Preparing for the NHC

With the National Homebrewers’ Conference coming up in a few weeks, a crew from DOZE gathered at Black Diamond brewery in Concord to unpack and pre-sort entries for the National Homebrew Competition to be held at the Conference.

I’ll drink to that!: Utah passes HB 51

On March 24th the Gov, of Utah signed into law HB 51, which among other things ammends the regulations on manufacture of alcoholic beverages such that,

(b) An individual may without being licensed under this chapter manufacture in the 83 individual’s personal residence a fermented alcoholic beverage if:

(i) the individual is 21 years of age or older;

(ii) the individual manufactures no more than:

(A) 100 gallons in a calendar year, if there is one individual that is 21 years of age or 87 older residing in the household; or

(B) 200 gallons in a calendar year, if there are two or more individuals who are 21 years of age or older residing in the household;

(iii) the fermented alcoholic beverage is manufactured and used for personal or family 91 use and consumption, including use at an organized event where fermented alcoholic 92 beverages are judged as to taste and quality; and

(iv) the fermented alcoholic beverage is not for:

(A) sale or offering for sale; or

(B) consumption on a premise licensed by the commission.

In other words, Homebrewing is now Legal in Utah.

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Related readings:

• Full text of Utah House Bill 51: http://le.utah.gov/~2009/bills/hbillenr/hb0051.htm
• Brewers’ Association announcement:  http://www.beertown.org/ba/media_2009/Utah_legalizes_homebrewing.html

Mike’s Beard Porter

Based on MoreBeer! kit #170

Ingredients

8 lbs ultralight malt syrup

4 oz maltodextrin

1 lb Crystal 40°L malt

8 oz Black Patent malt

4 oz Chocolate malt

1 tablet Whirfloc clarifier

1 oz Glacier hops (bittering)

1 oz Cascade hops (aroma)

1 vial White Labs California Ale yeast (#WLP001)

Added grains in grain bag to 3 gals. cool water and allowed to steep until liquid reached 170°F.    Removed grains and brought wort to boil.

Added malt extract and bittering hops.   The kit instructions indicated adding the maltodextrin at this point but I forgot about it until minute 50 of the boil, so I added it then.  I also added 2 gals water to make it a full-boil, and boiled for an additional 20 minutes.

Added bittering hops and boiled for an additional 1 minute, and removed pot from heat.   Topped off with 1 gal distilled water.

Total boil time: 1 h. 16 min.

Pitched yeast at 84°F

Gals. in fermenter: 5

Feb. 9, 2009: Kegged beer. Gallons in keg: about 4.5. Initial taste test: positive.

April 27, 2009: Took two bottles to the DOZE meeting.  The beer received many positive comments.  Suggestion: up roasted malt character next time.

“Artesanos de la Cebada” segment from Peru TV

A segment on microbreweries in Lima, from Panamericana TV’s Panorama news magazine:

The Session

THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION

Seventy-five years ago, on December 5, 1933, the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah ratified the 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, thereby repealing the 18th Amendment, which had banned the import to, export from, and “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” in the United States.

The end of Prohibition meant that after 13 years Americans could again legally produce, sell, obtain, and give away alcoholic beverages – including beer. At the time this came as a great relief and joy to millions, and it no doubt also meant an almost immediate improvement in the quality of drink available after more than a decade of clandestine moonshine, bathtub gin, and questionable homebrew.

Today we continue to reap both the bitter fruit of Prohibition and the sweet fruit of its end.

Prohibition brought down a fine brewing tradition harkening back to the earliest days of the European settlement in North America. Before Prohibition the United States had a wealth of local and regional breweries producing a variety of old-world lagers and ales, reflecting the tastes and styles of the peoples who settled each area. After prohibition we were left with a few, mostly larger, breweries and the bitters, porters, ales of days past were replaced with watery, weak-bodied and nearly flavorless lagers.

Luckily, that has now changed, as Americans have slowly rebuilt the traditions of old, researching and reconstructing the old recipes, reviving old styles and bringing regional brewing cultures back to life. From Anchor Steam on the West Coast, to Sam Adams on the East, and from a million microbreweries and home taps in between, we are able to taste the fruit of the 21st Ammendment.

Thinking of all that and upon what a momentous event ocurred in people’s lives seventy-five years go, I cannot help but think that today of all days it is doubly true that, “Surely, it must be Happy Hour somewhere,” and that here, where I sit -glass of homebrew in hand- it is Happy Hour indeed! So I invite all and sundry to raise a glass, mug, shot, or stein to the 21st Ammendment.

Cheers!

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Related readings:

• The Session
• 21st Amendment Brewery’s Repeal Week
  
• ProhibitionRepeal.com

Best Bitter

MoreBeer! Kit #118

6 lbs. ultralight malt extract syrup

0.5 lbs light dry malt extract

0.5 lbs Carastan malt

1 oz. Kent Goldings hops (bittering)

2 oz. Kent Goldings hops (flavoring)

1 oz. Kent Goldings hops (aroma)

1 tablet Whirlfloc clarifying agent

1 vial White Labs English Ale Yeast (strain #WLP002 )

Added the Carastan malt to 4.5 gals cool water and allowed to steep as water heated on stove. Removed grain when water reached 170°F.

When water boiled, turned off heat and added malt extracts. Returned to boil and added bittering hops.

At 55 minutes added flavoring hops and Whirlfloc tablet.

At 58 minutes added aroma hops.

Total boil time 60 minutes.

Cool and rack to fermenter. Gallons left in pot at end of boil: 4. Gallons lost to boiling: 0.5. Gallons of cold water in fermenter: 1.25

# of gallons in fermenter: 5.25

December 27, 2008: Kegged the beer.   This one dropped A LOT of sediment.   Lost a good gallon or more to the sediment layer.

Tastes good, with no sign of the off-flavor that marred the wheat ale, so I surmise that it was the water.  Hopefully nothing will develop.   Put keg in kegerator, set psi to 12.

January 13, 2009: Not yet fully carbonated to proper level as the psi dropped to about 7 when the canister cooled in the keggerator while we were away.  Beer tastes very nice.

California Wheat Beer

Brew Date: September 20th, 2008

(MoreBeer! Kit #125)

3 lbs Bavarian Wheat dry extract
2 lbs Light dry malt extract
0.5 oz Glacier hop pellets (bittering)
1 oz Glacier hop pellets (aroma)
1 tablet Whirfloc clarifying agent
1 vial White Labs California Ale yeast (#WLP001)

1) Brought to boil, 2.5 gals of water;
2) When boiling, turned off heat and stirred in dry extracts and bittering hops;
3) Returned to boil, and boiled for 60 mins.
4) At 40 mins., inserted wort chiller;
5) At 55 mins. added Whirfloc;
6) At 59 mins. added aroma hops;
7) At 60 mins. turned off heat, and started water through wort chiller;
8 ) When wort cooled somewhat, added to fermenter with 3 gals. cold water;

Temperature at pitching: 86F

Original Gravity: 1.039
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 3.8%

Duration of Fermentation: Kegged on the 10th day (Sept. 30th)

Initial tasting notes: 9/30/08 – Tastes more or less like I’d expect a wheat beer to taste but surely will improve with chilling and carbonation. Hopefully it will ready to drink on Friday.

Tasting notes: 10/12/08 – Tastes pretty good. The flavour has rounded out a bit, and it seems to have a bit more body than before. The wheat flavour comes through nicely.

10/27/08 – There’s been a slightly “off” flavor in there from the start, but it hasn’t increased over time. Tonight at the DOZE meeting one of the members correctly described it as “Band-Aidey”. Several suggested it could be due to chloramines in our tap water, which would not necessarily volatilize in the boil.

11/27/08 – Have decided to toss out this batch and use spring water or filtered water in the future.

Cerveza Ale Californiana

1) En una olla muy grande colocar la malta Crystal y 3 galones (11.36 litros) de agua fria y traer lentamente (aprox. 30 minutos) al hervor.

2) Apagar el calor, retirar los granos del liquido.

3) Agregar los lupulos Magnum y el extracto de malta, revolviendo constantemente con un cucharon, y volver al hervor.

4) Bajar el calor para que no se caramelize el extracto, pero matener el hervor. Contar 60 minutos.

5) Esterilizar la fermentadora y todo lo demas que entrara en contacto con el mosto.

6) Al minuto 40 agregar el Whirfloc

7) Al minuto 55 agregar los lupulos saborizantes.

8) Al minuto 59 agregar los lupulos aromatizantes.

9) Al minuto 60, retirar del calor y, con la tapa puesta, dejar enfriar un poco. (Se puede colocar la olla en un baño de agua helada, con tal de que se tenga la tapa bien puesta y que no entre nada a la olla.)

10) Colocar 2.5 galones (9.46 litros) de agua fria en la fermentadora esterilizada.

11) Una vez enfriado un poco el mosto, colarlo a traves de un colador esterilizado (la manera mas facil es colocar el colador metalico en la olla de mosto hirviente al final del hervor) a la fermentadora.

12) Tapar la fermentadora con su tapa, tambien esterilizada, y colocar el dispositivo para expeler CO2 sin dejar entrar aire.

Por tradicion, al hacer cerveza se debe tomar cerveza o no saldra bien.

13) Una vez la temperatura del mosto baje a 70-78ºF (21-25ºC), agregar la levadura y oxigenar con sacudir la fermentadora por varios minutos.

14) Colocar en un sitio oscuro y de temperatura estable no muy alta ni muy baja -de 60 a 70ºF (15-21ºC)- por mas o menos dos semanas.

15) Cuando haya cesado la fermentacion, embotellar con la adicion de 3/4 taza de azucar disuelta en 2 tazas de agua hirviente y dejar reposar 2 semanas mas (para que se forme gas en la botella), o llenar la chopp.

Rinde: 5 galones (19 litros).

Al final, deje enfriar una muestra y usando un hidrometro (tambien llamado densimetro) medi la gravedad especifica del mosto: 1.052.

Al finalizar la fermentacion, en aproximadamente 14 dias, tomaremos otra medida que, junto con esta, nos permitira calcular el grado de alcohol de la cerveza acabada.