January 2007
“News About Brews”
What happened to winter?
Not that I'm complaining by any means, but it seems odd that as I watch over my boil out on the deck in January, I do so in a T-shirt and am not cold in the least. Crazy, isn't it? But it's fine by me - it makes the brew day even more enjoyable. (Note: I wrote this immediately after the January meeting. Winter has actually arrived now, and dang it's cold!).
This month's meeting was a great time, with a slew of different varieties of mead to taste. Thanks to Jeff (and others) for sharing his knowledge, experience and meads with us, as well as his home.
Don't forget to brew up some entries for the South Shore Brewoff on April 14th! Support the club and get some feedback on your beers, and you could even take home a ribbon.
Brew On!
Jimmy B
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Index
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At a Glance (next meeting, events, quote and trivia) | ||
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Sip by Sip (meeting minutes) | ||
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It's All in the De-T-Ales (articles, reviews, etc.)
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At
A Glance…
Things
You May Want To Know, Or Not
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Club Events
Feb 13th – SSBC meeting at Frank White's (directions)
April 14th – SSBC's South Shore Brewoff competition
Check the club calendar for more details on these and other upcoming events. |
Area Events
Jan 30th – Stone Brewing Beer Dinner @ British Beer Company in Walpole (tickets are limited, buy in advance at the restaurant, $45)
Feb 9-10th – Beer Advocate's Extreme Beer Fest. The 9th is a limited barrel-only session and there are 2 sessions on the 10th (details)
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Next MeetingDate: February 13th Location: Frank White's Directions: click here Agenda: Intro to Beer Judging |
Beer Quote and TriviaWe are here to drink beer... and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us
What is the oldest existing brewing company in the Western hemisphere? What year did it start brewing?
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Sip
by Sip
Minutes
of the Previous Meeting
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Date: January 9th, 2007
Location: Jeff McNally's in Tiverton, RI
Number of Members Attending: 17
Business
| Bill said the airport won't be able to host us for awhile, but the British Beer Company in Walpole would like to host us for a meeting some Tuesday night. They want to show off their state-of-the-art keg/cooling system. | ||||||||
| The February meeting is an Intro to Beer Judging. We need a presenter. Francois (with a little pressure) agreed to do it, depending upon whether he was available. Mark Irwin offered to be backup. | ||||||||
| The March meeting is on the 13th. It's a barleywine presentation and club competition. Frank offered to host it. | ||||||||
| The BA Extreme Beer Fest is Feb. 9-10. We're trying to confirm that we'll have a table again, shared with the Wort's. We're waiting for confirmation, but it should be OK. We should also try to get the table for the Friday night barrel-only session. | ||||||||
| April 14th is the South Shore Brewoff competition. It has been registered with the BJCP (which also registers it with the AHA). Jeff will ping Paul Zocco to be a drop-off point. Someone will also contact the Blackstone homebrew shop in Woonsocket. We're still waiting to see if we can get included in the New England Brewer of the Year program. Mark will get that ball rolling. | ||||||||
| We still want to try and coordinate a Western Mass. pub crawl. Someone needs to contact Ria Windcaller to see if she is interested in a joint effort between SSBC and YBN. | ||||||||
| SSBC apparel - Roger brought a polo shirt and a hat to show the quality of products available from our proposed supplier for SSBC logo apparel. HE figures setup will be $100-125, and was figuring that the club should cover that. Paul agreed, provided a majority of the club would be buying apparel. A majority at the meeting said that they would, so Roger is moving forward with it. Roger will bring the catalog to the next meeting. | ||||||||
| Colorado trip - apparently, late into the SSBC Christmas party there was
talk of planning a trip to Colorado for one of the beer events that happen
out there. Kevin suggested the following:
If anyone is interested, let Kevin know. |
Mead, presented by Jeff McNally
Mead is most likely the world's oldest fermented drink. The term 'honeymoon' comes from the tradition of the bride and groom drinking mead for a month after their wedding in order to enhance fertility. There are many books and web sites dedicated to mead - the foremost being 'The Compleat Meadmaker' by Ken Schramm and www.gotmead.com. The BJCP style categories are 'Traditional' (Dry, Semi-sweet and Sweet), 'Melomel' (Cyser, Pyment and Other Fruit) and 'Other Mead' (Metheglin, Braggot and Open Category). Meads may be still, petillant or sparkling. Meads may be made from different varieties of honey, each imparting a very different character to the mead.
Jeff sent around home-made samples of meads including dry, semi-sweet and sweet, cyser and pyment. Francois also brought several types including rhododendron varietal. Mary Ann shared an interesting experiment - beet mead!
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Recipe of the Month
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Braggot (Barrel Recipe)
from: Jeff McNally
Jeff provided both the recipe for the braggot he shared at the meeting, which was the basis for the 2003 SSBC Bourbon Barrel Group Brew, and the actual recipe used for the group brew.
Jeff's Braggot
grains:
7.75 lbs muntons pale
2.5 lbs german pils
2 lbs durst munich dark (15L)
0.75 lbs muntons crystal (60L)
0.25 lbs muntons crystal (120L)
0.25 lbs DWC special B (120L)
13.5 lbs total
hops:
1 oz UK target (10.8%AA) 60 minute boil
24 IBUs per Tinseth formula
honey:
10 lbs wildflower honey from Dartmouth Orchards, North Dartmouth, MA added 10 minutes before end of boil
yeast:
White Labs WLP-001 (American ale) from Coastal Extreme Brewery, Middletwon, RI
misc:
1.5 tsp irish moss (15 minute boil)
procedure:
mash all grains in 20 quarts of water at 156F for 60 minutes raise to 168F for mashout sparge with 15 quarts of 170F water
kettle full volume: 7.25 gal + approx 0.8 gal of honey end boil volume: 7 gal in fermenter: 5.75 gal (left approx 0.5 gal in kettle)
ferment at 63 to 65F
OG = 1.114
FG = 1.030
brewed on 4/20/2003
racked to secondary on 5/12/2003
kegged on ?
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Group Brew Braggot (2003)
06-15-2003 BBBP
A ProMash Brewing Session Report
--------------------------------
Brewing Date: Sunday June 15, 2003
Head Brewer: South Shore Brew Club
Asst Brewer:
Recipe: BBBP
BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------
25-G Mead, Braggot
Min OG: 1.060 Max OG: 1.120
Min IBU: 0 Max IBU: 100
Min Clr: 3 Max Clr: 16 Color in SRM, Lovibond
Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 60.00 Wort Size (Gal): 60.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 226.00
Anticipated OG: 1.123 Plato: 28.7
Anticipated SRM: 19.3
Anticipated IBU: 26.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Actual OG: 1.105 Plato: 24.8
Actual Mash System Efficiency: 22 %
Anticipated Points From Mash: 38.89
Actual Points From Mash: 11.51
Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------
Evaporation Rate: 1.00 Gallons Per Hour
Raw Pre-Boil Amounts - only targeted volume/gravity and evaporation
rate taken into account:
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 61.00 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.121 SG 28.3 Plato
With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:
Water Needed Pre-Boil Wort Size: 58.20 Gal
Water Needed Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.127 SG 29.5 Plato
Formulas Used
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Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.
Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5 3.50 lbs. Crystal 150L Great Britain 1.033 150
4.9 11.00 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
0.9 2.00 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 220
1.5 3.50 lbs. Crystal 120L American 1.033 120
2.7 6.00 lbs. Amber Dry Malt Extract 1.044 25
1.3 3.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Light England 1.046 5
8.8 20.00 lbs. Muntons LME - Extra Light England 1.037 3
2.7 6.00 lbs. Muntons DME - Extra Light England 1.046 2
7.5 17.00 lbs. Munich Malt Belgium 1.038 8
46.0 104.00 lbs. Clover Generic 1.035 0
22.1 50.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.00 oz. Centennial Whole 8.56 9.4 60 min.
2.00 oz. Target Whole 10.80 5.9 60 min.
4.00 oz. Chinook Whole 10.24 11.2 60 min.
Yeast
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White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast
Efficiency Specifics
--------------------
Recipe Efficiency Setting: 75 %
With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:
Target Volume (Gal): 58.20
Estimated OG: 1.127 Plato: 29.5
Raw Pre-Boil Targets - only targeted volume/gravity and evaporation
rate taken into account:
Target Volume (Gal): 61.00
Estimated OG: 1.121 Plato: 28.3
Post-Boil Targets:
Target Volume (Gal): 60.00
Estimated OG: 1.123 Plato: 28.7
Recorded Actuals - Measurement Taken In Kettle:
Recorded Volume (Gal): 55.00
Recorded OG: 1.105 Plato: 24.7
At 100 percent extraction from the maximum mash potential:
Total Points: 136.15
Points From Mash: 51.85
Points From Extract/Sugar: 84.30
With the recipe efficiency setting, you should have achieved:
Total Points: 123.19
Points From Mash: 38.89
Points From Extract/Sugar: 84.30
Actuals achieved were:
Actual Points From Mash: 11.51
Actual Mash System Efficiency: 22
Fermentation Specifics
----------------------
Pitched From: Slurry
Amount Pitched: 2 QTS
Lag Time: 0.00 hours
Primary Fermenter: Wood
Primary Type: Closed
Days In Primary: 14
Primary Temperature: 60 degrees F
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It’s
All in the De-t-Ales…
Articles,
Reviews and Information
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Contents:
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by Bill Gassett
Mild Ales
This isn’t so much a story about a specific style of beer as it is a story
about a term used to distinguish one style of beer from another.
And it goes like this.
In the 1700’s the term “Mild” was not being used to describe a
certain style of beer which we now use in reference to an English
low alcohol, low hopped beer. It was used to differentiate a beer
that was served only weeks after it was brewed instead of a beer
that was stored for up to 6 months or more. It was also used in
reference to a porter, the most popular beer in he late 1770’s, but
this was only to distinguish a new porter form a “stale” porter. The
stale porter being beer that was aged in the keg.
In the 1800’s there was a change in the taste of beer drinkers.
More and more beers started to be served new or fresh after the
brewing process. These beers were sometimes called mild. Even
by the middle of the 1800’s there wasn’t an actual style designated
as mild ale. This is due to the fact that most brown beers were
simply called ales, as long as they weren't stouts or porters. The use
of mild to designate a new beer was being used less and less
because almost all ales were brewed to be drunk relatively new.
Ales that were to be aged were called stock ales.
There was a big development in English Brewing in the 1820’s with
the development of IPA’s. Pale Ales had been around for awhile but
weren't as popular as as the old tried and true brown ales. The
development of India Pale Ales changed all that. Within 30 or 40
years lots of brewers were brewing pale ales of one kind or
another which meant that popularity of porter and stout waned
drastically. So another name for their brown non-porter beers
was needed and the term “mild ale” was chosen. Still at this time
there was not a specific style of beer know as Mild Ales. Porter
faded in popularity to almost non existent while pale and mild ales
increased in popularity. Milds being the favorite.
Around 1900 the strength of beers in general diminished. This was
mainly due to an Act of Parliament that taxed beer according to
the original gravity. Lower original gravity meant lower taxes and
weaker beers. When WWI broke out the shortage of materials also
meant weaker beers. This was probably the hay-day for beers
falling into the mild ale style. A relatively cheaper, easy drinking
beer that one could be consumed in large quantities, if one wanted
to.
After WWI beers grew in strength somewhat but probably not back
to what they used to be. Milds continued to be the beer of choice.
Things didn’t change much until the end of WWII. At this time
bitters became more and more popular as tastes changed and
drinkers became more affluent.
In the 60’s bitters surpassed milds as the most popular beer in
Britain and continued to grow popularity. In certain areas of
Britain milds still ruled but they were never to be the beer of
choice as they once were. Still, at this time there was not a specific
style of beer known as mild. Mild was a general time for lighter
brown ales.
But alas, the rein of bitters was not to be a long one. The
consumption of lagers was on the rise and sometime around 1990,
lagers surpassed bitter as the most drunk draft beer.
“THE ONCE-MIGHTY MILD ALE HAS NOW DWINDLED FROM BEING THE
STAR TO BEING JUST A BIT-PLAYER WHOSE PART COULD BE QUICKLY
WRITTEN OUT OF THE PLAY.”
But have no fear. Mild ales have not gone away completely in
England. Pale ales are still popular. Stouts and porters have stage a
come back. Bitters can be found everywhere and milds are still
being brewed. Somewhere along the line, mild ale finally did get
recognized as a specific style of beer. Numbers were assigned.
3.0% to 3.5% in alcohol. 10 to 25 IBUs. SRM 12-15. Usually light in
color and almost always light in taste. What probably started out
being the “common mans beer”, eventually rose to being the
dominate beer in Britain, only to be replace by a newer, faster and
stronger model. This replacement has since been replace itself by
a new and improved version of beer. How long will it be before it is
replaced. Time will tell.
I look at mild ales as, in a way, as England’s answer to Budweiser.
Sure one is an ale, the other a lager. But they are both brewed for
one purpose. As a beer you can sit down and pound down.
Beer
Trivia Answer
What is the oldest existing brewing company in the Western hemisphere? What year did it start brewing?
Answer: Molson, 1786