June 2008
“News About Brews”
IPA's
This month's meeting was the IPA presentation and club competition. Thanks to Kevin for taking notes for me again. I can't believe I missed the IPA meeting! I just plumb didn't realize it was the second Tuesday of the month already. Oh well, I'll see you all next month.
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 EventsJune 28th – Wort's Summer Picnic at Fred and Mary Anne's, SSBC members invited (directions)
July 8th– SSBC Monthly Meeting at Brian Shurtleff's (directions)
July 19th– Pig Roast at Brian Shurtleff's (directions). Details found in file INVITE8 in Club's Yahoo file section. Check the club calendar for more details on these and other upcoming events. |
Area EventsJune 20-21 – Beer Advocate's American Craft Beer Fest
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Next MeetingDate: July 8th Location: Brian Shurtleff's Directions: click here Agenda: Sanitation (round table discussion). |
Beer Quote and Trivia“Beer has long been the prime lubricant in our social intercourse and
the sacred throat-anointing fluid that accompanies the ritual of
mateship.” — Rennie Ellis, Australian Photographer A beer from what brewery is depicted in Manet's 1882 painting "The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres"?
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Sip by Sip
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
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Date: June 10th, 2008
Location: Frank White's, Middleboro MA
Number of Members Attending: ??
Business
| Group Brew Barleywine and Braggot Update - There were several cases of barleywine remaining after people collected their shares. The price for these remaining bottles are $1.50 for 12oz and $2.00 for 16oz. A number of six packs have been taken – but, there is still some left. We may hold onto a few bottles for club gatherings such as the Christmas party. - The braggot has slowed down fermentation – but, still chugging slowly. The last gravity taken was around 1.048. The process of not completely filling the barrel and having some of the braggot ferment in carboys was very effective for keeping the braggot in the barrel and off of Bill’s basement floor. The cask is now topped off and there is still around 6 gallons remaining to replenish throughout the year. |
| Club Calendar - June 28 – Wort’s picnic at Fred and Mary Ann’s (SSBC is invited). There will be a smoked pig (like last year). The smoking team will start at noon on Friday so that the pig is ready by early afternoon on Saturday. There will likely be a sizeable group of people camping out to take shifts on basting the pig and monitoring the temperature aside from doing some grilling and enjoying a few beers on Friday eve. There will likely be an email soon soliciting for volunteers to signup for the smoking team. - July 8 – SSBC meeting at Brian Shurtleff’s. The topic will be sanitation. The presentation will be given as a group discussion where each person discusses their sanitation process. - July 19 – Picnic at Brian Shurtleff’s. There will be a pig and plenty of beer and all SSBC members are invited. - August 2 – SSBC Picnic at Dan Kahn’s. We discussed the food for this year and decided to go the same route as last year – i.e., deep fried turkeys on the Cajun cooker. Frank said he’d be willing to help with this again this year. - August 19 – SSBC planning meeting. This is the meeting where we lay out the calendar for the upcoming year. Members are encouraged to attend and provide input as to what topics they’d like to see covered. Bill Tredo will check with the British Beer Company in Walpole if we can use their upstairs room that Tuesday for our meeting. |
| Pub Crawls - Brian Shurtleff brought up the possibility of a pub crawl this fall. Some additional information is needed such as – should it be a day trip with a bus – or an overnight trip, which area should we look at, etc. An email will follow to solicit information here. |
India Pale Ale Presentation by Frank White
Frank gave the presentation on India Pale Ales including the historical accounts from the first IPAs brewed in England to the Imperial IPAs brewed in the U.S. today. We tried several commercial examples including the English IPAs: Samuel Smith’s IPA and “St Peters” IPA; American IPAs: Anchor Liberty Ale and Stone IPA, and Imperial IPAs: Dogfish 90 minute. He also had a bottle of Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale that falls in the general IPA category which we enjoyed afterwards.
India Pale Ale Club Competition
There were 7 entries (5 American and 2 Imperial), and the winners are:
o 1st place – Kevin (Imperial IPA)
o 2nd place – Bill Gasset (American IPA)
o 3rd place – Brendan (American IPA)
o HM – Kevin (American IPA)
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Recipe of the Month
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Bohemian Pilsner
2nd Place winner in April Pilsner Club Competition
from: Jim Blanchette
This recipe is for 10 gallons.
01-21-2008 Budvar clone
A ProMash Brewing Session Report
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Recipe Specifics
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Batch Size (Gal): 11.00 Wort Size (Gal): 11.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 19.79
Anticipated OG: 1.051 Plato: 12.60
Anticipated SRM: 3.4
Anticipated IBU: 24.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Actual OG: 1.052 Plato: 12.86
Actual FG: 1.012 Plato: 3.07
Alc by Weight: 4.12 by Volume: 5.27 From Measured Gravities.
ADF: 76.1 RDF 63.4 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.
Actual Mash System Efficiency: 80 %
Anticipated Points From Mash: 50.90
Actual Points From Mash: 54.36
Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount
Name Origin Potential SRM
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94.3 18.66 lbs. Pilsener Germany
1.038 2
3.8 0.75 lbs.
Carafoam 1.033 2
1.3 0.25 lbs.
Munich Malt(light) America 1.033 10
0.6 0.13 lbs.
Aromatic Malt Belgium 1.036 25
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.
Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
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1.00 oz. Czech Saaz Pellet 3.20 6.4 First WH
0.25 oz. Spalter Pellet 3.50 1.9 60 min.
1.25 oz. Czech Saaz Pellet 3.20 8.9 60 min.
1.00 oz. Czech Saaz Pellet 3.20 1.9 15 min.
2.00 oz. Czech Saaz Plug 3.10 2.6 10 min.
1.00 oz. Czech Saaz Plug 3.10 1.1 5 min.
2.00 oz. Czech Saaz Plug 3.10 2.1 1 min.
Yeast
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WYeast 2007 Pilsen Lager
Mash Schedule
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Mash Name: Buvar Step
Total Grain Lbs: 19.79
Total Water Qts: 12.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 3.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Tun Thermal Mass: 0.30
Grain Temp: 80 F
Step Rest Start Stop Heat Infuse Infuse Infuse
Step Name Time Time Temp Temp Type Temp Amount Ratio
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Protein 0 25 122 122 Infuse 143 12.00 0.61
Sach 5 90 150 150 Infuse 182 13.96 1.31
Total Water Qts: 25.96 - After Additional Infusions
Total Water Gal: 6.49 - After Additional Infusions
Total Mash Volume Gal: 8.07 - After Additional Infusions
All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
All infusion amounts are in Quarts.
All infusion ratios are Quarts/Lbs.
Notes
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No water additions.
Sparge with 10 gal. water.
Used different yeast than actual recipe called for - couldn't get right type in
time.
Split this batch with Brian A.
This recipe comes from the book 'Beer Captured'.
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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 Steve Gravel
Porter - History of Beer
Porter became the fad of the day in the 1700’s around jolly old England. It initially gained popularity among the transport workers in Central London, those brawny common folks who would endure hard labor with no more than a few pints of porter and a few pounds of bread per day. The endurance of the laboring class did not go without recognition, and before long, porter gained credit as the catalyst for this endurance. As a result, the well-bred and distinguished citizens embraced this beverage as well, igniting an explosion within the brewing industry. Porter became so popular, in fact, that brewers who could adapt to a grand scale were able to make comfortable fortunes producing this one style of beer.
In 1802, a writer named John Feltham wrote a version of the history of porter that has been used as the basis for most writings on the topic. Unfortunately, very little of Feltham's story is backed up by contemporary evidence. His account is based upon a letter written by Obadiah Poundage (who had worked for decades in the London brewing trade) in the 1760s. Unfortunately, Feltham badly misinterpreted parts of the text, mainly due to his unfamiliarity with 18th century brewing terminology. Feltham claimed that in 18th century London a popular beverage called "three threads" was made consisting of a third of a pint each of ale, beer and twopenny (the strongest beer, costing tuppence a quart). About 1730, Feltham said, a brewer called Harwood made a single beer called Entire which recreated the flavour of "three threads", and which became known as "porter".
Another belief is that Entire was also a name for the combination of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd runnings of a mash. In 1700 London, the brewers practice was to conduct an initial mash at 150°, drain the wort, mash again at 160°, drain again and mash for the third time at 180°. Typically the three separate runnings would be sold separately as “Ale”, “Beer” and “Twopenny”. Entire was thought to be a combination of the three runnings, hence the “Entire” beer.
Porter is actually mentioned as early as 1721, but no writer before Feltham says it was made to replicate "three threads". Instead, it seems to be a more-aged development of the brown beers already being made in London. Before 1700, London brewers sent out their beer very young and any aging was either performed by the publican or a dealer. Porter was the first beer to be aged at the brewery and dispatched in a condition fit to be drunk immediately. It was the first beer that could be made on any large scale.
Early London Porters were strong beers by modern standards. Early trials with the hydrometer in the 1770s recorded Porter as having an OG (original gravity) of 1.071° and 6.6% ABV. Increased taxation during the Napoleonic War pushed its gravity down to around 1.055°, where it remained for the rest of the 19th century. The huge popularity of the style prompted brewers to produce Porters in a wide variety of strengths. These started with Single Stout Porter at around 1.066°, Double Stout Porter (such as Guinness) at 1.072°, Triple Stout Porter at 1.078° and Imperial Stout Porter at 1.095° and more. As the 19th century progressed the Porter suffix was gradually dropped. British brewers, however, continued to use Porter as the generic term for both Porters and Stouts.
The large London Porter breweries pioneered many technological advances, such as the use of the thermometer (about 1760) and the hydrometer (1770). The use of the latter was to transform the nature of Porter. The first Porters were brewed from 100% Brown Malt. Now brewers were able to accurately measure the yield of the malt they used, it was noticed that Brown Malt, though cheaper than Pale Malt, only produced about two thirds as much fermentable material. When the malt tax was increased to help pay for the Napoleonic War, brewers had an incentive to use less malt. Their solution was to use a proportion of Pale Malt and add coloring to obtain the expected hue. When a law was passed in 1816 allowing only malt and hops to be used in the production of beer (a sort of British Reinheitsgebot) they were left in a quandary. Their problem was solved by Wheeler's invention of the almost black patent malt in 1817. It was now possible to brew Porter from 95% Pale Malt and 5% patent malt, though most London brewers continued to use some Brown Malt for flavor.
Until about 1800, all London Porter was matured in large vats (often holding several hundred barrels) for between six and eighteen months before being racked into smaller casks to be delivered to pubs. It was discovered that it was unnecessary to age all Porter. A small quantity of highly aged beer (18 months or more) mixed with fresh or "mild" Porter produced a flavor similar to that of aged beer. It was a cheaper method of producing Porter, as less beer needed to be stored for long periods. The normal blend was around two parts young beer to one part old.
October of 1814 went down in history for an event that crushed the dreams of scores of London porter lovers. One of the most grandiose vats (860,000 gallons) at the Meux Brewery gave way, sending a tsunami of porter through the streets. Homes crushed like toothpicks under the force of the brew. A human being didn’t stand a chance! In fact, eight folks lost their lives in the debacle, through drowning, drunken poisoning, or injuries beyond the limitations of the medical community of the time.
After 1860, as the popularity of both Porter and the aged taste began to wane, Porter was increasingly sold "mild". In the final decades of the century many breweries discontinued their Porter, though continued to brew one or two stouts. Those which did still persist with Porter brewed it weaker and with fewer hops. Between 1860 and 1914 the gravity dropped from 1.055° to 1.040° and the hopping rate from two pounds to one pound per 36 gallon barrel. It was a mere shadow of the beer which had once been so respected and admired.
During the First World War in Britain, shortages of grain led to restrictions on the production of strong beer. Less strict rules were applied in Ireland allowing Irish brewers such as Guinness to take advantage and dominate the bottled Stout market. However, most English breweries continued to brew draught stouts until Second World War and beyond. They were considerably weaker than the pre-war versions (down from 1.055º-1.060° to 1.040-1.042°) and around the strength that Porter had been in 1914. Porter, with its strength slot now occupied by Single Stout, slowly withered away. The last English Porters were brewed around 1940.
Beer
Trivia Answer
A beer from what brewery is depicted in Manet's 1882 painting "The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres"?
Answer: Bass and Co..