The Brewsletter
August 2006
The
Official Newsletter of the
The
President’s Podium – Tom Byrnes
The beginning of the dog days of summer causes me to think of two things besides home repairs currently in progress…. Temperature Control of Fermenting Ales and the Summer Picnic!!
To deal with the temperature control issue, I purchased a 70-quart Igloo Max Cold Cooler at Costco, which will hold a 6 1/2 gallon carboy. Tomorrow, I’ll drill the hole for the airlock. Members on brewboard, who use this temperature regulating method, say that 1 frozen two-liter soda bottle will keep the ale at a reasonable fermenting temperature for about two days. Since I plan on brewing this weekend, I’ll let you know how it works out.
Picnic wise, as you may already
know, we are having our summer picnic on August 12, 2006 at
the home of Kevin and Amy Oliver. This is the same site as last year. Starting time will be 2pm. This year we will also hold August 19th aside
as a disaster date in case of torrential rain like we had last year. If the forecast calls for really bad weather
(not showers typical of the season), we will send out an email on the distro
list canceling the picnic for that day.
Please bring a dish to share and home brew or commercial beers. Don’t forget that we will continue to award 3
HRBTS points to members who bring a keg or the bottle equivalent of 5 gallons
of homebrew to a maximum of 6 points for 10 gallons. Points will not be awarded
for commercial beer. This
should be very helpful this year, given the narrow point margin between our
contest participants.
Also, it seems that George Bach and his family will be attending this
year from
Sammy indicated that he had to give up brewing for a while to deal with the home and yard repairs. His email is samoluk@mchsi.com, in case you want to send him a supportive email. Hopefully he’ll be up and brewing soon.
Last week we had our stout judging with an impressive lineup of Stouts. Our resident stout enthusiast, Doug Boyd, had real difficulty deciding which brew deserved his award of 50 points. This meeting we will have numerous quality beers to drink poolside.
The coming of August typically brings the end of summer and we are preparing to celebrate the AHA’s Mead day, being held Saturday August 5th. This is a chance to share our love of this honey-fermented beverage that has been quite popular in this club. I’m not sure if one of our homebrew shops is holding any activities marking the day, but I’m reprinting one of the official mead recipes in the Recipes section of this newsletter, in case anyone wants to brew it. There is also a recipe for traditional sparkling mead listed on www.beertown.org.
See you at the August meeting on the 2nd.
August
Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro
What is more fun than sharing homebrew at a club meeting on a hot August night? How about sharing homebrew at a club meeting, splashing in a spacious in-ground swimming pool
(Marco!! - POLO!!!!!), and grilling some burgers on the patio? The Aug 2 meeting will be a pool party meeting at the Kempsville home of Ron and Jeannine Jones! Bring/wear your swimsuit and a towel. Dress for outdoor weather, which hopefully means a bathing suit and thongs (the type you wear on your feet, silly!).
The luau, I mean, er, meeting, will commence at 6:30PM with the firing-up of the grill for those who wish to bring something to grill or get a head-start on the poolside frivolity. The club will provide basics like paper plates, catsup, mustard, and napkins. Side dishes/munchies that are already prepared and ready to serve are welcome.
And, while stout is the beer of the month, any type of homebrewed or commercial beer to share with club members is highly appreciated! If you don’t have any homebrew and need suggestions, Allagash White, Schneider Edel-Weisse, and Flying Dog In Heat Wheat are nice beers for summer. There are lots of adventurous and tasty commercial stouts that folks’d lap up, such as Brooklyn Black Chocolate, Three Floyd’s Black Sun or Dark Lord, Stone Imperial, Rogue Shakespeare, Rogue Chocolate, North Coast Old Rasputin, Dominion Oakbarrel Stout, Southhampton Oyster Stout, de Dolle Export Stout…..and of course DFH’s World Wide Stout (lap-lap). Or, just bring something that you like and think others may enjoy.
Do bring an extra homebrew or tasty commercial beer to show your appreciation for our generous hosts, Ron and Jeannine Jones!
Beer
Facts Quiz – Will Walker
Test your
Knowledge! Answers at end of newsletter.
1.
Which country consumes the most beer per capita?
- Six Trappist abbeys, all in
- Vieux Temps
- Orval
- Brigand
- Zulte
- "Hefe-weizen" means:
- "Half wheat"
for the proportion of grain in these beers
- "Yeast wheat"
indicating that the beer is unfiltered and made of wheat
- "Heavy wheat"
for the strong flavors and high wheat content of these beers
- What brewery generally is thought to be the world's
oldest?
A. Westvleteren (
B. Weihenstephan (
C. Raaf (
D. Hop Singh (
5. What's the difference between an ale and a lager?
A.
Alcohol content
B. Fermentation temperature and yeast
C. Types of grain and hops used
D. All of the above
6. Bitters, porters and barley wines are all:
A. Lagers
B. Ales
C. Stouts
D. Wheat beers
7. ESB stands for:
A.
Export Seasonal Beer
B. Extra Special Bitter
C. English Stout Brown
D. English Special Blonde
8. Who is the patron saint of brewing?
A. St. Andrew
B. St. Patrick
C. St. Bernard
D. St. Gambrinus
9: Hops are ________ and grow on ________ :
A.
herbs; bushes
B. cones; stalks
C. flowers; vines
D. cheap; trees
Competition Corner, July 2006 – “C.J.” Jones
Our monthly contest
results: On 19 July 2006, six
intrepid judges (Will Walker, Diane Catanzaro and Joe Andrew on Team 1, with
Tom Byrnes, Doug Boyd and Bill Berry on Team 2) volunteered to sip thirteen
different stouts in an effort to determine which one was the grandest of them
all. There were dry stouts, oatmeal stouts,
sweet stouts, even imperial stouts, that all needed to be evaluated. Those of us who weren't judges did an
impromptu assessment of each while hanging out in our kitchen.
When the numbers were crunched, here's how things
stood:
First Place, Jason
Kuller, with a 13F, imperial stout, good for three HRBTS Cup points; Jason's
stout will be the Club's entry in the AHA's Club-only stout contest;
Second Place,
Diane/C.J. with a dry stout from January of this year, good for two HRBTS Cup
points; and
Third Place, a
tie: J. P. Messier with ERD, a 13B,
sweet stout; amd Doug Boyd, with a 13A, dry stout; each of these fine gents
earned one HRBTS Cup point.
Here's the current HRBTS Cup Standings: As you can see this
competition remains very close. There are
four more judging sessions for this HRBTS Cup contest (August through November
of 2006; the beers you judge in December 2006 are actually the first beers in
the 2007 beer calendar), so this contest appears to be going to the wire. It could be our first photo finish in the
history of the event. Realize that even
if you have zero points at this stage, with four contests left, you have in
front of you a possible 24 points to gather at contests (3 - 2 - 1 per month),
plus as many as six points at our Summer picnic. You could go from not in the standings to the
top of the standings in four months. So
get brewing, beer lovers!
2006 HRB & TS CUP STANDINGS (as of
27 July 2006)
|
Name of Brewer(s) |
Total Points Accumulated |
|
Jason Kuller |
14 |
|
Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro |
13 |
|
J. P. Messier |
9 |
|
Tom Byrnes |
7 |
|
Brian Edgar |
7 |
|
Victor Perotti |
5 |
|
Phil Swanson |
4 |
|
Mike and Melissa Pensinger |
4 |
|
Curt Aasen and Ron Jones |
3 |
|
Richard Pidgeon |
3 |
|
Bill Berry |
1 |
|
Doug Boyd |
1 |
|
This could easily be you .... |
.... if you get
brewing |
2006 HRB & TS Beer of the Month
Schedule - C.J. Jones
Cut this out and tape it to your refrigerator along with
those pictures drawn by your children!
|
Month (2006 unless stated otherwise) |
Beer style name (and 2004
BJCP beer style category number) |
Beer judging date ;
usually two weeks before Club meeting) |
Winner goes to an AHA Club
Only Contest? |
|
July |
Meads
(24, 25, 26) |
21
June 2006 |
Yes |
|
August |
Stouts
(13) |
19
July 2006 |
Yes |
|
September |
Fruit
beers (20) |
23
August 2006 |
|
|
October |
Octoberfest
(3B) |
20
September 2006 |
|
|
November |
Thanksgiving
Ales (an ingredient is associated with the Thanksgiving holiday) (23) |
18
October 2006 |
|
|
December |
Belgian
beers (16, 17B-F, 18) |
15
November 2006 |
|
|
January
2007 |
Holiday
Season beers (21B) |
20
December 2006 |
|
|
February
2007 |
Barleywines
(19B & C) |
24
January 2007 |
|
|
March
2007 |
To
Be Determined (TBD) |
21
February 2007 |
|
Recipe
of the Month – Tom Byrnes
AHA MEAD DAY OFFICIAL RECIPE
Strawberry Banana Melomel
Makes 4.5 to 5 gallons.
O.G. = ~1.130
F.G. =~1.010
Ingredients:
18 lbs Wildflower Honey
18 lbs strawberries - frozen or fresh
4 lbs ripe bananas (about 8 bananas, added in the secondary fermenter)
3.5 gal water -- Use spring water or other water that is free of chlorine and bacteria. Carbon-filtered, or pre-boiled tap water will work fine. If you have hard water, consider using bottled spring water.
2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp Yeast Energizer (added in ¼ tsp increments)
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient (DAP – diammonium phosphate) (added in ½ tsp increments)
Potassium Sorbate (optional)
Clarifier such as Isinglass or Gelatin (optional)
10 g (2 packages) Lalvin Narbonne Yeast (71B-1122)
Procedure:
Add all but one quart of water to the fermenter (3 gallons and 1 quart). Reserve one quart of water to boil - this is used to rinse the honey containers. Add all of the honey to the fermenter. Pour some of the hot water into each of the honey containers and shake to dissolve the remaining honey, and then add this to the fermenter.
NOTE 1: Use caution when rinsing the honey containers, as pressure can build up in the containers.
Using the large spoon, wine degasser, or another sterilized tool of choice, mix the must until the honey is completely dissolved.
Add 2 teaspoons pectic enzyme, ¼ tsp yeast energizer and ½ tsp yeast nutrient, and stir well. Now, it is time to add the strawberries.
NOTE 2: If you would rather add the strawberries to the secondary, feel free to do so. The recipe will work either way.
NOTE 3: The large amount of fruit will create a significant layer of sludge in the bottom of the fermentation bucket. This will make racking difficult later on. You can use a large grain bag (sterilized by boiling) to contain the sludge, or you can use a sterilized stainless steel scrubby stuck on the bottom of the racking cane to filter the sludge from the liquid during the siphon.
If you are using frozen strawberries, they should be thawed prior to adding to the must.
If you are using fresh strawberries, they should be thoroughly rinsed and the caps and any bad spots should be removed. Cutting up the fresh strawberries may help with the flavor extraction. Add the thawed, room temperature strawberries to the mead must and stir well. Take your original specific gravity reading.
Re-hydrate the dry yeast if you have not already done so, by following the instructions on the packages. If you have an oxygenation system, put additional oxygen into the must. Once the yeast has been re-hydrated, make sure the must is between 60 and 70 degrees F, pitch the yeast and stir well; or, cover the bucket/pail with the lid and shake the fermenter vigorously to aerate. Attach the fermentation lock, and add liquid to the fermentation lock. Fermentation should begin within 24 hours.
Yeast Nutrient
Schedule
Use the following schedule for adding the remaining yeast nutrient and energizer.
NOTE 4: When adding energizer and nutrient, stir slowly at first, as excessive foaming will occur. Once the foaming has subsided, stir vigorously to encourage aeration. Oxygen addition at this point in the fermentation is a good thing and will only help the final product. The degassing of CO2 from the must also helps with yeast health.
After 24 hours: add ¼ tsp yeast energizer and ½ tsp yeast nutrient and stir well.
After 48 hours: add ¼ tsp yeast energizer and ½ tsp yeast nutrient and stir well.
After 72 hours: Add ¼ tsp yeast energizer and ½ tsp yeast nutrient and stir well.
Fermentation is best when kept at 70 degrees F or slightly lower.
The primary fermentation will last about 4 weeks. Buy the 4 pounds of ripe bananas before you rack to the secondary fermenter.
Transferring to the
Secondary
When the activity in the airlock has pretty much stopped, indicating the primary fermentation is complete, rack to a secondary fermenter (preferably glass). See NOTE 3 (above) for tips on racking from the primary to the secondary.
Now, it’s time to add the bananas. Trim off any stems that look moldy. Rinse the bananas before peeling them to remove molds and bacteria. Place a sterilized funnel in the carboy neck, and peel and place the bananas in the funnel. Use the end of the large spoon, or a racking cane or other sterilized device to mash the bananas into the carboy. This should break them up enough to extract the flavors and aromas. Attach a fermentation lock to the carboy and leave at 65 to 70 degrees F for 3 to 4 weeks.
After 3 to 4 weeks, rack to another carboy for aging and clarification. (See Note 3 for tips on racking.) Check the mead at this time for sweetness. If more sweetness is needed, add honey until you get the desired sweetness. To do this, add 1 pound of honey to 1 cup of hot water and gently mix this into the mead—do not aerate while mixing. Repeat until desired sweetness level is obtained. Some residual sweetness will be needed to balance the acid from the strawberries. You may want to add some potassium sorbate to inhibit any further fermentation.
This mead is nice either still or sparkling, but seems a bit better when sparkling. You can either carbonate in a keg, or bottle condition. If bottle conditioning, leave the mead at room temperature for a few months, but be sure to try one every few months, so the carbonation doesn’t get away from you.
This mead is drinkable after 3 months, very nice at 4 months, and continues to get better with age, peaking somewhere around 1.5 to 2.5 years.
*****************************************
Answers to beer knowledge quiz
*****************************************
1 -- B. Czech Republic
2 -- B. Orval
3 -- B. "Yeast wheat"
4 -- B. Weihenstephan (
5 -- B. Fermentation temperature and yeast
6 -- B. Ales
7 -- B. Extra Special Bitter
8 -- D. St. Gambrinus
9 -- C. flowers; vines
About the HRB & TS
The Hampton Roads Brewing and Tasting Society is dedicated
to promoting the enjoyment of home brewing.
The annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per family. Members are encouraged to support the
reasonable enjoyment of beer and observe the laws of the
Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.