the bigger systems, like the G40 and G70.

9. Get help: Enlist the help of friends or family members to assist you during the brew day. This can help speed up the process and make the day more enjoyable. Just make sure to have a list of tasks available. I’ve found it can slow you down if you keep stopping to think of a task for someone to do. Keep the task list handy with times of when the task should be done, and a place for someone to mark the task complete. 

As homebrewers, we know the importance of good ingredients and proper equipment for creating our sweet sweet beer. However, one critical aspect that often gets overlooked is the quality of your grain crush. The grain crush refers to the process of breaking down brewing grains into smaller pieces that can be more easily extracted and converted into fermentable sugars during the brewing process. Let’s check out the importance of a good grain crush for home brewers and factors that impact grain crush, its effects on the brewing process, determining the right grain crush for our recipes, different grain crushing methods, and maintaining and adjusting grain crush.

Factors that impact the grain crush

When we’re crushing grains for brewing beer, there are a few things to keep in mind that can affect how our beer turns out. For one thing, the size of the crush can make a big difference. If the crush is too fine, we can end up with issues during the mash that can lead to off-flavors or a cloudy beer. It’s like brewing with flour. On the other hand, if the crush is too coarse, we might not extract enough sugars from the grains, which can result in a weak or thin-tasting beer.

Another thing that can impact the crush is the equipment we’re using. Some mills can produce a more consistent crush than others, and the condition of the mill rollers can also affect the final result. Some cheaper mills will pulverize the grain husks which can add tannins to the beer.

Tannins are a natural substance found in the grain husks, and if we crush the grain too fine, these tannins can be extracted from the husks and end up in the beer.  That gives the beer a mouth-puckering flavor like a tea bag. Tannins are a bitter, astringent compound that can give beer an unpleasant flavor and mouthfeel. They can also make the beer appear hazy or cloudy. While some tannins are necessary for adding complexity to the flavor profile of certain beer styles, too much can overpower the other flavors and ruin the beer.

To avoid extracting too many tannins from the grains, homebrewers should aim for a consistent grain crush size that is not too fine. This can be achieved by adjusting the settings on the grain mill or using a different type of mill altogether. Additionally, brewers should avoid over-sparging the grains, which can also lead to tannin extraction.  Ideally the grain mill should just tear the husk away without pulverizing it. An intact grain husk also helps with the sparge, much in the same way adding rice hulls improves the sparge.

Different types of grains can also require different crush sizes. Some grains are softer than others, so they might need a finer crush to extract all the good stuff. Other grains, like wheat and rye, can be tricky to work with because they tend to get stuck in the mash. These grains are softer, and can gelatinize leading to a stuck sparge. That’s where rice hulls  and intact grain husks come in handy! Adding rice hulls can help prevent stuck sparges and allow for a finer crush.

The brewing method we’re using can also affect the ideal crush size. For example, if we’re doing all-grain brewing, we’ll probably want a finer crush to get the most out of our grains. But if we’re using extract, we might not need to worry as much about the crush size.

Last but not least, the beer style we’re going for can play a role in determining the ideal crush size. Different styles of beer have different characteristics, so we might need to adjust our crush size accordingly. Wheat beers, for example, usually benefit from a finer crush, while lagers and pilsners might do better with a coarser crush for a nice, clear finish.

The effects of grain crush on the brewing process

When we’re crushing grains for brewing beer, we need to pay attention to the size of the crush because it can have a big impact on our final product. If we crush the grains too finely, we run the risk of a stuck mash. That’s when the grains form a solid mass that’s hard to move liquid through, and it can really slow down the brewing process. It sucks, and makes for a lousy brew day. Additionally, a too-fine crush can lead to tannin extraction from the husks, which can make the beer taste bitter and astringent.

On the other hand, if we crush the grains too coarsely, we run the risk of poor conversion. That means we won’t extract enough sugar from the grains, which can lead to a lower alcohol content and a thin, watery flavor. This is definitely not what we want! It’s important for us to find the sweet spot for our grain crush size to ensure that we get a good conversion rate and a flavorful beer.

One key factor to getting a good crush is consistency. If we’re using a mill to crush our grains, we want to make sure that the rollers are set to the same distance from each other every time. A consistent crush size ensures that we get an even extraction of fermentable sugars, which is critical for brewing a high-quality beer. Inconsistencies in the crush size can lead to variations in the amount of sugar we extract from the grains, resulting in an inconsistent final product. This alone is a good reason to get your own grain mill. Your LHBS usually has one setting, while you have much more freedom to adjust your mill to each grain for a consistent crush. The LHBS might let us muck with the settings, but they usually opt for a one size fits all solution. On the other hand, I’m sure they’d love to sell you a grain mill. They vary in price from $50 (USD) to several hundred dollars.

Determining the right grain crush for our recipe

When it comes to figuring out the right grain crush for our recipe, there are a few things we should think about. First, we need to consider the equipment we have, the brewing method we want to use, and the beer style we want to make.

To start off, we can look at the manual for our equipment to see what the manufacturer recommends for the ideal grain crush size. It’s not a bad starting point, but to make it more exact, we should look at a sieve approach for determining milling size. The basic idea is we mill a cup of measured grain in grams, probably 100g to have a nice round number to work with. Then we’d add the milled grain to a set of stacked sieves. We shake the sieves allowing the milled grain to separate into different sizes, and weigh the grain that separated into each pan. You’ll want to shoot for the normal values for most cases.

	#14 sieve	#30 sieve	#60 sieve	Pan
Coarse	70-85% 70-85%	10-20%	< 10%	< 5%
Normal	50-60%	25-32%	7-11%	5-10%
Fine	15-30%	15-30%	25-40%	10-25%

(via How and Why Brewers Should Do a Sieve Analysis)

Depending on the brewing method we plan to use, we may need to adjust the crush size accordingly. For instance, if we are doing a BIAB (brew-in-a-bag) method, we might need a finer crush size than someone using a traditional mash tun.

The type of grains we are using can also affect the ideal crush size. Some grains are harder or softer than others, and this may require adjustments to the crush size to make sure we are getting optimal extraction. It’s worth noting that some grains, like wheat or oats, may require a finer crush to release their starches.

After taking all these factors into account, we should experiment with different grain crush sizes to see what works best for our setup. A Grainfather might produce different results than a more traditional brewing setup. This may involve some trial and error, but it’s worth the effort to find the right balance that produces the best results for our recipe.

Grain crushing methods

When it comes to crushing grains, there are a few methods we can use. One of the most basic methods is using a hand-cranked grain mill. This method allows us to crush grains manually, which can be a great option if we have a smaller brewing setup. Some of the benefits of using a hand-cranked mill include greater control over the crush size, and the ability to crush grains without needing electricity. However, it can also be a time-consuming process, and it may not be practical for larger batches.

Another option is to use a motorized grain mill. This method can be more efficient and faster than a hand-cranked mill, especially when crushing large batches of grains. The downside is that motorized mills can be more expensive and may require more maintenance than hand-cranked mills. Additionally, some models may not offer the same level of control over the crush size as a hand-cranked mill.

Finally, we can also choose to purchase pre-crushed grains from a reputable supplier. This can be a convenient option, especially for those who are just starting out and may not have the equipment or experience to crush grains themselves. Pre-crushed grains can be a reliable and consistent option, but they may not offer the same level of flexibility as crushing our own grains. Additionally, pre-crushed grains may not be as fresh as crushing our own grains, which could potentially affect the overall quality of our beer.

Ultimately, the method we choose for crushing grains will depend on our personal preferences, equipment, and brewing setup. Whether we opt for a hand-cranked mill, a motorized mill, or pre-crushed grains, the most important thing is to ensure a consistent and appropriate crush size to maximize our efficiency and produce the best possible beer.

Maintaining and adjusting grain crush

Maintaining and adjusting grain crush is an important aspect of homebrewing. To get the most out of our grains, it’s crucial to store them properly. Grains should be kept in a cool, dry place to prevent moisture from accumulating and causing mold or other issues. It’s also important to keep them in airtight containers to prevent pests from getting in. I use Vittles Vaults which work great in my dry climate. They are a bit expensive, but if you watch the prices on Amazon, you can often get them on sale for about $30 (USD).

Remember that the ideal crush size will depend on the type of grain being used, the brewing method, and the desired beer style. It may take some experimentation to find the perfect balance for your setup. But with proper storage and handling of grains, and the ability to adjust the crush size, you’ll be well on your way to brewing great beer.

Transcript for Should I use 60 or 90 minute hops additions?

Almost every homebrew recipe says to add bittering hops for 60 minutes. Is 90 minutes better? Maybe it should be less? That’s what we’re going to investigate next.

The bitterness in our beer comes from the bitter resins in the yellow lupulin glands. These are known as the alpha, beta, and gamma acids. The important one is the alpha acids, and that’s why that’s the only acid we typically see listed on our homebrew hops. The beta acids can contribute bitterness to our beer if they get oxidized, but the flavor isn’t great. Gamma acids don’t contribute any bitterness to our beer.

The bitterness in our beer is created by converting the alpha acids. This conversion is called isomerization. That’s a fancy word, but it just means we rearrange the organization of a molecule, but we don’t change the atoms in the molecule. This new molecule happens when we boil our beer over time, and its what makes our beer bitter.

How to measure bitterness

In order to determine how much bitterness is contributed to our beer, we use the IBU equation. IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit.

W is the weight of our hops, in ounces. V is the volume of wort in gallons. A is the percentage of alpha acids in our hops. That’s usually listed on the package of hops when you buy them. That leaves one variable left to calculate IBUs. The U is for hop utilization.

Hop utilization

Hop utilization is how well we convert the alpha acids to bitter flavors in our beer. This process takes time and heat. It’s never 100%, and there’s many factors that can reduce the amount of bittering in your beer. For this video, we’re just going to focus on how boil time affects our final product.

If we throw in our hops, and stop the boil right away, not many acids will be converted. We’ll just get the aroma and flavor, but no bittering. The reason is the alpha acid content in hops is only soluble in boiling water, and it takes time.

The simple thinking would be, more is better, so the longer we boil hops, the more of the hoppy goodness gets to our glass. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.

For starters, the process can go both ways. It’s like going backwards and starting over. There are also competing processes which cause the hops to oxidize into humulinic acids. Even worse, the isomerized alpha acids can get broken down. These contribute to reducing the overall bitterness in our beer.

This is using the Rager method (used for estimating hop utilization). Other methods have similar curves. While we’re adding bitterness there are competing forces removing it. When we’re starting out, there’s plenty of alpha acids to convert. The competing processes aren’t contributing as much to your beer flavor. The longer we boil, the less alpha acids there are and the reduction forces start to work against us. The magic number for homebrewers seems to be around 60 minutes.

What happens beyond 90 minutes?

What happens beyond 90 minutes? Well we’re expending alot of energy for little advancement in our bitterness efficiency. Once you get past 45 minutes, you’re not getting much bitterness for your time. There are some reports that we’ll also get a nasty vegetive flavor past 90 minutes, but I couldn’t find a good source for that. We’ll leave that as anecdotal until I can find a better reference.

Should you do boil hops for 90 minutes?

And all that said, Dogfish has a 90 and a 120 minute IPA. These are very popular beers, so they must be doing something right. Tough call. I think the best reason to not go past 60 minutes is there isn’t much value in doing so. As the chart showed earlier, it’s an asymptotic curve.

I won’t boil my hops past 60 minutes. I’d love to hear other homebrewer experiences. What are you seeing in your boil times?

New episodes are weekly, you’ll want to subscribe and check back on Fermentarium.com for videos, articles and more. I hope to hear from all of you!

And with that, I’ll see you next week!

Looking for a new beer to try this weekend? Here are the top 5 trending beers on the Internet for this week. In other words, these are the beers every one is talking about.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

Sierra Nevada

This is an American-style IPA That Sierra Nevada brews every year when they harvest their hops. If you’re looking for a beer made with the freshest hops, there aren’t many fresher than this beer. The Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade hops used in this beer are usually harvested around 7 days before brewing.

ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 65

Backwoods Bastard

Founders Brewing Co.

This is a Scottish Ale / Wee Heavy that has strong butterscotch, burbon and caramel flavoring. Sounds awesome! It’s definitely a sipping beer, because it comes in at 11.6% ABV.

ABV: 11.6%
IBU: 50

Born Yesterday Pale Ale

Lagunitas Brewing Company

The Born Yesterday Pale Ale is seasonal hop forward ale based on their Newer New Dogtown Pale. They add 11 lbs of Amarillo, Equinox, Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic and Indigenous Catawampus wet hops per barrel.

ABV: 6.5%
IBU: ??

Ben and Jerry’s Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company

There’s alot of chatter on the internet about this beer! This beer is very high on my list of “to try beers”, and if I can’t find it soon, I’ll be making a trip up to New Belgium in Fort Collins. Chocolate, salted caramel, and vanilla? I’ll pretty much do anything for a salted caramel brownie. Put it in beer, and I’m totally your slave. Can’t wait to try this beer!

ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 14

Fallout Beer

Carlsberg UK

This is a collaboration beer with video game maker Bethesda. The game, Fallout 4 a post-apocalyptic RPG, was release this week, so I’m sure that’s why this beer is trending. I image there will be Star Wars beers trending soon, when that’s in full marketing mode. This looks to be a pilsner that has the Fallout name on it. I’d try it for fun, since I’ll be playing the game for the next two years (it’s that big), but it’s only available in the UK.

ABV: 4%
IBU: ??

And that’s the beers trending this week. What beers are you most excited to try right now? Let me know in the comments below!

What’s the special diet that lets us drink alcohol without getting fat? Paleo diet? Gluten free? No magic beans here or wishful thinking, just the straight answer.

Does alcohol make you fat?

So the first question we all want to know is, does alcohol make you fat. We all want to cite some obscure research saying it ain’t so but the short answer is yes.

When you drink beer, wine, or what ever you like drinking, alcohol in your body is a rock star. Your liver creates acetate from the alcohol and dumps it into your blood stream. Our bodies use acetate for energy. Why is that bad? That means your body totally blows off the fat it already has, and uses the energy in alcohol. It prefers acetate over sugar and fat for energy!

Oh it doesn’t stop there either. It also blocks your ability to burn fat that is already there, temporarily. And when you drink, you typically consume 20% more calories than you think.

And to make it worse, any energy not used? Straight to the gut.

So what am I saying here? Do we need to give up alcohol? Whoa. Let’s not get too crazy here. We just need to be smarter about how we drink.

The secret formula

Well the first thought is you could blow out your liver with too much alcohol, and that stops the acetate production efficiency. Yeah. That’s a really bad idea. You need the liver.

No. If you really want to drink, and we really do, we need to pay attention to this formula, not diets. Diets don’t work. This is really the only way.

Input minus output must be less than or equal to zero. The number of calories in must be equal or less than the calories we burn.

We have something called our basal metabolic rate. That’s the number of calories we burn if we sit on our butt. If we consume that number or less, we won’t gain weight. Unfortunately it’s around 2000 calories. I’ve tried eating less than that to lose weight. It sucks and damn near impossible. At least for me. So we need to do exercise. I know, the universe hates us. Totally bites.

I walk to lunch everyday, about 3 miles round trip. That’s 250 calories I get to add to my basal number! And that’s the first secret. Keep close records on how much you exercise, eat, and drink. I use an app on my phone that tracks food and steps. My phone is always with me, so it makes it easy to keep good records.

The next secret is pay attention to the amount of alcohol in your drink. For example a dubbel is going to pack far more calories than a lighter beer. So you can go for one dubbel, or maybe two light calorie ales. Notice I said light calorie ales. Don’t fall for the trap that dark beers are higher alcohol/calorie than light beers. It really comes down to the fermentables in the beer. A Belgian tripel is going to pack more calories than a low alcohol porter.

You can still go for the higher alcohol beers, but make sure you add to your exercise output. Gotta earn your beers. Thirty minutes sweating hard on a stair stepper will get you an extra beer or two. The stair stepper will usually get you between 400-500 calories, which is two good beers!

So the secret to drinking beer without gaining weight is to offset the beer calories with fewer calories elsewhere and regular exercise. And in the end, I say it’s worth it!

I feel like an old friend you haven’t seen in years who just pops in and says “hi! Wanna be friends again? Let’s have a beer, and talk about our new beer robot overlords!”

Hi, I’m DJ Spiess from fermentarium.com. Thanks for hanging out with me again! I think it’s been 6 years since the last episode. If you’ve been to fermentarium.com, you’ll notice the site is a bit upgraded. It’s a reboot, and I’m going more video. I hope you check it out!

Speaking of upgrades, let’s talk about brewing 2.0 and the really cool rise of the automated brewing systems. All hail our new beer robot overlords!

Brewing beer can be an all day process. All-grain brewers out there who have had a brew day go bad know what exactly what I’m talking about. Should have been 4 hours, but now we’re holding a flashlight under our chin while adding the last hop addition.

There’s several systems out there with people trying to help us out. These are automated home brewery systems. The idea is simple. Make a device where we pour ingredients in, and come back to finished wort.

Or even better, beer.

All of the systems we’ll look at automatically brew the beer, and then transfer to a keg to ferment. So we are still out of reach of a completely enclosed brewery, but I think that’s ok. Fermenting in a keg isn’t that bad, and we usually want to take kegs to places away from the brewery, like outside to a nice park.

PicoBrew

The first brewery is a kickstarter project called the PicoBrew. As of this video, they have already raised the money they need by 4 times over. So there’s demand for this type of product.

The PicoBrew is a beginner system, and it allows us to brew 5 liters of beer. That’s a little over 1 gallon. The system’s a little larger than a coffee maker. It comes with it’s own clear plastic fermenter, and a small 5 liter keg for dispensing.

The keg size looks to be like one of the little disposable Kirin or Heineken beer kegs you can get at the liquor store.

The cool thing about it is we can just add a kit, and the system recognizes the beer. It knows what temperatures to brew at, and so on. It also handles all the transferring of beer for us. Kinda cool.

Catch is we have to use a one of their kits. It’s like a Keurig coffee maker for beer. If I’m reading their website right, we can preorder one for $608, which comes with one beer.

Zymatic

PicoBrew’s older brother is the Zymatic. The Zymatic is an all-grain brewing system, and a bit more homebrewer friendly. You can use your own ingredients, and has 4 timed hop additions..

The Zymatic comes with software that allows us to tweak everything about our beer. This can make our brew sessions highly repeatable. That’s good. The software is a web interface you access over wi-fi.

The Zymatic does 2.5 gallon brews, but we can use any recipe kit. If you’re using your standard homebrew shop recipe, just divide it in half.

The Zymatic is $1850 on Amazon.

Brewie

The Brewie is an indie-gogo project that is also fully funded. It compares more with the Zymatic, but is only $1599. The cool things about the Brewie is you can control the device from your Android or iPhone. That means you can set it up, and control the brewing on the go.

It also allows much more control over the brewing process, such as multi-step mashing, sparging, and automatic cooling. It also includes a automatic water inlet, so you can schedule brews. The Brewie brews 5 gallons of beer.

If you’re not screaming take my money yet, it also is self cleaning.

BrewBot

Last there is the BrewBot which is still in development. It produces a 18 liters, which is a little under 5 gallons. The brewBot is about $3300 after adding in shipping.

The BrewBot looks to have a iOS app, but it’s not clear about Android. All control is handled through the interface on your phone. The phone connects through “a sensor interface”. I’m guessing that means Bluetooth.

One advantage of the BrewBot is we can also just get the parts and put it together on our own if we like. I think this option is for those who just want to automate their own system.

Conclusion

So those are the the systems I could find, but I’m sure there’s more out there. What systems have you heard of, and is this something you’d use? I think I find the Brewie the most intriguing. Let me know what you think in the comments.

I also want to hear what you’d like to see in this show. Let me know what I’m doing right or wrong!

I haven’t heard from many of you in years. So let’s be beer buddies again! I’d love to hear from everyone.

New episodes are weekly, you’ll want to subscribe and check back on Fermentarium.com for videos, articles and more.

And with that, I’ll see you next week!

Alabama House Bill 9  (HB9) is the current incarnation of legalizing homebrewing for Alabama home brewers. Since Mississippi passed a law legalizing homebrewing in March of this year (goes into effect July 1st), Alabama is now the only state in the entire union where making beer is illegal. Homebrewing is actually a felony in Alabama! You can’t even legally sell homebrewing equipment in Alabama.

Alabama has a history of getting close, but can’t ever seem to cross the finish line. Last year the homebrewing bill got to about the same point. HB354, as it was called last year, died in the Alabama senate.

As far as homebrewing laws go, this one is very restrictive. This bill only allows you to brew 60 gallons a year, compared to the federal limit of 100 gallons per person and 200 gallons per household. If that wasn’t enough, you can only have 15 gallons in your house at any time. There are times where I’ll brew 20 gallons in one shot, so the 15 gallon limitation seems excessive to me. And if you happen to live in a dry county in Alabama, you’re out of luck no matter what happens to the bill.

Even with these restrictions, you have to wonder why they can’t pass the law. Well you don’t have to wonder too hard. It’s the Baptists.

One big opponent (if not THE opponent) of Alabama homebrewing is Alabama Citizen Action Program (ALCAP). Once you’re on their site, you only have to reach the second sentence before the words “bible” and “moral compass” get tossed around. There’s no surprise there, and it’s nothing new. They do provide other “reasons”, which are more entertaining than the usual bible quotes.

Homebrewers can’t self-regulate

The argument goes like this. The law only allows 15 gallons of homemade beer, wine or cider per quarter (3 months) and only 15 gallons ever in your home at any time. But homebrewers are already making beer in Alabama, so according to ALCAP, they will ignore the new law as well. The only way to enforce it is to have police raid your home, something even ALCAP didn’t feel comfortable with. Still it makes you wonder. If people will ignore laws no matter what, why pass laws at all?

Think of the children

Oh you knew this reason would be here somewhere. Apparently having large amounts of homemade alcohol (15 gallons) would be too much of a temptation for children. ALCAP’s argument is if children try beer because it’s more accessible, they will try other “mind altering” drugs. Since children see their parents drinking, it would be hypocritical for the parents to challenge their child’s new drug habits. For some reason, this effect doesn’t work if it’s a store bought can of Budweiser.  Homebrew has special evil powers to corrupt children that regular alcohol is missing.

Homebrewers will want more

Previous Alabama homebrew bills had a 100 gallon limit to match the federal limits. This bill was slashed down to 15 gallons to appease critics like the ALCAP. Their “fear” is future bills will request higher amounts to brew and store, maybe even as much as 100 gallons (*gasp*). Well I’d have to say they are correct on this one. 15 gallons is unreasonably low, and should be challenged. There are no limits on the amount of beer you can purchase and store in your home. Why is homebrew more “dangerous”?  Oh yeah, special evil powers — I keep forgetting.

Homebrew makes alcoholics

Again for some strange reason, homebrew will take well-educated, chuch-attending citizens down a dark path to alcoholism, but regular store bought canned beer will not. ALCAP states “they [sic- homebrews?] begin by drinking socially and they gradually begin to drink more and more, until they find themselves addicted.” I guess they are assuming new Alabama homebrewers don’t drink beer now, and this new hobby will somehow make them alcoholics? Or again, homebrew has special evil powers which store bought beer does not possess.

These are the main reasons they highlight on their website on why you should oppose HB9. They also provide other laugh inducing reasons like the urban legend vodka tampon and butt chugging, and all the usual bible quotes in other parts of their website.  They state they are [the self appointed] moral compass for Alabama, and they have guide on all the other things you shouldn’t do.

If you’re in Alabama, you need to call your state senators and tell them YES on HB9. I really don’t want to be writing another article about how you’re close to passing it again next year.

There’s an interesting book from Dan Woodske, owner of his own nano brewery called Beaver Brewing Company in Beaver Falls Pennsylvania. The book, A Brewer’s Guide to Opening a Nano Brewery: Your $10,000 Brewery Consultant for $15, reads like a VERY long forum post (75 pages) on how to start a nano brewery, but it contains great information from a brewer who’s “been there, done that”.

The book talks about all the things you need to consider including finding space, getting permits, securing ingredients, marketing and other things beyond how to brew beer. The best part is it’s currently free for the Kindle version. Since the book version is $13.50 and the list price on the Kindle version is $9.99, I’m not sure how long this sale will last. If you’ve ever considered starting your own nano brewery, you’ll want to get it while you can.

Some guy named Satansbrand (with a name like that, his parents must have hated him) created some very cool Game of Thrones themed beer labels. The labels are based on existing beers like Guinness or Stella, with slight modifications.  If you’re not familiar with Game of Thrones, this might not make much sense to you.  It’s basically a drama on HBO based on books by George R. R. Martin which combines of Dungeons and Dragons, sex, and a very bloody game of king of the hill.

There’s one for most of the big houses in Game of Thrones. The labels are very good quality, but I really think the artist could have had more fun. Tyrion’s Imp-erial Ale? Wildfire Wit? Brianne’s Massive Blonde? Joffery’s Zima Clone (I hate that little bastard).  Speaking of… Jon Snow’s Arrogant Bastard?

It’s all on a site called redbubble.com, which looks like a cafe press competitor. You can order the prints on mugs, tshirts, cards, etc… at least until some lawyer from the respective brewery or HBO notices their intellectual properties are getting used to make money (not sure this falls under satire).

 

Alabama finally voted to legalize home brewing, and it wasn’t easy or over. The first battle was in the Alabama House.

First several Republicans tried to filibuster the bill. So much for the party of small government. Reps. DuWayne Bridges (R-Valley), Kurt Wallace (R-Maplesville), Richard Laird (R-Roanoke) and several others spoke for a “legendary” 10 minute filibuster. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. I guess it’s hard to come up with things to say when you really don’t have a solid argument.

Then the Republicans tried some very silly amendments to the bill in an attempt to sabotage it. They tried adding an age requirement making home brewing legal if you were over 60 years old. Then they tried adding a $100 license fee. That failed too, so they tried limiting the legal amount to 15 gallons and a felony if you brewed more. Despite their efforts, all the amendments were tabled.

“Anything I can do to kill alcohol, I’m going to do.” said Rep. Richard Baughn (R-Lynn). “I was raised in a Christian home and I was taught that any form of alcohol is bad.” I guess he hasn’t read about what Jesus did to the water (John 2:1-11). At a minimum, someone should school him on what the separation of church and state means.

Baughn later added that this would lead to legalizing marijuana and home brewing 120 million barrels of beer a year per individual. One could hope, one could hope.

In the end, Alabama home brewers are one step closer avoiding arrest for brewing beer. The bill passed the House 44-33, and now moves to the Senate. Hopefully they are smart enough to pass it quickly.

And soon there will be one… (looking at you Mississippi, yeah you).

So what happens when a computer enthusiast/homebrewer decides he needs a new hobby? This guy took a Zoom tablet running Ice Cream Sandwich (I knew there was a use for a Zoom), and Audrino micro controller, and a tap system to create a beer pouring robot.

Of course, why stop there? He also added to the system an NFC badge reader to authenticate a user using Google credentials. This is to verify that you are allowed to drink the sacred stash of beer. It even uses flow sensors to determine you’re receiving the correct amount of beer in your pour (or correct amount of head as in the video’s case).

Of course it’s not magical beer, but this is very impressive. Very cool ingenuity, and the Droid character was a very nice touch.

Well we’ve all heard the hype about how the iPad is a “magical” device. Here’s a video that certainly makes you look twice.

The video is German magician Simon Pierro performing with his iPad at the famed Hofbräuhaus. Good luck at figuring out how it works. I’m stumped just watching the video. Every time I think I have an explanation, I see another camera angle which disproves my theory.

Maybe the iPad really is magical? An iPad dispensing beer is proof enough for me!

Every drunk will tell you, you’re better at something when you’re a little drunk. I claim this every time I play darts. I get better for a few beers, then everything goes to heck around beer four. Well that’s probablyanecdotal, but most people will swear to this. Especially after four beers when they are losing.

Now there’s research showing you might actually be smarter and more creative after a few beers. Psychologists Andrew F. Jarosz, Gregory J.H. Colflesh, and Jennifer Wiley at the University of Illinois at Chicago tested alcohol’s affect on creativity and found surprising results.

“We found at 0.07 blood alcohol, people were worse at working memory tasks, but they were better at creative problem-solving tasks,” psychologist Jennifer Wiley reported on the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) site.

First they got half of their 40 male subjects a bit tipsy, around the 0.075 sweet spot for peak intoxication. This was two pints. Then they administered a Remote Associates Test (RAT). A RAT test gives the subject (read: human lab rat) three words, and the subject has to determine the word the three items have in common. For example for the three words “salt deep foam”, the answer would be “sea” (sea salt, deep sea, sea foam).

The tipsy group solved 40% more problems than the sober group. The tipsy group was also faster, solving their problems on average 12 seconds compared to a sober 15.5 seconds.

The assumption is a few beers can be better for problem solving. Alcohol helps you ignore some things and focus on others, which helps spur creativity. That or beer makes you really good at word problems.

 

I’ve made several alt style beers for my neighborhood parties. I always am asked “what kind of beer is this”, which is quickly met with blank stares when I call it an “alt” style beer. In fact, I received so many blank stares at park parties I eventually relented and started calling it a “German ale”.

Altbier is somewhat similar to an amber lager. This is because the beer is usually lagered after fermentation. This produces cleaner beers compared to British ales with significantly fewer esters.

The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style guidelines list two alt beers in the Amber Hybrid Beer (7) category, the Düsseldorf Altbier (7A) and the Northern Germany Altbier (7C). It’s considered a hybrid because the beer uses ale yeast, but tastes more like a lager. If you’re thinking California Common or steam beer, you’re on the right track. California Common is 7B in the Amber Hybrid Beer category.

Altbier History

The Alt beer shares much history with Kölsch. Both beers originate in Cologne (Köln), Germany, but the Alt style is associated with Düsseldorf and Northern Germany.

In Cologne, ales have ruled since the 1600s. In 1603 and again in 1698, Cologne banned lagers within city limits to compete with lagers. Brewers had to swear to an ale version of Rein-heitsgebot which said, “you prepare your beer, as of old, from good malt, good cereals, and good hops, well boiled, and that you pitch it with top-yeast, and by no means bottom yeast, no Tollbier, ‘raw wort, no noxious herbs, no matter of what name”. The oath not only specified top-fermenting ale yeast, it also called out bottom-fermenting lager yeast as a big no-no. Tollbier means lager beer in this oath, so you had to swear twice you would not make lagers.

If you wanted a lager, you had to get it outside of Cologne. Lagers were still very popular, and were made in many German cities outside of Cologne. In Germany lagers are king, so by 1750 Cologne gave in and started making lagers. The ales were the old, or “alt” which is old in German, way of making beer.

In Colonge, Kölsh is now the standard beer. Alts are found about 40 kilometers to the north in Düsseldorf, so the style is now associated with Düsseldorf. Neither beer has been called “alt” or “kölsch” until the 1900s. Around this time German ales started to become popular again. Most likely to compete with the lagers surrounding Cologne, the style developed into the lager like profile. There really isn’t any reliable data showing what the German ales were like prior to the turn of the last century.

The beer

Altbiers are light copper to light brown ales with white heads. The beer is very clear due to the lagering. The aroma is slightly malty, with almost no hop aroma. The flavor is bitter. Not an IPA bitter, but still a firm bitter flavor. Some of the altbiers have a light caramel flavor, which I like, and is followed by a dry finish. The beer could be compared to a hoppy Vienna style lager. The alcohol content of the beer is lower than average, usually between 4.5% to 5.2%. This makes altbiers a great session beer.

Altbier recipe

Here’s the recipe I use for my Altbier.

Altbier
Batch size 5 gallons Boil size 6.5 gallons Boil time 90 minutes Grain weight 9.5 pounds Efficiency 75%	Original gravity 1.051 Final gravity 1.013 Alcohol (by volume) 5.0% Bitterness (IBU) 36 Color (SRM) 15.8°L
Yeast 2 liquid packs White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch   Grains/Extracts/Sugars 9.5 pounds Pilsen 36ppg, 1°L 8 pounds 84.2% Munich (Light) 34ppg, 10°L 1 pound 10.5% CaraMunich 34ppg, 50°L 0.25 pounds 2.6% Carafa II 30ppg, 500°L 0.25 pounds 2.6%   Hops 0.75 ounces Magnum hops 14%, Pellet 0.75 ounces	Mash 60 minutes, 8.2 gallons Strike Target 152°F 3.6 gallons 163°F 60 minutes (+0) Sparge Target 170°F 4.7 gallons 177°F   Boil 90 minutes, 6.5 gallons Magnum hops 14%, Pellet 0.75 ounces 60 minutes (+30) Wort chiller 15 minutes (+75)   Ferment 14 days @ 65-69°F

You’ll want to mash the beer at 152 F (67 C). You should boil the beer for 90 minutes to reduce DMS, so adjust the boil volume to match your evaporation rate. Carbonate the beer between 2 and 2.5 volumes.

Once the beer has fermented I’ll lager the beer for at least two weeks, longer if I find some courageous amount of patience and self-discipline. I tried serving the beer once without lagering and it was met with disastrous results. The beer stayed a bit cloudy, and it was very grainy. I ended up putting the beer back into the fridge for a few weeks, and was rewarded with a much cleaner and clearer beer.

Alt Munich

I used to go to a bar in Montreal, Canada called Alt Munich. It’s a giant beer hall that served lots of German food and pitchers of beer. I have no idea if it’s still there, an exhaustive 30 second Google search turned up inconclusive results. Still I had great, if not very blurry, memories of the beer hall. This beer is dedicated to that bar.

Alt Munich
Batch size 5 gallons Boil size 6.1 gallons Boil time 60 minutes Grain weight 8.5 pounds Efficiency 75%	Original gravity 1.043 Final gravity 1.012 Alcohol (by volume) 4.1% Bitterness (IBU) 29 Color (SRM) 18.3°L
Grains/Extracts/Sugars 8.5 pounds Munich (Light) 34ppg, 10°L 8 pounds 94.1% CaraMunich 34ppg, 50°L 0.25 pounds 2.9% Carafa II 30ppg, 400°L 0.25 pounds 2.9%   Hops 0.6 ounces Magnum hops 13%, Pellet 0.6 ounces	Mash 60 minutes, 7.7 gallons Strike Target 152°F 3.2 gallons 163°F 60 minutes (+0) Sparge Target 170°F 4.5 gallons 176°F   Boil 60 minutes, 6.1 gallons Magnum hops 13%, Pellet 0.6 ounces 60 minutes (+0) Wort chiller 15 minutes (+45)   Ferment 14 days

The recipe is as simple as you can get. It’s an all Munich malt alt. Well mostly Munich malt. There’s just a bit of CaraMunich to give the beer a little caramel hint, and a little bit of Carafa II to make the beer a bit darker without adding too much astringency. The beer is again mashed at 152 F (67 C), lagered for at least two weeks, and carbonated between 2 and 2.5 volumes.

So you want your beer head to last a bit longer?  Kirin might have an answer for you.

Kirin has created the “Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft”.  They have taken the beer head, frozen it like a beer sorbet, and added it to the top of the beer.  Kirin claims this will keep your beer cold for 30 minutes, and gives you a nice beer dessert.

It looks like the “technology” is similar to ice cream you’d get at Dairy Queen.  They take some of the beer, agitate it with air till it’s a foam, and then freeze it.  The result is frozen beer foam.

They foam will float on the top of your beer, but it’s not clear how you drink your beer?!  Do you punch a hole in it?  Maybe we’ll be seeing people drinking their beer through a straw, which should have wonderful effects on your sobriety.

This technique might be better suited for dessert beers like Avery’s Samael. I can’t image frozen foamy Kirin will taste much different than Kirin.

If you can read Japanese you can read more about it here, otherwise you’ll have to settle for the video. The beer debuts this May in Japan. No word on when it hits other countries.

Here’s a blast from the past! This is a video game release by Bally Midway back in 1983 called Tapper.

Budweiser – the video game

The idea was you play the bartender, serve customers before they get angry, and catch empty glasses before they fall to the ground. If you can clear all the customers, you get to enjoy a virtual beer and advance to the next level.

The first version of this game came with Budweiser branding in the back of the bar. The Budweiser theme song was actually used in the game, and the original machines used real Budweiser tap handles for the game controls. Later the taps were replaced with plastic taps with Budweiser branding. The plan was to market the video game in bars and nightclubs.

 

Who made the Suntory version of Tapper?

There is also a Japanese version for Suntory brewery, one of Japan’s oldest alcohol distributors founded in Osaka, Japan in 1899.

The interesting thing about this Tapper version is the machines surfaced in the 1990s, and they were built on arcade boards made by Sega. Sega denies any Suntory branding machines were built by Sega, so it’s unclear who made the modded arcade machines. It is common for arcades to repurpose existing machines with new games because it was cheaper than purchasing new popular games, but the Suntory Tapper is an unusual modification.

Subsequent games changed the marketing to Rootbeer tapper, probably because marketing beer to kids isn’t a good idea in the United States (a-ok in Japan though).

I might have to try to find one of these to add to my home bar!

Newcastle sent me another round of beer, this time their newest limited edition beer the Newcastle Winter IPA.

Looks

The Newcastle Winter IPA pours with a great light tan head which lasted for a little over a minute. When it dissipated though, the head was completely gone. There wasn’t much lacing on the glass. The beer is clear and has a good dark amber color.

Aroma

This is another Newcastle beer where I really didn’t notice any aroma. I even passed it around, but no one can really notice any aroma. This seems somewhat odd for an IPA. I would have thought there would be some aroma, at least from the hops.

Taste

I enjoyed the flavor. I think too many IPAs are liquid hops, however the Newcastle Winter IPA was much smoother. It might be closer to what most people consider a English Pale Ale. The flavor is definitely hop forward, but not so much where you can’t taste anything else like many extreme IPA beers. The carbonation was a bit higher than I’d like, but that might be because it was in a bottle. I’ll have to look around to find the beer on tap.

The hop flavor lasts a bit on the aftertaste, but it’s more of a bitter aftertaste instead of a particular hop. There is a bit of bready malt flavor up front, but I didn’t think it was anything deep or complex.

Results

I was a bit late with this review. I tried the beer back in November, but I’m just getting around to turning my notes into an article. My bad. Hopefully you can still get this beer.

I think this beer is another good session beer. The Newcastle Winter IPA is definitely one of the better offerings from a large brewery. The lower alcohol combined with the mellow flavor means you could have quite a few. I don’t think the beer will wow anyone, but I think it would definitely work well with a wider audience. People who are turned off by very hoppy beers might still like this IPA.

You can find more information about their beer on their website.  The site has a ton of Flash, so you’ll have to click around to find the page.

I’d rate the beer 7 hops out of 10.

Brewery: Scottish & Newcastle UK Ltd.
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Style: English IPA
ABV: 5.2% ABV
Serving Type: 12oz Bottle

For those of you who don’t know, Avery Brewing Company is a brewery in Boulder, Colorado. Its about a mile from where I work, and their tap room is a popular after-work watering hole for me and my co-workers. Usually we are fighting over one or two menus for our group when we are choosing beers. Well now they have an iOS app for that!

The Avery app is fairly nice, albeit very simple. The app has three tabs at the bottom: brewery, beers, and tap room. The brewery tab is a simple, “hi we’re Avery” page. The tap room tab has a map showing the location of the Avery Brewing Company, as well as, all the social and normal ways to contact the brewery. The beers tab is where the action is.

The beers tab allows you to flip through every beer Avery offers. When you select a beer, the app provides a detailed view of the beer. It gives a description of the beer, some stats about the beer, suggested food pairings, and the availability of the beer. Very simple, but very slick.

The description page is also useful for home brewers trying to replicate Avery beers. Many of the beer descriptions include the malts and hops used in the beer. It’s not a recipe, but it is a start.

The app is a universal app, which means it works on any iDevice (iPad, iPhone, and iTouch). The only thing I wish it had is a way to update the beers so it was always in sync with what’s on tap at the brewery. It would be a simple addition to update the beer list over the internet (hmmm… gives me an idea, any breweries interested?).

The Avery iOS app is a great way for the brewery to market their beers. Best of all, the app is FREE!  I’m surprised more breweries aren’t doing this. I’ll be taking my iPad in with me next time I visit Avery. It’s way cooler than the menu!

Attorney Tom White announced at a Nebraskans for Peace news conference the Oglala Sioux tribe is suing several distributors and retailers of alcohol.

“The Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks compensation for all of the damages the Lakota people have suffered as a result of illegal alcohol sales,” said White, who is with White and Jorgensen Law Offices in Omaha. “The defendants have failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure their products are distributed and sold in obedience to the laws of the State of Nebraska and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”

Some of the defendants listed are:
Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc.
SAB Miller d/b/a Miller Brewing Company
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Miller Coors, LLC
Pabst Brewing Company
Pivo, Inc. d/b/a High Plains Budweiser
Dietrich Distributing Co., Inc.
Arrowhead Distributing, Inc.
Coors Distributing of West Nebraska d/b/a Coors of West Nebraska
Jason Schwarting d/b/a Arrowhead Inn, Inc.
Sanford Holdings, LLC d/b/a D&S Pioneer Service
Stuart Kozal d/b/a/ Jumping Eagle Inn
Clay Brehmer and Daniel Brehmer d/b/a State Line Liquor

Their argument is the retailers and distributors of alcohol have opened liquor stores in Whiteclay right on the border of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The result in 2010 was 4.9 million beers were bootlegged onto the reservation. That’s about 13,000 cans a day. In 2005 the population was estimated to be 28,787, but Jim Berg, Executive Director for Oglala Sioux Lakota Housing suggests the number may be closer to 40,000.  Whiteclay, NE has a few dozen residents.

While I sympathize with their plight fighting alcohol abuse, I’m not sure they have a case here.  They can demonstrate harm, but they cannot oversee how Nebraska sells alcohol.   The alcohol retailers are legally located where alcohol can legally be sold. They cannot dictate what business is located on the other side of the border.

I’m not sure they want to pick this fight. Does that mean casinos located on the border of territories where gambling is illegal, say the Prairie Wind Casino, can be sued as well?  The casino was not built to cater to their own population.  Maybe the lawsuit’s purpose is to raise awareness?

I’d say both sides are guilty of placing businesses which are illegal on the opposite side of the border, both which can be destructive if abused. What do you think? Do the Sioux have a case, or is turnabout fair play?

Starting a new brewery can be cost prohibitive. Buying equipment, renting a space, navigating the permitting fees, and buying supplies can quickly make your new adventure a non-starter. Finding investors can be quite difficult and they would most likely want a significant stake and possible control over your brewery. So what do you do?

One trend I’ve seen lately is asking the Internet to help “kickstart” your brewery using a web site called Kickstarter. The way it works is you set a money goal, like $20,000, and ask for donations. If you reach your goal by your set date, Kickstarter charges everyone’s credit card for their donation and your project is under way. If you don’t reach your goal, no one gets charged and I’m really not sure what happens next. Maybe change your name and try again?

One brewery doing this is the Lucky Town Brewing company. They’re a startup brewery in Mississippi who’s looking for $20,000 and they have 33 days left as of this writing. So far they have a little under $10,000, so this looks like it’s working for them. They are looking to raise the money to “to help cover some of our up front costs such as license fees, insurance costs, keg expenses, and ingredients costs among others”. If you want to help a new brewery out, check out their Kickstarter page.

This sounds like an interesting way to raise capital for your brewery. What do you think? Leave your thoughts below!

Here’s some of the better photos from this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. If you don’t see your picture here, you might look at all of the photos on the flickr page. All in all, there’s 189 pictures from this year’s festival, and 490 photos from over the years. Of course there’s still the constant battle from the yellow light, but if you see a picture you’d like fixed let me know.

I think there’s been some type of clerical error upstairs.  I should have been left behind with my beer.

I guess I should have listened to the prediction more. The guy predicting the rapture has experience predicting raptures.

Happy Rapture Day!

Let’s get it out at the start, drinking and driving is a monumentally stupid idea. If you’re extremely lucky you’ll get home only hitting the mailbox on the way in your driveway. Most likely, you’ll hit something bigger on the way and not only ruin you day, you could take the lives of innocents who had the unfortunate luck of crossing your dumbass path.

DUI Checkpoints Legal?

With that said, DUI checkpoints really skirt the edge of what is legal.
The United States Constitution (your country’s rules may vary) states a citizen cannot be stopped without probable cause. DUI checkpoints assume guilt before proven innocent.

DUI, there’s an app for that

There are phone applications, like Buzz’d and Fuzz Alert, which help you know where the DUI checkpoints are in your area. This can help you avoid an unnecessary delay when driving somewhere, but lets be honest, you’re using it to avoid getting your sorry ass caught.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) is demanding answers from Apple and Google as to why these applications are allowed. Apparently the Senator doesn’t know the law very well. No surprise there. I’m convinced most of the representatives in Washington have never looked at the Constitution.

DUI Checkpoints History

For those who don’t know the history of DUI checkpoints, years ago some guy named Sitz (as in he should have sitz instead of driving his drunk ass around) sued the state of Michigan police department (Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz) claiming the DUI checkpoints were a violation of the Constitution. The Michigan Supreme Court agreed, but the Supreme Court overruled the decision. Get this: Chief Justice Rehnquist admitted the checkpoints were probably a violation of the Constitution, but it was a minor violation so it was ok. If you violate the Constitution only a little bit, its ok. Yeah, the stoopid, it burns.

To make up for the “minor violation” of the Constitution, the rules were later refined for everyone by the California Supreme Court in Ingersoll v. Palmer. In that ruling, the court decided in order to minimize the intrusion, police had to notify the public in advance. That’s right. These apps are getting their information from the police who are required to publish the DUI checkpoints in advance.

DUI Checkpoint locations public info

Now the police would love to publish this information someplace where no one looks, like a newspaper, but a few companies had the bright idea of publishing the PUBLIC information in a phone app where someone might actually see it. That’s the real problem here. The police are required to publish the information so DUI checkpoints can get around the stickiness of the Constitution.  They just don’t want anyone to know.

You might not like the phone apps, but they are legal. It’s like the First Amendment. There might be lots of opinions you don’t want to hear, but the amendment is there to protect the speech you don’t like. So do you want to allow DUI checkpoint applications on phones, or do you want to toss out the Fourth Amendment? As to why Apple and Google allow the DUI checkpoint applications, the Senator from NY should do a little reading before asking stupid questions.

UPDATE (06-08-11) : Apple is no longer accepting DUI checkpoint apps

Remember back in 2008, when Samuel Adams was recalled because of glass chips in their beer?  Yeah, I forgot about it too.

According to a press release by Boston Beer Company, makers of Samuel Adams, “The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) and its former glass bottle supplier have today entered into an agreement to settle all claims regarding the recall implemented by the Boston Beer Company in 2008”. The former glass bottle supplier? Yeah, that one. The one who shall remain nameless (they don’t mention them by name in the press release – who can blame them).  They don’t mention “fault”, but it’s clear who’s coming out on the winning side of this dispute.

Boston Beer gets a settlement of $20.5 million dollars, and both parties promise to never speak of it again. The whole fiasco cost Boston Beer $22 million resulting in a spiffy minus $1.5 million bonus. Yea American Justice System! Given the legal fees and the years of fighting in court, only losing $1.5 million in the deal is pretty good.

There is a gene for something called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). ADH is a protein and it’s important because it is an enzyme we use to break down alcohol. Some research suggests people who don’t produce enough ADH or produce the slower acting enzymes ADH2 and ADH3 are more susceptible to alcoholism. ADH is part of what helps you sober up.

Scientists have long postulated the gene evolved when humans started creating liquor. Then they later found the enzyme in animals, so the theory was changed to animals developed ADH to break down ethanol from fermenting fruits of flowering plants. Fruits appeared about 140 million years ago. There are studies demonstrating some animals, like the fruit fly, evolved ADH between 70 and 135 million years ago.

Then scientific progress went boink again. Héctor Riveros-Rosas at National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City thinks animals got the gene even earlier. By analyzing the DNA sequences from animals, he estimates ADH first appeared 450 million years ago. For those counting at home, that’s 310 million years before we needed it.

Riveros-Rosas’ new theory suggests animals evolved the gene to break down dopamine or other naturally produced hormones. ADH works faster on dopamine, and we probably got lucky it works on ethanol too. Unfortunately animals had to wait 310 million years before we could use the enzyme for our fun. Now that is a dry spell!

Once while in San Diego I stumbled upon Comic-Con.  I thought the idea was cool, bought a ticket, and walked in.  That was obviously many years ago considering this year’s event in July sold out in January.  Back when I went it was just starting to become the wild event it is now.  Time to look for a new event…

And suddenly in my fermentarium suggestion email box there was one.  It’s not comics though, it’s Beer-Con, a craft beer conference in San Diego!  How cool is that?

From the website, you can rub elbows with the big names in brewing and attend several talks on homebrewing, starting a bar or brewery, and beer styles.  Of course there will also be beer drinking!  Can’t have a beer event without downing a few pints.  There will also be big names like Greg Koch and Anat Baron.

I have no idea if this conference will turn out to be the festival Comic-Con has become, but it sounds like a fun conference to check out.  Unfortunately I’ll be elsewhere in August 27th, 2011, but if you’re in San Diego you might want to check the one day conference.  It’s open to the public, not just industry leaders.  They also said in their email if you use the code “BARLEY”, you’ll get $50 off the ticket price.  If any of you go, please let me know if it’s everything advertised and hopefully I can attend next year.

 

Despite my best plans, I do little brewing in the winter. I might make a batch for Christmas parties and the SuperBowl, but from February to April there is little brewing activity for me. The summer months are non-stop brewing months. Here’s what I’m doing to prepare!

Clean the carboys

I hate finding out on brewing day that the fermenter I plan to use is also the fermenter I said I’d clean later. The best way for me to avoid this situation is to clean everything in advance. Go figure! Part of my preparation is to run a cleaner (like PBW) through all my fermenters. I’ll still sanitize the fermenters on brewing day, but making sure they are all clean in advance makes future brewing sessions go easier.

Prepare the kegs

On the same line of thinking, the kegs need to be prepared too. This means cleaning and sanitizing the kegs, replacing all the o-rings, and testing the pressure on each keg in advance.

Test equipment

Somehow tubes that never leaked before, leak the following year. Seals on my larger fermenters never seal as well the following year. I check my wort chiller for leaks at the start of the brewing season by running water through it for about 10 minutes. This includes checking all the tubes for leaks. I also fill my larger fermenter with water to make sure it’s not leaking at the spouts.

Clear the hops

Hops are like kudzu, and they leave a ton of dead vines and leaves each year. I leave this in place over the winter to help insulate the roots, but it’s spring time. The dead stuff has to go. It’s also a fun excuse to see if any shoots are coming up, and cull any shoots your don’t want growing. My hops are trying to take over the yard in their yearly endeavor to choke me in my sleep, so there are always shoots to cull. This is also a good time to dig up any rhizomes you want to share with friends, or use to start new vines.

Inventory supplies

At any point during the brewing season I know what supplies I have on stock. This information falls out of my head as soon as the season ends. Check up on what grains you have left, how much sanitizer and PBW you have, and any other recurring supplies you need. This includes keg lube, Irish moss, carboy labels, and yeast nutrients.

Plan a list of brews

This is the fun part. I look over what beers I want to make, what beers needed improving, and the dates I need the beers. I make beers for park parties, office parties, an Oktoberfest party at the end of the summer, and a big Fourth of July party. Some beers take longer than others to make, so planning a schedule helps to insure you have the right beers at each party. For example, you might want a lager and an ale for a party in a month. If you can only make one beer at a time, you’ll need to schedule the lager first. If you’re making lots of beer for different event, a schedule becomes very important.

So what things do you do to prepare for brewing?

Invented by New Zealanders Ian Williams and Anders Warn, the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery makes homebrewing very simple. You simply add ingredients, boil, add yeast and wait for beer. How is this system different? Everything happens in one machine. The WilliamsWarn comprises of a brewing tank, refrigeration system and a dashboard panel to control the system.

This truly is a personal brewery. In a normal homebrew setup, you boil your wort, transfer it to a fermenter, then transfer it again to bottles or kegs, and finally you carbonate the beer. This mini brewery never transfer the beer.

There are several advantages to not transferring your beer. First you won’t expose your beer to oxygen or infections. Every time you transfer your beer, you run the risk of ruining your beer. Second the WilliamsWarn system is a closed system which will help your beer last longer. According to their site, “The oxygen pickup in this system is the lowest in the world as we have no beer transfers and it is oxygen pickup during beer transfers that ages beer.” Third, since the beer is fermented under pressure and never transferred, you do not need to carbonate the beer later. The system keeps the CO2 from carbonation in the beer. They claim you can go from wort to glass after 7 days.

The downside to the system is it is a bit spendy. The price is $4500 ($5600 NZ). The price and functionality may seem to be better suited towards a small pub than a homebrewer, although I’ve seen many systems like the B3 sculptures which can easily be more expensive. Your budget mileage may vary.

I think I’d also like to see an option to transfer the beer directly to keg. It looks like the beer stays in the system until it’s empty. The serving tap for the beer is on the side of the brewery. It would be nice to be able to connect the system to an external keg, and transfer the finished beer under pressure.

So what do you think? What changes would you make to it?

Philip H. Mockli is fed up with republican conservatives in Franklin County, Idaho. Current statutes forbid the sale of hard alcohol in Preston, Idaho bars. Mockli claims these laws are religiously based, and therefore a violation of his First Amendment rights. In his formal complaint submitted to the U.S. District Court in Pocatello, Mockli claims “by use of the Idaho statues, [state Republicans] are allowed to force their morality on those of us who don’t believe in their religion”.

To press his point Mockli formed his own religion, the Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Toward Civilized Hedonism which advocates a sacred right for it’s members to consume hard alcohol. Finally a religion I can believe in! The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster may lose a convert. Mockli filed the lawsuit with his church listed as the plaintiff.

This is a strategy that has worked for many religions. For example peyote is a banned substance, but its use is allowed in Native American ceremonies under the First Amendment. This approach is used often to defend behaviors which are otherwise illegal, so I don’t see why it would not work for him. The First Amendment says nothing about how long the religion must be practiced, or by how many. Of course I’m not a lawyer, so their might be some catch.

Mockli’s goal is to make the liquor laws consistent across the state of Idaho. “I want the liquor laws to change,” he said. “I want them to apply universally.” Amen brother!

So I finally got around to creating a Facebook Fan page. This will give you yet another way to keep up to date with Fermentarium articles. It’ll also give you a way to have your say, without having to post to a particular article.

Right now the fan page consists of a few popular homebrewing articles, but in the future it will contain all new articles, interesting articles from other sources, and anything everyone wants to share.

If you’re a fan of Fermentarium, you will want to hit the like button below. And be sure to share any articles you like. This is a great way to spread the word about Fermentarium.

A friend of mine, Erin Schaefgen, makes very cool cakes. These cakes are so cool in fact, she should have her own TV cake show. Her cakes could easily compare to Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss. She just started her own cake business called Three Little Blackbirds, and as you can see from her cakes, she is going to be VERY successful.

So, how could you possibly top one of her cakes? Add beer of course!

Check this cake out! This was one of Erin’s recent cakes for a Guinness fan. The glass of Guinness beer, napkin, and even the wooden bar top are all edible. She also has a really cool cheeseburger cake she made for her husband complete with fries.

She recently won three ribbons, two first place and one third place, in the Sugar Art Show in Denver, Colorado. Go check out all her cakes now at Three Little Blackbirds Cakes! When you’re done drooling over the cakes on her website, remember to send her some digg/twitter/stumble love!

(Source: Three Little Blackbirds Cakes)

There’s no beer in space, yet, but an Australian non-profit space research corporation called Astronauts4Hire is working to change that. We need refreshments for space tourists after all.

The problem with beer on space stations (besides driving a billion+ dollar space station drunk) is the gas from CO2 makes astronauts very gassy. On Earth gas bubbles rise causing you to belch, but in microgravity the bubbles stagnate making it very uncomfortable for the drinker. To make beer better for space travelers they are making stout beers. The reason they chose stout beers is these beers often have less carbonation than other beers. For the space travelers, they will most likely need as little carbonation as possible.

The other reason cited by Ben Corbin, PR director for Astronauts4Hire, is astronauts can’t taste as well in space. I’m not sure how true this is. Some astronauts have reported sinus swelling which causes a reduction in taste (no smell = no taste), but others have reported no difference in their ability to taste foods. Either way, Astronauts4Hire chose the richer chocolatey beer just in case.

Ironically they began testing the beer on Boeing’s zero gravity plane, aka the Vomit Comet, in November 2010.

It’s not quite a porno-scanner (backscatter x-ray), but it’s still awesome wine science.

Right now you can only bring 3 ounces of a liquid in your carry-on. The reason is it’s too difficult for airport screeners to determine what liquid you are really carrying. It could be water, or it could be some chemical that created chlorine gas when mixed with something else. There’s no quick way to determine what it is you have in your bag.

So what does this have to do with wine?

According to New Scientist, “in 2002 Matthew Augustine, a chemistry professor at the University of California, Davis, US patented a device to determine whether wine had spoiled without opening the bottle. It works in a similar way to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners used in hospitals, combining a pulse of radio waves and a strong magnetic field to determine the chemical structure of the wine.“

They are now investigating how to use the device to determine the chemical structure of any liquid. The device can tell the difference between toothpaste and gasoline (or some bad wines). The hope is within a year or two we can start using these devices to scan any liquids we’re bringing on a plane. Maybe in the future we can bring samples of our homebrew and wine in our carry-on, instead of putting it in our luggage and hoping for the best.

The trend for consuming less beer in Germany continues. Beer sales in Germany have declined since the reunification in the 1990s, and every year since German beer sales decline by about 1.7%. For the first time ever, German beer sales have dropped below 100 million hectoliters. Domestic consumption dropped even lower, with the average German drinking 101.8 liters per person per year. In 2007, the average German consumed 112.5 liters per year.

Most industry analysts believe this is because of Germany’s aging population. Older Germans are drinking less and reproducing less. Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, spokesperson for the Association of German Brewers (DBB) told Deutsche Welle, “The number of German beer-drinkers is going down, and in the last ten years, another 500,000 weren’t born – so to speak – who could take their place? Meanwhile, the older age groups – who used to drink a lot of beer – have got older, are working less and drinking less. German government figures expect there will be twice as many people over 60 than under-20 in 2050.

Another possible reason for the decline is the changing tastes and habits of the younger generation. In the past Germans would drink a beer after work, but more people are hitting coffee shops after their desk job. Germans don’t hit the bars for a beer after work, like their counterparts in Britain. Some breweries are experimenting with variations on alcoholic beverages, but it can be very expensive to create and market new drinks.

Really? His twenty-third drunk driving offense, and Terry Naugle is complaining about a 8 1/2 year sentence.

His lawyer, Luke Craggs, thought the sentence was 3 1/2 years longer than Naugle should get, since the maximum sentence is 5 years. I’m pretty sure law makers didn’t think someone would have 23 drunk driving offenses when they were constructing the law. If the maximum sentence is 5 years, I think he’s been getting off lucky in the past. 23 x 5 is 115 years.

Not only was he arrested for drunk driving for the 23rd time (did I mention he’s been arrested 23 times?!?), he fled the scene of the accident, and had no license since he just got out of jail three weeks ago from his 22nd offense. The cops know him as “Super Naugle, because he’s super at what he does – drinking and driving”.

I think after 3 arrests, you should never be allowed near a car again. The guy clearly has a problem and is a danger to society. However, it’s clear jail isn’t working either. What would you suggest as a punishment for Super Naugle?

This guy gets the beer nut designation for “lifetime achievement”.

Imagine a video game system with Joust, Defender, Gauntlet, Cyberball 2072, Mortal Kombat 1 through 3, and over 60 other games all in one machine. To make this game system even cooler, you can add any game originally on the Nintendo, Sega Genesis, NeoGeo or other game systems. You’re drooling already, aren’t you. How could you possibly make this better you ask?

Add beer. (the answer should have been obvious)

The Arkeg Drink n’ Game system has all the game features listed above, the ability to hold and play over 15,000 games and it has a keg system built in. It even has the game Tapper! This is sooo added to my home bar must have list.

On the side of the game cabinet is a chrome faucet serving beer from a 1/6 Keg (corny keg size), which is perfect for homebrewers. The Arkeg website even suggests you try making your own beer (say Old Fortran?), because it is homebrew compatible. The keg system inside includes refrigeration and a CO2 system. This is the ultimate kegerator.

The control panel itself contains a pair of joysticks matched with a 6 button layout, perfect for Mortal Kombat matches. All of this is matched with a 24” hi-def LCD screen, a hidden keyboard, and 2.1 surround sound. This arcade system of pure awesome can be yours for $4000. I think I’ll need to save up a bit.

When I first saw this can, I thought it was a mixed drink or malt beverage similar to a wine cooler. Jack Daniels sells drinks like what I was expecting.

This isn’t one of those.

Someone at Scottish Spirits, a Panama-based company, got the idea to sell hard alcohol, specifically whiskey, in a can. This is somewhat an interesting idea. Cans are recyclable, lightweight, portable, and great for places where glass is unacceptable (like a pool). You can find whiskey in a small plastic bottle on any airline, so why would a can be less desirable?

The Scotch Whiskey Association said they might try to ban the whiskey for breaching International labeling rules. They are concerned consumers might confuse this product with real Scotch. The can does say blended whiskey across the top, and below the label, but the company’s name “Scottish Spirits” might be considered confusing. My guess is the Scotch Whiskey Association is just horrified someone might try selling whiskey in a can.

The real objection is the backlash that plagued beer for a while. There is a weird romanticism which believes alcohol is cheaper if it’s not in a glass. Only recently have microbreweries overcome the perception beer in the can is cheap. This is no different. A can should have no affect on the flavor, since aluminum cans are usually lined on the inside with a thin polymer.

Scottish Spirits is testing their canned whiskey in the Caribbean and South American markets, but if it takes off you might see it near you soon!

What do you think? Can quality whiskey be served in a can?

In North Dakota, there is a bill proposed by Dan Ruby (R) to allow homebrewers to apply for a “domestic brewery license”. This would allow homebrewers to sell their beer, offer beer tastings, or even sell their beer to wholesalers to get their beer in stores. The bill will be heard by North Dakota House’s Industry, Business and Labor Committee. You can bet I’ll be watching this closely.

Wow! How do we make this happen in Colorado? You’d think with a governor like Hickenlooper, owner of Wynkoop Brewing Company, this might be possible.

January 24th, 1935, the first beer in the can was sold in Richmond, Virginia. The first beer can was manufactured by the American Can Company for the brewer Krueger. The American Can company actually had to convince Krueger to try the cans by offering the caning equipment for free. If it didn’t work out, it was the American Can Company who’d have to pay. The cans were a huge success, and by the end of the year many breweries were selling their beer in a can.

Cans had been around long before, as far back as 1909, but it wasn’t until 1935 the can could withstand the pressures from carbonation. These first cans were more like canned soup which had to be opened with a can opener.

Somehow canned beer later became associated with cheap beer. This might be because eventually most macro brewery beers were sold in a can. Ironically cans are much better for beer, especially with microbrewery beers which use real hops instead of hop extract. Hop extract is usually light stable, but beer made with real hops can become “lightstruck” making the beer taste and smell skunky. Cans protect the beer from light, but still brewers were reluctant to use anything other than glass because of the can’s bad image. It wouldn’t be until very recently microbreweries like Oskar Blues changed the can image and used cans to sell premium beer.

A friend of mine was planning a big celebration for her daughter’s one year birthday and she wanted me to make the beer for the party. If you’ve been to a birthday party for a one year old, you’ll understand why you need the beer. Of course I said yes because I like making beer for large groups.

“What kind of beer would you like,” I asked with thoughts of flavorful Belgian beers, rich porters, or maybe a strong IPA.

“My favorite beer is Stella Artois. Can you make Stella?” she asked. That wasn’t the Belgian beer I was expecting.

If you haven’t had a Stella Artois, you probably haven’t tried looking. It’s a very common plain lager ironically from Belgium. Well it’s originally from Belgium, but most of it is made in the U.K. Either way, it’s a mass produced beer from Anheuser-Busch InBev. Basically it’s Belgian Budweiser, even though Budweiser is technically Belgian and Stella is made in the U.K. I’m sure I’ll get some argument on that… but I digress. You can find it in every liquor store and many pubs.

“Sure,” I gulped wondering how I’d make it. While Budweiser, Stella Artois, Heineken, and other similar beers get a bad reputation for being bland, it really is difficult to make a beer taste that… well… bland. Bland really isn’t fair for these beers. They produce a very crisp and clean lager, which can be very difficult to reproduce at the homebrew level. While the style may not be every homebrewer’s favorite, it’s a very popular style for everyone else. I was up for the challenge.

The first thing I did was look to see what others have used for a recipe. I was shocked to see the number of recipes I came across which added wheat malt to the beer. The beer has a very clean profile, and wheat malt just seemed a bit too Hefeweisen to be a part of Stella Artois. Others added a touch of Munich malt, dextrin malt, Vienna malt, Cara Pils, corn sugar and a bazillion other variations. Nothing sounded right. I decided to do more research.

Then I stumbled upon a post from a brewer in Melbourne who claimed he worked at the Stella Artois brewery in Australia (can’t find the original post, but if you know the post I’m talking about, let me know and I’ll link it here). His recipe was exactly what I suspected. He said it was just pilsner malt and Saaz hops. That’s it! He didn’t know the yeast used, but I doubt the yeast used would be commercially available. Stella Artois uses a house yeast like most other major brewers.

Since the beer is 5% ABV, it was very easy to determine the malt bill. Using 9 lbs, 8 ounces of pilsner malt gives you an ABV of about ~5.1%. That’s close enough for me but if you want to shave an ounce or two, go for it. There are no other grains in the beer.

I used a single infusion mash at 150 F and let it go for 60 minutes. You want a very fermentable wort, since this beer is really crisp. Any warmer and you’ll get a beer which is maltier that Stella Artois.

The hop flavor and nose are very subtile, so there shouldn’t be too much hop to the beer. Most reviews I found put the beer in the low 20s for IBUs. I went with 22 IBUs. I’m adding 1.5 ounces of hops at the beginning of the boil, and then another 0.5 ounces 5 minutes before the end of the boil.

Yeast is the “trickiest” part of this beer. As I mentioned before, their yeast isn’t likely to commercially available. I made a guess and went with your basic German lager yeast (White Labs WPL 830 German Lager Yeast). You might try the WPL 850 Copenhagen Lager yeast if you can find it. Either way I’d ferment on the lower end of the yeast’s temperature range, about 50F – 52F. This will give you a cleaner flavor.

You will also want to make a good starter for this beer.  While the beer isn’t high in alcohol, you don’t want any off-flavors creeping into your beer.  A good healthy starter for this lager will go a long way to perfecting your Stella Artois.

The final recipe was

9 lbs 8 ounces German Pilsner
1.5 oz Saaz (@60 min)
0.5 Saaz (@5 min)
Irish Moss
WPL 830 German Lager Yeast
7.0 gal pre boil, 5 gal

Since this beer is so light in color, you’ll want to make sure you use finings to help the beer clear. I always use Irish Moss when making this beer, and I add it for the last 10 minutes of the boil. After fermentation, I also let this beer lager for a month. This helps the beer clear even more.

Ultimately I ended up with a good approximation of Stella Artois. The keg didn’t last very long, and everyone agreed it tasted like Stella Artois. Mission accomplished!

This year at the Great American Beer Festival, there seemed to be many more oak infused, oak aged, and oak fermented beers. Most of the beers were very strong and aged in whiskey barrels. I think this might be why the night seemed to go like this:

sober
buzzed
buzzed
buzzed
who turned out the lights?!?

Luckily I took pictures of the brewery banners for the beers I liked, because I’d never remember them otherwise.

I do have to give a special shout out to Kristen at Baby Brewing for giving me an awesome “Daddy needs a beer t-shirt” in exchange for one of my pretzels. We found each other on twitter before the Great American Beer Festival when I posted pics of my pretzel necklace. I found her booth during the night, gave her a pretzel based on the awesome pretzel recipe from BeerSmith’s website, and I scored a cool t-shirt. Who says Twitter isn’t great for networking!! If you haven’t seen her shirts, you should go check them out. They also have very cute shirts for the girls too!

Most of what you remember in past years was still there. They continue to have the Silent Disco (a cute joke years ago). They also had cooking presentations, but the festival is so large I had difficulty finding anything other than beer. Luckily the beer is what I was there for!

I thought this was the most unique form of advertising I saw at the show. I don’t think too many of the women saw this one, unless they were hitting the whiskey barrel brews more than I was! Kudos to Cascade Lakes Brew for this clever ad.

The costumes at the show are getting fewer and fewer. I’m not sure why this is. My guess is the number of attendees is growing each year, which makes it harder to find the people wearing costumes.

Well these are better late than never, right? Here’s what you missed at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.

I got an email a few weeks ago from Newcastle asking if I’d like to try their new beer. Of course I said yes, never turning down a free beer, and they shipped one out to me right away. The beer has the familiar Newcastle logo, but brighter summer colors. So here’s what I thought.

Looks

The Newcastle Summer Ale has a clear gold color. The beer is very clear, so clear it almost looks like a lager. The beer had a slight head, but the foam dissipated very quickly. I had troubles keeping enough head in the glass to take a picture. The carbonation was quite strong, like champagne, which might be why the head disappeared quickly. The bubbles were quite large.

Aroma

The Newcastle Summer Ale has a very faint hop aroma. It’s actually very faint, but you can pick up slight smells of grass, and maybe caramel? It was hard to tell what kind of malt was coming through. The label of the beer says “Hops and Glory”, but the hops weren’t really dominant in the aroma.

Taste

The beer is very crisp and clean, again more like a lager than an ale. The Newcastle Summer Ale is very thin, but I think it’s supposed to be that way. The beer is only 4.4% ABV, and it’s supposed to be more of a session beer. There is a good bitter aftertaste to the beer, but I couldn’t pick out the hop type. It was just a solid bitterness. The beer also was quite carbonated as I noted in the looks section, almost soda like. The Summer Ale had a champagne mouthfeel.

Results

Overall I thought the beer was ok. It’s not going to be as popular as Newcastle Brown Ale, but it does make a good lawnmower beer or a good session beer for a hot day. I guess that’s why they call it “Summer Ale”. It will quench your thirst, but you won’t feel too tipsy to mow the rest of the lawn after knocking back a few of these bitters. I’d give the beer 6 sunny days out of 10.

Brewery: Scottish & Newcastle UK Ltd.
Country of Origin: United Kingdom, Scottland
Style: English Bitter
ABV: 4.4% ABV
Serving Type: 12oz Bottle

So where was I? Leave your guesses down below in the comments!

See more Wordless Wednesday posts at the original WW home

Humans are the only species on Earth known to voluntarily consume ethanol. The vast majority of other species have evolved an avoidance for what is essentially a biological poison. Drunk animals are more likely to die and therefore less likely to reproduce, so a trend towards sobriety echoes down the ages in most species. Except us. We will not only go to great lengths to obtain alcohol—even when it is illegal—but we will also consume so much of it we can become ill or die. Why?

It’s Chemical

For most people, drinking small to moderate amounts of alcohol is a pleasurable experience. The pleasure we humans derive from drinking is thought to be due to the effect of alcohol on the brain. A 2009 study conducted in rats found small to medium amounts of alcohol stimulate the release of endorphins—brain “feel good” chemicals. The mechanism is thought to be the same in humans and could be responsible for the slight euphoria many people experience after drinking. Interestingly, the high doses of alcohol were not associated with a greater release of these feel good chemicals.

As many studies can attest, humans will do all sorts of crazy crap to feel good, especially if we can get away with it without being eaten by a predator. Seeing as we are on the top of the food chain essentially and can rely on fellow humans to help us when we are impaired, the potential evolutionary costs of drinking are mitigated for our species. Hence frat parties.

It’s Social Bonding

Alcohol is not referred to as a “social lubricant” for nothing. The consumption of alcohol is known to decrease anxiety and to lower inhibitions in humans, leading sometimes to easier and more enjoyable social interactions. Anecdotally, this is most certainly the case at holiday dinners with otherwise barely tolerable family members. Many important human celebratory events frequently involve alcohol: weddings, birthday parties, holiday parties. Culturally, social drinking is highly acceptable and encouraged—solitary drinking however, is not. Alcohol consumption by humans is closely tied to the fact we are social species.

The use of alcohol in social bonding situations is heavily influenced by culture, even how people behave when drunk is culturally determined and varies from place to place. There is social significance even, to the type of alcohol consumed, it communicates social status information. For example: wine = higher class, educated consumer. Pabst Blue Ribbon = lower class, less educated or ironical hipster (depending on context).

The socializing aspect of drinking alcohol is perhaps the reason for its enduring persistence across most human cultures and most human times—even in the face of its potentially negative biological effects (but perhaps positive theological effects e.g. holding onto the toilet praying you will never drink again if you will stop puking).

It’s a Hobby

Generally speaking, the consumption of alcohol is not considered a hobby unless you happen to be a wine or beer connoisseur. Wine drinking and collecting has become a very popular pastime in the U.S., and a similar situation is occurring with craft beer. There is entire culture and product market surrounding these drinking related hobbies (especially with wine). In addition to the hobby of drinking alcohol, there is a huge hobby related industry for making it at home, both beer and wine. A significant aspect of both types of alcohol related hobbies (the collecting/consuming and the making) is also social as evidenced by the many beer and wine festivals held around the country each year.