December 1998

[Greenblood]

Minutes of the November Meeting

Sanitation Seminar: Thanks to Jeff for an informative one!

Clean Up Crew: Joe Y. and El Pr?sidente (Barry)- Thanks, guys!

Treasurer's Report: $915.21 ($1.79 interest this month, $17.33 interest to date)
Joe Yoder

Old Business:
Newsletter: Thanks to newsletter and website contributors. Can always use more. Pete's asking for any and all homebrew recipes for the website!

Guild Library: No fines yet. AHA publications' Stout, Vienna-Marzen, and Altbier were each checked out until the December meeting. All books will be available at the next meeting- PLUS, new acquisitions: Lutzen and Stevens, Brew Ware; Correnty, The Art of Cidermaking; Beach, Homegrown Hops; and Miller, Brewing the World's Greatest Beers.

Community Mercantile (as homebrew supplier) Committee: The committee reported that there was broad approval, in principle. But, for the time being, there simply is not room at the store. Motion was made to politely pester the cashiers about getting brew supplies in the future.

Brewing Techniques Deal: If we can get enough people to subscribe, we can each save $6 on subscriptions - $22, instead of $28. Talk to Jeff Jensen.


New Business:
Holiday Party!!!: 7 p.m. on Friday, December 11 at the ECM. Bring your seasonal ales or any other homebrew. Spouses and friends are welcome. There will be no regular December meeting - only merriment.

1st-Ever Kwitchyerbitchin' Post-Food Brew-Off: At the Holub homestead, 425 Alabama on Saturday, November 28th.

Seminars: What happened to the committee? New committee - Ellen (head), Doug, Barry and Jeff.

AHA National Homebrew Conference: The 1999 American Homebrewers Association National Conference will be in Kansas City. Mark it on your calendar-June 24-26.

KC Bieremeister Competition: February 19th and 20th. Entries are due February 6th.

BJCP Courses: Beer Judge Certification Program exam is in March 1999. Interested? Call Alberta Rager at Bacchus and Barleycorn. The cost is $25 per session for four sessions.

Guild Officers: Elections for new officers are in January. Current officers should be thinking of able replacements.


Commercial Tasting: Dark Beers
Negra Modelo (Mexico)-Vienna-style lager (3 votes)
"Thin."
"A refreshing, light beer."
"Kinda sweet."
"Innocuous."
"Nice and smooth."
"Much better than Old Style, even."

Franziskaner (Germany)-Dunkel Hefe-weisse (1 vote)
"That is roasty."
Clean finish."
"Damn tasty."
"Phenolic, tastes like band-aids."
"Not enough body, not enough flavor."

Samuel Smith (England)-Taddy Porter (0 votes)
"Sweet malt taste."
"Sour."
"Oxidized-tastes old."
"Almost leaves you thirstier after drinking."

Samuel Smith (England)-Oatmeal Stout (9 votes WINNER!)
"Sweeter-sweet in front"
"Better balanced with bitterness."
"A close cousin - but not as oxidized."
"Roasty, toasty."

Rob Johnson
Secretary


1st Annual Kwitchyerbitchin' Post-Food Coma Brew-Off
Check out the pictures in the Gallery

The first annual Kwityerbitchin' Post-food Coma Brew-off appeared to be a success - at least from the kitchen. It was a nice, mild day. Who'd 've thunck we'd be in short sleeves at the end of Nov.? We had four brew kettles going most of the day: Dale Wheeler with assistant Ken Godwin (Who's he? Is he in the club?); Barry Fitzgerald; Doug Holub and Christopher Lounsbury; and Tim Baroni and Andrew Suddith.

I did not have much opportunity to be outside rubbing elbows with the brewers, so they will have to tell you in person at the holiday party about the trials and tribulations of brewing outside once again. I heard through the grapevine that we can NOT expect Barry at any more outdoor brew gatherings at other peoples' homes. What about at your place Barry?

We had a great cheering section what with Rich's crew being there, along with lots of other spectators and helpers. We ate, we brewed, no one got hurt, I guess it was a success. Anyone who is willing to open their home to do another brew, please contact Dale or Sherry so that it can be arranged. Recipes and suggestions are always welcome.

Sherry Holub

Thanks to Sherry and Jamie for organizing all of the wonderful food. It was yummmeeee! Especially those Hawaiian chicken sandwiches and salad and the brownies. Ooh l? l?.

Here's the recipe selected for the brew-off


Cooking With Beer
Smoked Cheddar and Ale Soup

This recipe was in the Kansas City Star last spring. It is from Barley's Brewhouse. When Kendra made it, she substituted two cans of chicken broth for the chicken flavor base and hot water. This would be really good in a bread bowl.

Makes about 1 Gallon

7 Tbs. Butter
1 Tsp. Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup Chopped Red Bell Pepper
1/4 Cup Chopped Yellow Onion
1/4 Cup Chopped Bacon
1 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbs. Hot Pepper Sauce
1 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tsp. Paprika
1 Tsp. Thyme Leaves
6 1/2 Ounces Ale
3 Tbs. Chicken Flavor Base
4 Cups Hot Water
1 1/4 Qts. (5 Cups) Heavy Whipping Cream
10 Tbs. Corn Starch
2 1/4 Cups Cold Water
1 Lb. Smoked Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grated
Chopped Green Onions, For Garnish

Melt butter in stockpot over medium heat. Add garlic, bell pepper, onion and bacon and saut? until vegetables are tender. Add cayenne, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and thyme; cook, stirring 10 seconds. Pour in beer, stir, heat to boiling and boil 3 minutes.

Combine chicken flavor base and four cups hot water; blend until dissolved. Stir chicken base mixture into stock pot; heat to boiling. Stir in cream and heat to boiling.

Combine cornstarch and 2 1/4 cups cold water, stirring until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Blend cornstarch mixture into stock pot, cooking, and stirring until mixture is thickened and smooth. Reduce heat to low; whisk in cheese, stirring until cheese is melted and incorporated into the soup.

Serve immediately, or for better flavor, cover, refrigerate overnight, then reheat until steaming hot. Garnish each serving with chopped green onions.

Pete Clouston


Brewing Gift Ideas (For The Non-Brewer)
There are an endless number of items that would make good brewing gifts for the holidays, but most require some knowledge of the brewing process to purchase them.

This list should make it easy to call a brewshop or mail order company and purchase a brewing-related gift without knowing much about homebrewing or what your brewer already owns, and without having to resort to gift certificates. Even experienced brewers may have overlooked some of the items below.

So leave this page up on your computer, just in time for the holidays.

Budget: Under $20

Consumables
There are a few supplies that almost every brewer uses at some point, regardless of the type of beer they make. Hop and grain steeping bags, iodophor, trisodium phosphate (TSP), non-metallic scrubbing pads and B-Brite are all standard items for most brewers. Look for TSP in the solvent aisle at the hardware store. Iodophor, B-Brite and steeping bags are available from homebrew shops. It may sound silly to give chemicals as gifts, but every brewer needs them, and chemicals are easy to purchase, store and wrap.

The Carbonator
If your brewing friend uses kegs to store his beer instead of bottles, an inexpensive gadget that would be a good stocking stuffer is a carbonator from Liquid Bread, Inc. It attaches to the top of a standard soda bottle, making it possible to pressurize the soda bottle from a C02 cylinder. It's available from brewing shops.

Decorative Beer Tap Handles
If there's a beer faucet in use around the house (like bars serve beer from), decorative beer tap handles from commercial breweries are a good gift idea, too. Look at flea markets, or contact bars to see if they have any to sell or give away. There are also dozens of beer tap handles available on-line in web auctions and classifieds. If you have time, try to find one for a commercial beer you know your homebrewer likes.

LBG Renewal
Don't forget that LBG memberships expire in December, and a renewed 1999 membership card would fit nicely tucked under a bow or slipped into a stocking. At $16 it's an easy-to-wrap gift that shows a lot of thought.

Other items in this price range need no explanation and are easy to shop for because they require no homebrewing expertise. Books, good commercial beer (with a note about it being not as good as homebrew), beer glasses, a digital kitchen timer and magazine subscription renewals are all good bets. It's hard to make a bad purchase based on what's around the hombrewery.

Budget: $50 and Under

Most brewing items in this category are pieces of brewing equipment. Equipment prices vary greatly, but it should be possible to find even good-quality pieces in this price range. Chances are also good that these are some items your brewing friend skimped on to get started brewing, especially if he started brewing from a kit.

Hydrometer
Every brewer needs a hydrometer to check the beer throughout the brewing process. This is also an item that is frequently broken, so spares are nice to have. Good-quality ones cost about $20 or more, but you'll also need a "hydrometer jar" and stand to hold the hydrometer. Be sure to get one designed and labeled for brewing. Homebrew shops should carry several kinds.

Used kegs
If your homebrewing buddy uses kegs it should be obvious, because they're always hauling heavy metal cylinders around. What may not be obvious is the type of keg they use. This may be where you'll have to enlist the help of another brewer or a homebrew shop to pick the right type of keg to give as a gift. Taking in an empty keg (or a fitting used with it) to the homebrew shop for comparison is the safest bet. This may be the biggest hassle to purchase, but it may also be the most appreciated gift. Pick a keg that looks clean inside and out, with no labels and that doesn't leave rubber residue on everything it touches.

Consider filling the keg with inexpensive brewing items or chemicals from the "under $20" list above, since used kegs usually sell for slightly above $20. A keg would be a hassle to wrap (and obvious what it was anyway) so don't wrap it. Tie a bow on it, fill it with smaller items, and leave your brewer wondering why the keg is so heavy.

Good scale
Any good quality scale graduated in either ounces or pounds is a handy item for brewing. For the most part, the same qualities that make a scale good for ordinary use make it good for brewing use, so no brewing expertise is needed to shop for one. Check office supply, restaurant supply and department stores for good-quality scales. Digital ones are a luxury item, but a wonderful gift nevertheless.

Budget: $100 and Under

New kegs
Few brewers buy brand new kegs because they are so much more expensive than used ones. They are, however, very nice to have and easier for the non-brewer to buy because there's little risk of getting a "dud." The same practice for purchasing used kegs applies to new kegs for determining the type at the store.

Propane burner (or additional tanks)
If brewing in the kitchen is getting old, consider the gift of a propane burner to move the brewing process out of the house. To help prevent purchasing one that's not suitable for brewing, get this from a homebrew shop instead of a hardware or camping store where you might find it cheaper. If your brewer already has a burner, consider an additional propane tank or two, available at hardware stores.

From the Heart (gifts with no budget)

If you've got more time than money, fear not. You can still give a very meaningful brewing-related gift.

Homemade Homebrew "Coupons"
Make up your own little coupon book with useful coupons to be redeemed during the brewing process. Some examples are "100 bottle washes," "One post-brewing mop-up" or "one hour of wort stirring."

Labels
If you're artistically inclined, consider making beer bottle labels for the next brew. Even if the brewing process doesn't involve bottles, big labels work on kegs too.

Recipe List
Poke through brew magazines and books and write down beer recipes you'd like to have in the upcoming year. Recipes are usually easy to spot in publications, even for the non-brewer.

Arrange a Brewery Tour
Many of the breweries in the area offer tours from time to time, and simply investigating when they do and making reservations (if necessary) will mean a lot. These tours are typically free or very low cost.

Collect and clean bottles
Bottle cleaning is an extremely tedious task, so taking the time to remove labels and clean bottles will also mean a lot. Brown bottles with no twist-off threads are required. Ask friends to save them, or raid their recycling bins.

In the end, the best gift you can give your homebrewing friend is your support for their craft. If you don't like their beer, make a New Year's resolution to at least try one taste of each batch they make. Go to brew club meetings with them if you didn't before. Spend some time helping them brew. These all cost little or no money, and they'll be appreciated year-round.

Rob Dewhirst


Net Notes
Modifying Chest Freezer

Ray Corona asked in #2331 about where to drill in his GE chest freezer to attach taps for dispensing. I was looking to do the same thing a few months back and perused through the archives. The idea I found there that seemed to best solve this is: DON'T DRILL THROUGH THE FREEZER! Instead, remove the lid. Build a 2x2 or 2x4 frame out of lumber to exactly fit the dimensions of your freezer. Attach this to the top of the chest and reattach the lid to the frame. You can safely drill through the wood to add the taps, run in the probe for an external temperature controller, etc.

Electronically, Al Czajkowski, Fraternal Order of Renaissance Draughtsmen

Hello brew folks,
Raynold J Corona asks about installing taps on the front of his freezer. REAL FUN job, or should I say, gamble, but I did as follows: The used freezer that I modified was a huge old BOAT - 23 c.ft. Viking. Holds 10 cornies with 3 taps & 5 Co2 lines. I installed the taps on the right side front. Lift the freezer lid and at the top right corner of the inner & outer walls, gently pry off the plastic corner piece and pull the whole front plastic top piece off. You should see insulation between the walls. I would not risk using a screwdriver to dig out the sprayed-in insulation!!! I used the corner tool of the vacuum cleaner with the vac on and a pointed 1/2" dowel & gently gnawed away till coils on each wall were exposed.

Inside this freezer, the coils ran horizontally at approx. 2" intervals. I used a 1" hole saw to drill the shank holes. To ensure that I measured consistantly, I placed a small level across the inner & outer walls and always measured down from it. I wanted the tap handles to be below the top of the wall with the lid open, so 3 3/8" down from top was drill hole center for tap shank hole(s).

Your freezer might be different, so don't use my measurements. Make your measurements and drill a small test hole. Leave the drill in the hole and from the top and make sure you have enough room top & bottom of the bit for the shank hole to go between each wall's coils. Adjust pilot hole if necessary & drill. Since I wanted to attach a drip pan, I had to burrow out the insulation to a depth of 16" and drilled 3 small holes at a depth of 151/4" from top and used self-tapping screws to fasten the drip pan. I drilled the hole for the Co2 IN line at the top left back wall after removing a little insulation to check coil position. I replaced all insulation with new cotton candy-type insulation. Be sure not to tighten the shank nut so hard as to bend in the freezer walls.

P.S. If you plan to add another tap in the near future, drill the hole now and cover with duct tape.

Larry Kress RR4 Grand Valley, Ontario, Canada

Esters

John writes: Lately I have found myself in need of some info pertaining to esters. I would greatly appreciate some help from the organic chemistry gurus as to what exactly an ester is and more importantly what they taste like in beer.

Well, I'm no chemistry guru so I have translated (with some chemists' help) many chemical concepts into laypeoples' terms before storing them in my head.

Esters are compounds that are sort of like alcohols bonded to acids. My understanding is that they can be created without intervention by yeast, but that process is very slow. The yeast, however, can create the bond much more quickly. The aroma/flavor imparted by esters can range from fruity to solventy to flowery. Isoamyl acetate (isoamyl alcohol and acetic acid) is a fruity ester (bananas), whereas ethyl acetate (ethyl alcohol and acetic acid) smells solventy (some say like nail polish remover). There are also esters that smell like strawberries, grapes, roses... virtually every fruit aroma/flavor is possible.

What increases ester production is still under some debate (high or low oxygen, high or low amino acid levels) Two factors that are undisputed are temperature and yeast volume. Low temperatures and high pitching volumes tend to reduce ester production. The opposites, of course, increase ester production. Each yeast has its own tendency to produce certain esters, which is partly why yeast strain has such a strong influence on the character of the beer. Also, some yeasts (like Wyeast #1056 American Ale) don't produce as high levels of esters as other yeasts at the same temperature. korz@xnet.com


Hello... From Minnesota
Hi from up north. I stumbled across the Guild's web page, and it looks great. Hope everyone there is doing well and brewing aplenty.

The big news here is that Jean is expecting. The due date is May 15, and the ultrasound later this month should tell us the sex. We're very excited; we had all but given up hope. Just goes to show you what happens when you relax.

Jean enrolled at the U of M this quarter and is studying lots. With the baby she won't graduate this year, but maybe by the end of the summer. The job is keeping me busy with travel, and I enjoy it a lot. I've found a couple of good brew shops and have been brewing pretty regularly.

We just went out and bought "real" winter coats because it's supposed to be a cold one this winter after the cushy el Nino winter last year. We also bought a snowthrower just in case.

We miss everyone there. Please say "hello" from us.

Bob and Jean Lewis


Discount Days at Bacchus & Barleycorn
LBG members receive a 10% discount from Bacchus & Barleycorn, December 7-12. Please show membership card or bring newsletter. Bacchus & Barleycorn is located at 6633 Nieman Rd. in Shawnee (913-962-2501).