Linoleic Acid alternatives

After sampling some good beers (and one bad beer) at the North American Organic Brew Festival last night, Joe, Linds and I stopped at Pause because we couldn’t resist the wonderful summer evening. We grabbed some food and a pint and chatted for a while longer, and Joe mentioned an article he’d read in BYO about New Belgium using olive oil instead of aerating the wort with oxygen. He explained that what the yeast really want is a fatty acid that olive oil has in abundance, so using a miniscule amount negates the need for pumping in oxygen. I was still perplexed, so he told me to go read some more on myfairly complete rundown on who, what, where, and why. The main things to take away are:

  • This is somewhat impractical at the homebrew level because the desired amount is much smaller than a single drop
  • The benefit is that the wort and yeast get the linoleic acid they crave without introducing oxygen, something you normally want to keep out of beer.
  • Given how quickly this information spread, it’s likely that we’ll see some option for homebrewers soon, like yeast nutrient with linoleic acid capsules. What’ll they think of next?

Fermentation Friday, CNYBrew style

As part of Fermentation Friday, I’ll be answering the following question: “”What is the craziest concoction you ever came up with, on the fly or prepped, to brew with?

I have to say I don’t have much that really qualifies as crazy. I once used a tea towel as a grain sack, a chip clip for a racking cane holder, and the usual assortment of Pyrex and other kitchen gear or garden hoses in a pinch. Nothing too elaborate though.

I think one of the worst mid-process “hacks” I made was during one of my first bottlings. I misread the instructions on adding priming sugar, so instead of adding sterilized water with sugar in solution to the bottling bucket, I added sugar in individual measurements to each bottle. As if this wasn’t inexact enough, I didn’t have a funnel at the time (college) so I used a sheet of paper from the middle of the ream (seemed the cleanest). The beer turned out awful and in some cases insanely carbonated. I didn’t have a single explosion though.

No Shortage IPA

I’m finally brewing again. I’ve invited a friend who has wanted to give brewing a try, so we’ll be brewing a batch of IPA on Sunday. It’s a relatively simple IPA recipe, and I should probably save the name for a more significant beer, but its timely, and I’ll be happy to throw some serious ounce-age in for aroma. This recipe is for a 6 gallon batch.

Malt bill

  • 15 lbs domestic 2-row
  • 2 lbs domestic Munich
  • 1 lbs Crystal 40L
  • 1/2 lbs Carapils

Hops

subject to change, though all whole hops

  • 1 oz Amarillo @ 60 min (10% alpha)
  • 1 oz Amarillo @ 10 min (10% alpha)
  • 1 oz Amarillo @ 5 min (10% alpha)
  • 1 oz Amarillo @ 0 min (10% alpha)

The rest of the stuff is pretty standard (for me). Safale dry American ale yeast (with a starter), irish moss, bring to boil, etc.

Not that wide an audience

I just got a call from a market research company looking for beer drinkers to participate in a survey. I passed the first few set of questions, and I had hoped to pass muster. Then the question came up about whether or not I’ve purchased any of the following brands/beers in the last month. It was a laundry list of macro-swill. Most of the beer was from what I still wrongly think of as the big three (AB, Coors, Miller) but I need to start thinking of them as the big two, or eventually, the big one.

The list included all sorts of one-offs, like Hamms, Heilman, Pabst, Killians, Blue Moon, and all the lights, ultras and such. It also had a few imports like Guinness, Heineken and lastly Sam Adams. In all honestly, I had to reply that I hadn’t had any of those in the last month, and that I hadn’t even bought any of them in the last several months, though If I had to buy one of them, I’d probably buy Sam Adams.

The woman asking the question was a little shocked after my initial excitement regarding the quiz and the number of beers I drink per week. Out of her own curiosity, she asked what I drank. I pointed out that I’m from Portland and try my best to drink Oregon beers, like the Full Sail IPA in front of me.

I guess they were interested in a narrower range of beer drinkers. I kind of wish I’d passed. I was hoping it was about the InterBev-Anheuser thing.

Sasquatch 2008

I too love beer fests, but I’ve never been south to Eugene for the Sasquatch Brew Fest. Thanks to an invite and ride from Joe & Lindsay, I was able to visit for the first time. They are moving to Eugene in the late summer/fall, so were there are business, but it was a short bit of business, so we were able to spend some time at the farmer’s market then at the festival.

The Sasquatch festival was small and comfortable until around 5pm when it started to get a little thick with people. It was reminiscent of the first Organic Brewer’s Festival in size and atmosphere. Very laid back, very friendly, and the only time people went all crazy was when someone dropped one of the souvenier glasses. Two were dropped before 5pm, but in such quick succession that it signaled some change. We moved with the change and got Indian food before heading back north.

There were a lot of IPAs on tap – my favorite style by far – but there were also a number of really nice other beers that I did my best to sample before killing my palate. The Palo Santo Maron from Dogfish Head was probably the nicest of the non-IPAs, though not a single beer I tasted was offensive.

If you’ve got the time and a place to crash in Eugene, I recommend this festival for next year. As a lucky coincidence, I will have such a place.

Tags: , ,

Homebrew Blogging Day

I’m trying to stay involved, so here’s my entry for Home Brew Blogging Day

When I went away to college in 1997, I lived in the dorms on a floor with a lot of other dudes. Their ages varied, but most were right out of high school. One guy had a significant bit of age on him, despite only being 4 years older. He and I became friends due to a number of common interests, one of which was good beer. He preferred the darker beers and preferred the bitters, but we both appreciated the other’s taste.

One day I walked in to the dorm kitchen to find him steeping something that smelled wonderful. He was doing a partial mash home brew – something that both piqued my interest in DIY and was scandalous at the same time. I was still a minor, but I couldn’t get in trouble for brewing it since it hadn’t yet fermented.

I helped him brew a few more times over the next 2 years – mostly off site since he got tired of living with teenagers. Most of the beers turned out passable, some were downright wretched. We bottled in to Grolsch bottles and those little 5 liter party kegs. The problem with the party kegs was that you had to drink them all at once or the ambient air you used to pump the beverage would oxidize the beer. One such beer left us all with wicked hangovers even though none of us had more than maybe 2 pints. He finished school 2 years ahead of me and we’ve kept in touch a little since. Still, he’s my patron saint of brewing.

For my 22nd birthday, my girlfriend (now wife), got me a home brew starter kit of my own. I was living with 5 other guys in a house off campus. I brewed a first batch around the horrible mess of a kitchen, and wasn’t shocked when the first beer came out infected. We used it for bratwurst, but only managed to drink maybe a dozen bottles. The second batch, a stout, was entirely drinkable, but not fantastic. Brewing in a kitchen used by 5 other guys, most of whom were slobs, posed a real challenge to sanitation. I’d spend 1-2 hours cleaning the bathtub and kitchen, start brewing, and about halfway through the boil, people would all get back from class and start making meals. I managed to produce some decent beer, and I had plenty of access to free bottles, but it wasn’t until I was home for summer that I brewed my first great beer. It’s amazing sanitization does for beer.

This year marks roughly my 10th year home brewing, and I’ve probably done 50-60 batches. Each year brings some new techniques and better beers (when I remember to rack them).

Tags: , ,

Pouring one out

I’m rather ashamed to write this, but yesterday I finally poured out a carboy of brown ale that I brewed on MLK Jr. Day (Jan 21st) that has been sitting in primary fermentation for 4 months. It was neglected because I’ve been busy with grad school, work, family, and projects around the house. Additionally, I never really wanted a brown ale, but the style is a favorite among my family.

Anyway, the dirty, dusty carboy was finally accessible again, and since I have no kegs to transfer it to, so I decided that it would be best to just cut my loss and move on. Out of curiosity, I managed to sip from the pour like you would from a garden hose, and I’m sad to report it wasn’t bad.

Now I must resolve to not brew again until I have the time to treat the beer appropriately. I also need to brew soon, since it’s beer season. Well, one of the beer seasons.

Cold Activation Bottles

While there’s some cleverness to Coor’s new Cold Activation bottle labels, there’s something that’s also easy to make fun of. I’m not the biggest fan of Coors -> Molson-Coors -> SABMiller-Molson-Coors, so I like to make fun of them both in real life and on the internets.

The technology is nothing new. No fancy paint or chemistry. The logo on the bottle is actually covered with human taste buds. I’m not sure how they justify this with the anti-stem cell crowd, but sometimes the simplest technologies work best. Here’s how it works:

  1. The taste bud cells are white when they’re not too cold, and can otherwise taste things
  2. When the temperature drops below the tastebud’s ability to taste (when they get numb), the they change blue
  3. Viola! Your taste buds won’t notice any flavor either!

How do they get the human taste buds? The harvesting operation is quite simple. All employees have to go to the lagering tanks and stick their tongues on the pipe used for cold filtering. Since its so cold, everyone’s tongue sticks. As the employees struggle to free their tongues, a few of the taste buds are left behind. After each shift, someone from the bottling room comes through with a scraper and collects the cells for impregnating in the labels.

Have you tried saying “Activator” with your tongue stuck to a cold-filtration pipe? It sounds funny.

Deschutes, Portland, The?

Dining at Deschutes in Portland

On Dave at BS’s advice, Michelle, my sister, parents and daughter met for dinner at the new Deschutes Brew Pub in the Pearl District. Parking was a little rough since it was both a) the Pearl and b) First Thursday. Still, we parked near Powell’s technical books and enjoyed the 3 block stroll – not bad at all.

Then new place is surprisingly big. I suppose it has to be for the location, and it was obvious they were in pre-flight mode. Everyone on the staff was incredibly nice and attentive, and they all seemed to know both what beers they were serving and enough information about them to make suggestions.
my six choices
The beers were terrific. I picked out the 6 piece sampler:

  1. St. Tanneth
  2. Rootin Tootin Low Gluten Ale
  3. Cask Bachelor Bitter
  4. Hop Henge
  5. Mirror Mirror Barleywine
  6. Nitro poured Obsidian Stout

The Rootin Tootin tasted like rye bread – it was really kind of a trip. The golden color and lack of any head made me think I was getting in to an adjunct beer, and the almost nonexistent but sweet aroma didn’t prepare me for the shock of a mouth full of sharp rye. The beer is made of sorghum, but the flavor was uncanny. Really worth trying, but again, I’m glad I don’t have celiac-sprew.

The menu looks fantastic, but our dinner ranged between ok to good, so they’ve got a few kinks to work out. Mine was interrupted by Ella, so she and I stepped out to let everyone else eat. I’m not sure how everyone else’s meal was, but I’m definitely withholding judgment for a few visits. The rest of the visit was certainly worth doing again.

Cinco de Mayo?

I realize this is blurry – it was taken with a camera phone. It’s a billboard for Bud Light with Lime, which is arriving “May 2008.” Apparently the marketing geniuses working for Anheuser thought it was too blatant (or racist?) to just say “Arriving in time for Cinco de Mayo.” Maybe they realized it would be mostly gringos drinking it anyway.

Coming in May, Bud Light with Lime

This billboard is in a prominent spot just east of Interstate 405 in the Pearl District in Portland. It always displays some silly or suggestive Budweiser poster, like how aluminum bottles make the beer taste colder, or welcoming people to Beer town. It’s always annoyed me because the billboard is situated ~4 blocks from Bridgeport’s brewery, and less than a mile from at least 3 other breweries, and countless brewpubs.