The Brewsletter

August 2007

 

 

The Official Newsletter of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society (HRB & TS)

www.hrbts.org

 

 

The President’s Podium – Jason Kuller

 

            Happy August everybody!

First off I want to thank Rob Camlin for hosting the July meeting, even with torrential rain and a small turnout we still had a great time.  Hopefully everyone is planning on coming to the HRBTS Picnic Extravaganza coming up on August 4th.  This is sure to be an excellent day complete with all kinds of outdoor fun and games, grilling out, drinking fine homebrew and hanging out with great people, so make sure and boogie on down just south of the border on August 4th.  August 4th also happens to be AHA Mead Day so if you want to partake in some sweet and sultry honey elixir make sure and bring a bottle or two of your favorite Mead.

            In totally random and unrelated news, one of my favorite breweries (Dogfish Head – ‘case ya didn’t know) is making further progress in hopifying lands near and far with their soon to open Alehouse in Falls Church, Va.

            Due to the combination of Widespread Panic on Thursday and Floyd Fest over the weekend I am on excitement overload and this shall be an abbreviated presidential blurb.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

 

Cheers!

Jason

 

 

 

 

March Meeting Location – Diane Catanzaro

 

The Aug 1 meeting will be a pool party-meeting at the Kempsville home of Ron and Jeannine Jones!. This will NOT be a rainy night, but we WILL have a club meeting; rain or shine. This point is obviously moot, as it is going to be great weather for an evening swim in the Jones’ lovely pool. To be followed by lounging on the deck with a homebrew. Perhaps followed by another splash in the pool and a game of Marco Polo. Bring/wear your swimsuit and a towel.

 

The luau, I mean meeting, will commence at 7:00 with the firing-up of the grill for those who wish to bring something to grill (Burgers? Veggie burgers? Mahi?) Did I mention the opportunity to take a dip in the pool?  Side dishes/munchies are welcome.

 

Bring some homebrew or commercial beer to share with your fellow club members!

And do bring an extra homebrew or tasty commercial beer to show your appreciation for our generous hosts, Ron and Jeannine!

 

 

An Extraordinary Belgian Fruit Beer – W. Walker

 

Framboise, brewed by Brewery Lindemans is a Belgian Lambic fruit beer, a clean natural tasting brew with undertones of fresh raspberries and a wonderful aroma. It is a real feast for the eyes. Big nose of raseberries and a touch of yeast.Mouthfeel is thick and rich, with remarkable smoothness. Flavor is simply amazing with raspberries dominating and a bit of tartness. Nice sweetness and a good finish. An outstanding example of its type. 

 

To be called Lambic, a beer must be brewed in the Senne River Valley around Brussels, where these particular wild yeasts dominate. Brouwerij Lindemans, a traditional Lambic brewer, is in Vlezenbeek, just outside Brussels. 

 

 

The beer is brewed with a blend of pale malted barley and 30 percent unmalted wheat. The hops are deliberately aged, so they add a preservative quality but little hop bitterness. After the boil, instead of transferring the wort (the boiled water, hops, barley and wheat) to a closed fermenter
and adding yeast, the wort goes into shallow containers open to the air, called coolships. The Senne Valley wild yeast lands on the liquid and goes to work. The sour new beer is aged in oak barrels and a second fermentation continues to refine the beer. Before bottling, fresh, whole fruit - in this case, raspberries, is added to the beer, launching a third fermentation as the remaining yeast acts on the fermentables in the berries.

 

At the end, you've got purple beer and pinkish foam. It's got a heady, raspberry nose. The taste is fairly sweet with a background sourness on the side of the tongue and a strong hit of raspberry flavor.

(Article copyright Belgianshop.com, 2007)

 

Quit throwing away your used yeast vials! – Patti Messier

 

Hey, all you brewers out there!  We need you to save your used White Lab Yeast vials HRBTS will begin collecting your empty vials and redeeming them with White Labs to earn some great prizes for our raffles.  JP Messier will be collecting them at the monthly meetings as well as the judgings.  So gather those empty vials and hand them off to JP at the next meeting!

 

 

Competition Corner, August 2007 – Patti Messier

 

Our monthly judging took place on July 18, at the home of Jason and Lacy Kuller.  Fruit beers were the theme for this beautiful summer evening and our wonderful judges (Tom Byrnes, CJ Jones, Jason Kuller, Ron Jones, Will Walker and J.P. Messier) tried many refreshing varieties!  All in all we had eight different types of fruit represented in the 12 entries this month! 

 

After the deliberations, the results were as follows: 

First Place, CJ Jones and Diane Catanzaro with their Raspberry Imperial Stout, good for three HRBTS Cup points;  

Second Place, Jason Kuller with Apricot Pale Ale, good for two HRBTS Cup points; and 

Third Place, JP Messier with his Cherry Porter, earning him one HRBTS Cup point.

 

Our next monthly judging (August 15) will be for Belgian Strong Ale, Category 18.  Choose 2, and only 2, of your favorite brews and enter them this month!  With 4 more competitions to go, it’s time for YOU to step up and brew some amazing beers!   It’s still anybody’s game!  Give these guys a challenge!  Look and plan ahead so you too can enter these monthly challenges and join the competition!

 

The current HRBTS Cup standings are in the table, following this text.  Enter some beers and join the ranks!  

 

 

 

2007 HRBTS CUP STANDINGS (as of 20 June 2007)

 Name of Brewer(s)

Total Points Accumulated

 

J. P. Messier

14

Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro

14

Tom Byrnes

11

Brian Edgar

4

Victor Perrotti

3

Gus Gustavson

3

Jason Kuller

2

This could easily be you ….

…. if you get brewing

 

 

 

 

2007 HRB & TS Beer of the Month Schedule – Patty Messier

 

Month

Style

Category

Judging

AHA

January

Holiday Season

21B

Dec 20th

 

February

Barleywine

19B,C

Jan 24th

 

March

Scottish Ale

9A,B,C

Feb 21st

Y

April

Extract

All

Mar 21st

Y

May

India Pale Ale

14A,B

Apr 18th

 

 

June

German/American Wheat & Rye

 

6D, 15

 

May 16th

 

July

Meads

24,25,26

Jun 20th

Y

August

Fruit Beer

20

Jul 18th

 

September

Belgian Strong Ale

18

Aug 15th 

 

 

 

October

 

European Amber & Dark Lager, Bock

 

 

3,4,5

 

 

Sep 19th

 

 

November

Smoke-Flavored & Wood Aged

 

22

 

Oct 24th

 

 

December

Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer

 

21

 

Nov 21st

 

January

Stouts

13A,B,C

Dec 19th

 

 

February

Strong Ale & Russian Imperial Stout

 

13F, 19

 

Jan 23rd

 

 

 

 

Recipes of the Month – J.P. Messier

JP Messier – 3rd Place HRBTS Fruit Beer (August 2007) - Cherry Porter

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines

12-A Porter, Brown Porter

Min OG:

1.040

Max OG:

1.052

  

Min IBU:

18

Max IBU:

35

  

Min Clr:

20

Max Clr:

30

 Color in SRM, Lovibond

 

Recipe Specifics

 

Batch Size (Gal):

5.00

Wort Size (Gal):

5.00

Total Extract (Lbs):

8.50

  

  

Anticipated OG:

1.055

Plato:

13.66

Anticipated SRM:

36.4

    

  

Anticipated IBU:

27.9

  

  

Wort Boil Time:

60

 Minutes

  

 

Actual OG:

1.056

Plato:

13.80

  

Actual FG:

1.014

Plato:

3.57

  

Alc by Weight:

4.32

by Volume:

5.54

From Measured Gravities.

ADF:

74.1

RDF:

61.8

Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.

 

Grain/Extract/Sugar

 

%

Amount

Name

Origin

Potential

SRM

58.8

5.00 lbs. 

Generic LME - Amber

Generic

1.036

9

11.8

1.00 lbs. 

Generic LME - Wheat

America

1.037

4

11.8

1.00 lbs. 

Chocolate Malt

America

1.029

350

5.9

0.50 lbs. 

Aromatic Malt

Belgium

1.036

25

5.9

0.50 lbs. 

Crystal 80L

American  

1.033

80

5.9

0.50 lbs. 

Crystal 120L

American

1.033

150

 

Hops

 

Amount

Name

Form

Alpha

IBU

Boil Time

0.50 oz. 

Perle

Pellet

8.25

19.8

60 min

0.50 oz. 

Willamette

Pellet

5.00

6.1

30 min

0.50 oz. 

Willamette

Pellet

5.00

2.0

5 min

 

Yeast

WLP041 Pacific Ale Yeast with 1,000 ml starter

Notes

 

2 tsp calcium chloride in boil at 30 mins.
1 pound of frozen cherries at shutdown.
12 oz. of Montgomery Red Cherry Juice Concentrate (Tart) into secondary.

1st Place HRBTS Fruit Beers (August 2007) Raspberry Imperial Stout

Chris Jones & Diane Catanzaro

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

0.5 lb oats

0.5 lb crushed wheat (for head retention)

0.5 lb roasted barley

0.5 lb black patent malt

1 lb chocolate malt

1 lb 60 L crystal malt

 

7.0 lb John Bull dark malt extract (liquid)

2.0 lb Carlson light malt extract (dried)

0.5 lb maltodextrin

 

0.5 tsp Irish moss (30 minutes; to clarify beer)

 

1 oz Yakima Magnum hop pellets, 15.7 AAU per oz, 50 minutes

0.5 oz Amarillo hop pellets, 7.3 AAU per oz, 15 minutes

 

Wyeast 1056 American ale yeast

 

BREWED: 8 Jan 2006                        

SPLIT INTO TWO SECONDARY FERMENTERS: 16 Jan 2006

 

One secondary was left alone, an imperial stout.  We added a three pound can of Oregon brand pureed raspberries to the other one.  Put it in a tertiary about ten days later to get the beer off some of the settled raspberry fruit, then bottled it. 

 

BOTTLED: 24 Jan 2006 (the imperial stout); the raspberry imperial stout was bottled about two weeks later.

 

COMMENTS:  Added the grains to cold water, brought it up to 155 degrees F, and steeped them for 30 minutes.  Half of this was our attempt to make a BJCP 13F style ale.  The Imperial Stout took third place in the HRB & TS Club Extract contest, April 2006; third place in the HRB & TS Club Extract contest, April 2007; the raspberry imperial stout took first place in the HRB & TS Club Fruit beer contest, August 2007.  Next time we make it, we’ll add another couple of pounds of malt extract to bump the alcohol content higher. 

 

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 Commonwealth of Virginia, the Federal government, and the Golden Rule.  Persons attending HRB & TS meetings and events are solely liable for actions attendant to their participation.   HRB & TS maintains a NO SMOKING policy during all meetings so that members may better enjoy fine beers.  Visit the HRB & TS online at www.hrbts.org.