History of Beer

Here's a pretty cool timeline I found on the history of my favorite beverage. Enjoy!

HB602 Rally 2/25/11 at St. Arnold Brewing Co.

 

  

Come to Saint Arnold for a Friday Evening Tour to Support HB 602.

 

Yes, they are going to have a tour on a Friday evening! People will also be there with computers to help and encourage you to email your state legislators to support HB 602 and 660. Here are the details:

 

Date: Friday, February 25
Time: 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Cost: $10 per person (everything else is like a regular tour)

They will use any funds raised this evening in our effort to support HB 602 and 660.

 

Support your local brewery!!

 

 

 

AHA Rally Feb 27th at St. Arnold Brewing Co.

To all the LeGrue's Brew faithful,

Join me and our malted barley compatriots for the Houston area American Homebrewer's Association Rally.  Details below:

Saint Arnold Brewing Co. AHA Rally
Sunday, February 27 , 2011

Time: 1:00-3:00 pm
Address: 2000 Lyons Ave, Houston, TX
Web: http://www.saintarnold.com/
Space is limited, please RSVP.

AHA Rallies are free to current AHA members.
Non-members can join now or sign up at a discounted rate at the door.
Learn more about AHA Membership Benefits.
Entrance includes:
• VIP brewery tour!
• Meet and greet with Brock Wagner, owner, and Gary Glass, AHA Director.
• An opportunity to mingle with other Texas homebrewers.
• A chance to win great prizes from the AHA and Saint Arnold Brewing Company!

Chai Spice Ale- Soon for the tap

For those of you who are new to my malted misadventures, my favorite way to push the bounds of gastro- brewing is to deconstruct my favorite flavors of food and drink and reinterpret them in beer form. My latest experiment in,Chai Spice Ale, will be ready for consumption in a few day and I can't wait to see how it turned out. 

I used the spices you see in the picture, as well as Ginger and Orange Peel.  I added a little Lactose (milk sugar) as an homage to the traditional way the beverage is served, and finished with honey after the boil.

Stats are as follows:

OG 1.064; FG 1.014
ABV= 6.7%

Definite cinnamon on the nose, not too much of the cardamom is perceptible but that could be due to the temperature.  Honey flavor is light as well, might need to add some now that fermentation is complete.
However it turns out, it was a neat experiment!

Cheers

Beer Laws in TX need to change!!

Texas House Bill 660, filed by Representative Mike Villarreal in the 82nd Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, would be a game changer for Texas Craft Beer.

Currently Texas brewpubs are not allowed to sell to wholesalers, distributors or retailers for resale. That means you can't find beer from any of Texas' amazing brewpubs at your local grocery store, restaurant or bar. Meanwhile, out-of-state brewpubs are free to have their beer distributed all over the state.

HB 660 would finally allow Texas brewpubs to play on an even playing field. The exact specifics of the bills are:

*Would allow Texas brewpubs to sell to wholesalers and distributors for resale
*Change the existing 5,000 barrel/year limit to apply only to on-premise sales to the ultimate consumer
*Lift the overall production limit to 75,000 barrels/year

*Allow brewpubs to self-distribute to retailers so long as their total annual production is less than 10,000 barrels.

The law will not only help our state's brewpubs (which are almost all independently owned small businesses), but it would give distributors incremental sales volume, allow retailers to highlight local products, and give consumers access to the products they desire.

Facing a $27 billion budget shortfall, HB 660 also benefits our State by increasing the tax base as breweries grow.

Please pass HB 660 and support our state's small businesses. Click the link below to sign the petition in FAVOR of HB 660!

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?TXHB660

Competition Updates, with a side of Verbiage

For those who are following the drama of my 2011 competition aspirations, I have the updates you've been waiting for!

1. I've moved the Sour Wheat to a keg and have it at room temp so as to let the Lacto bugs do their thing as fast as possible.  Tomorrow, I'll chill the keg and force carbonate so I can bottle them on Friday morning.
2. Chai Ale is in a secondary fermenter and ready to move to the keg to be carbonated on Wednesday this week.
3. No-go on the Oatmeal Stout for Bluebonnet Brew-Off, but maybe I'll enter it in later competitions this year.

It has also come to my attention that I might be getting a little to techno- jargon on my posts with talk of F.G, ABV %, and the like.  I'll try to refrain from too much brew- speak, but just in case I HAVE to give updates, I've decided to outline some of the more commonly used acronyms and jargon I use in these postings.

Wort: Wort, pronounced /ˈwɜrt/, is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol.
In beer making, the wort is known as "sweet wort" until the hops have been added, after which it is then called "hopped wort."

Gravity: Refers to Specific Gravity, or the ratio of the mass of a solid or liquid to the mass of an equal volume of distilled water at a given temperature and pressure.  For brewing, we use 60 deg. F. In short, the higher the Gravity of a beer, the denser or "thicker" it is.  Gravity, in the context of fermenting alcoholic beverages, refers to the specific gravity of the wort at various stages in the fermentation process.
At various stages in alcohol fermentation, the density of the wort varies. Depending upon the depth that the hydrometer falls into the wort, the percentage of alcohol can be determined.

Original Gravity (OG): The Original Gravity is the specific gravity measured before the commencement of fermentation.

Final Gravity (FG):  The Final Gravity is the specific gravity measured at the completion of fermentation.

ABV:  Alcohol by Volume, stated as a percentage (e.g 6.5%). Most brewers and consumers are used to having alcohol content reported by volume (ABV) rather than weight. Interconversion is simple but the specific gravity of the beer must be known.

Hops: Hops are the female flower clusters (commonly called seed cones or strobiles), of a hop species, Humulus lupulus.^[1] They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor.  Hops are used extensively in brewing for their many purported benefits, including balancing the sweetness of the malt with bitterness, contributing a variety of desirable flavors and aromas, and having an antibiotic effect that favors the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms. Particular hop varieties are associated with beer regions and styles, for example pale lagers are usually brewed with European (often German and Austrian, since 1981 also Czech) noble hop varieties such as Saaz, Hallertau and Strissel Spalt. British ales use hop varieties such as Fuggles, Goldings and Bullion. North American beers use Cascade hops, Columbus hops, Centennial hops, Willamette hops and Amarillo hops.

Alpha Acid (% Alpha):  Alpha acids are a class of compounds primarily of importance to the production of beer. They are found in the flowers of the hop plant and are the source of hop bitterness. Iso-alpha acids are typically produced in beer from the addition of hops to the boiling wort. The degree of bitter flavor produced by the addition of hops is highly dependent on the length of time the hops are boiled. Longer boil times will result in isomerization of more of the available alpha acids. The alpha acid "rating" on hops indicates the amount of alpha acid as a percentage of total weight of the hop. Hops with a higher alpha acid content will contribute more bitterness than a lower alpha acid hop when using the same amount of hops. High alpha acid varieties of hops are more efficient for producing highly bitter beers.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for letting me plagiarize my lazy tail off.)

I hope these definitions help for anybody feeling left out of the lingo conversation.

Cheers!

Gambrinus 2.0

The Belgian Aromatic Ale (hereafter called "Gambrinus") was a great hit with everybody that tried it, so I'm making another batch next week.  Should hit the ground before St. Patty's.  Reserve your bottle today via comments below!

2011 Competitions

Chai Spiced Ale (nickname TBD, I'd like ideas) is happily fermenting away, as I have continued my break- neck brewing pace to have everything ready in time for this year's Home Brew and Pro/ Am competitions. OG was 1.064 @60f, and I expect the Whitbread yeast to finish somewhere between 1.010 and 1.013.  That will yield a good, solid 6.8- 7.2% ABV.

Brazos River Barelywine is aging gracefully, and should be a real contender for 2011 competitions.
I put the Berliner Weisse into a secondary fermenter this morning, and it's about 2.8% ABV (by FAR my smallest beer to date, but perfect for the style). I'll let it hang until yeast activity is done and then bottle it in the next day or so.  From there, the Lacto bugs can work their magic. I'm calling it "West Bay Sour Wheat" as a homage to the part of Galveston Island where we spend time in during the hottest months of the year.  The style is light, effervescent and tart, perfect for fishing or floating in the bay.  I hope its developed enough sour character by March 5th and Bluebonnet Brew Off judging. If you're in DFW on the last weekend in March, check out the festivities!

 
March 25-26, 2011
Westin DFW Airport
4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway
Irving, TX 75063
Telephone: 888-627-8617

Other Texas competitions you'll find me at this year include:


SOUTHERN STAR BREWING'S 2011 Pro/ Am- Late April, 2011
Southern Star Brewing Co.
1207 N. FM 3083 E.
Conroe, Texas 77303



BIG BATCH BREW BASH- May 15, 2011
Saint Arnold Brewery
2000 Lyons Ave. Houston, TX


DIXIE CUP- October 13-15, 2011
Location TBD

See ya there!!

Crunch time! (aka, I thought I wrapped that pipe?)

So this week I've learned what it's like to make beer in the tundra (slight exaggeration). 

The Arctic Blast 2011 has put a serious cramp in my zymurgy, mostly due to frozen water supplies.  That, in turn, means no wort chillers, and a batch takes FOR-EV-ER to cool off enough to pitch the yeast.  I know, I know... you're thinking " But Mason, if it's cold out it would cool it off faster?".  I'd answer "WRONG.  5 gallons of 200 degree wort takes HOURS to cool in an ice bath, and much longer at 30 degree air temp. And I might add, I don't like your snotty tone".

But then you might aslo ask, "Why must you brew during this wretched weather?".  "Because", I'd answer in an annoyed, grouchy way, "the beers I'm entering in the Bluebonnet Brew Off are due on the 18th and I've got 3 more to complete by that time.  Brewed, fermented and in glass by 2 weeks from now."  I might be screwed.

These are the times when a brewer's meddle is tested.  I don't like to lose, especially before the competition even begins.  Wish me luck!

Anyway, CHEERS!