• Beerporn – Wieden Brau – Dunkles

    January 24, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Wieden Brau – Dunkles
    Vienna, Austria

  • Beerporn 7 Stern Brau

    January 24, 2012 Author: Scott
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    7 Stern Brau – Marzen

  • Beerporn

    January 23, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Star Hill – Northern Lights IPA
    Harry’s Tap Room – Dulles Airport, VA

  • Interview – WilliamsWarn – The World’s First Personal Brewery

    January 23, 2012 Author: Scott
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    After posting our article about the WilliamsWarn personal brewer we received a few really good comments on reddit.com.  We took the questions that didn’t have answers in the FAQ section of the WilliamsWarn website and sent them over to Ian Williams and Anders Warn as a follow up.  Below are the answers we received back from Ian.  Thanks to those guys for taking the time to respond to us!!!  Also, a big thanks to DCnC, deangreenz, kyleisgod, aphex732, and praxela for their opening comments on reddit!!

     

    Several people have made comments about the cost.  How long do you think it will be until the cost of the brewer comes down in price to something more reasonable for the average beer lover?

    We are in negotiations with a US group about licensing production in the US. The price will likely be cheaper than here but I can’t confirm until we actually get the first made.  Hopefully it’s a pleasant surprise for all of us.

     

    Your site mentions a “special clarification agent”.  What is this product and does it need to be purchased exclusively from you, or can it be bought from your local homebrew store?

    This is one of our few secrets. Took me a while to figure this part of the process out so it’s our IP for the moment.

     

    There have been questions about creating a quality beer product in such a short period of time.  Due to the nature in which the brewer works are you limited to only certain types of beers?  What types of beers have been found to not work well with this system?

    The 7 day process is for ales. But it’s not short its quite normal and there’s nothing negative about it. Guinness is made in 5 days. Even Foster’s Lager is made in 7 days. Homebrewers have a tradition of long ageing due to the history when it was all bottled and aged for 7 weeks. The only reason they keep bottles for so long is to get them carbonated, it’s not for flavour. But it seems people think beer needs to be matured like wine. We’ve eliminated the extra carbonation step so don’t have the delay like in bottled or kegged homebrew. Beer is best fresh. It’s like bread. It stales. So the last thing you want to do is keep it lying around for some mythical ageing process to improve it. There are a few styles than can benefit in some cases from ageing but generally once you’ve got the flavour you want after fermentation its best to chill it, clear it and drink it. The main thing is to make sure you have no off-flavours before you put the cooling on.

     

    For lager it can take a bit longer but it depends on how much yeast you pitch and what temperature you ferment at and the taste profile of the yeast. If you chose a lager yeast that ferments fast and doesn’t produce too much diacetly or sulphurs then the 7 days can almost be met in those circumstances too. But for really cold fermentations around 10’C it’ll take a while as those types of beers do. Can be weeks. But once fermentation is over and the beer is cold, clarification still only takes a day or so and then you can consume.

     

    The only beers that may not work are those that may be made with a very non-flocculent yeast that our clarification agent can’t force out of the beer and the brewer wants clear beer. So we usually recommend to use yeast that will at least flocculate reasonably well.

     

    A lot of brewers like to tinker with beers through the brewing process.  How much flexibility is built into the system to allow this to happen or does the system work in a way that nothing can be changed after the process has started?

    You can adjust the carbonation level to any level during fermentation

    You can adjust the temperature during fermentation and maturation between 10-26’C

    You can manipulate the clarity to a certain extent but we normally are aiming for clear beers in general so don’t do that very often

    You can chose the dispense temperature

    You can change carbonation levels afterwards

     

    But the main tinkering you should be doing is with the ingredients at the start……

     

    While you offer a solution to bottle the beer, you state the oxidation will allow it to last only 1-2 months.  Is there any method to age the beer longer?

    It’s me just being paranoid about oxidation. The beer will last many months if bottled well. It’s actually a matter of opinion. Beer oxidation happens to be my subject wihin brewing so I’m a little over-the-top about it. The average beer drinker doesn’t really know what beer oxidation is, although they do drink less beer when its oxidised. If you want aged beer for some reason then you can leave it bottled for years if you want.

  • WilliamsWarn – The World’s First Personal Brewery

    January 20, 2012 Author: Scott
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    Relatives of a friend of Chris’ came up with this great idea, a completely self contained brewing unit.  All you have to do is add the ingredients and then wait for the beer to be ready on tap.  Coming in at about $4500 US (they are based out of New Zealand) The WilliamsWarn isn’t for everyone, but if you have the cash, and want an easy method to home brew your own beer, this is for you.  I would love to get my hands on one and try it out.

    Here is some information from their website describing how it works.

    The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery has six main technical features that, when combined together, create the world’s first all-in-one brewing appliance. This combination then allows you to make the freshest beer on the planet with minimum effort. The current design is for 23 litres of beer.

     

    1. A stainless steel pressure vessel with beer carbonation level control
    The current global homebrewing method of making beer involves making flat beer that then needs to be carbonated somehow in a secondary production step. This extra step can take up to 4 weeks in the case of bottled homebrew. We have solved this problem by fermenting the beer in a stainless steel pressure vessel that allows the beer to carbonate during the first day of fermentation and hold its carbonation level after that. So there’s no need to bottle or keg the beer and an enormous amount of work and weeks of waiting time is eliminated. It pours out of the brewery, fully carbonated, 7 days after you’ve added the ingredients.

     

    2. A temperature control system
    Poor temperature control in homebrewing is responsible for both long fermentation periods and poor beer flavour. It is also the reason why homebrew can give you a big headache. The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery has perfect temperature control throughout the entire process, just like a modern brewery. By the turn of a dial on the control panel, temperature is controlled during fermentation, maturation, clarification and beer dispense. So there are no delays in the beer production and the flavour is commercial quality.

     

    3. A sediment removal system
    Transferring beer from one tank to another oxidises the beer. The No.1 beer brand in the world has a 3 1/2 month shelf-life because of this. They believe you can taste it. Breweries and good homebrewers minimise this transferring as much as possible but they can’t avoid it and the beer gets moved from tank to tank and into packaging and oxidised along the way. We on the other hand have developed a system that involves no transfers at all. We achieve this by having a bottle under the tank cone that allows us to collect all yeast and haze sediment during fermentation and after clarification, which then gets removed off the tank without the beer having to be moved. Therefore the clear beer coming out of the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery has never been tranferred and is technically the freshest beer in the world.

     

    4. A clarification system
    After fermentation the beer is cold and carbonated but it’s still hazy and needs some extra clarification. But because we’ve developed a pressurised fermentation system that self-carbonates (so that we could eliminate the weeks long secondary carbonation step homebrewers have to do) we’ve needed to develop a beer clarification system that works under pressure. So the WilliamsWarn has a well-designed system that allows 50ml of a special clarification agent to be forced into the beer and mixed well for about 10 seconds, whilst the whole tank is still under pressure. The remaining yeast cells and beer haze then all fall into the sediment bottle under the tank, which then gets removed. This helps clear the beer without us having to move the beer, which has resulted in us being able to invent the first all-in-one brewing machine. Everything occurs in one tank instead of many tanks, kegs and bottles.

     

    5. A gas dispense system
    Once the beer is cold and clarified, it is ready to consume. However if we opened the beer tap and started pouring beer, as we emptied the tank over time, the tank pressure would start to decrease and the beer would become flat. This is because as the headspace becomes larger and the beer volume smaller, the CO2 in the beer moves into the headspace and the beer starts to lose its fizz. So what we need to do is maintain the pressure in the headspace as the level decreases, with an external source of CO2. Then the natural CO2 in the beer stays in the beer and it remains fully carbonated right until the last drop. So we use Soda Stream CO2 cylinder that is placed in the machine, to help push the beer out the beer tap and maintain the same pressure in the tank from first drop till last drop.

     

    6. A draft beer dispense mechanism with flow-control
    The final important part of the technology is the beer tap. Because the beer is under pressure and the tap is close to the tank, we need to be able to restrict the flow so that the beer doesn’t flow out of the tap too quickly and cause over-foaming in the glass. In addition, because we can make unlimited beer styles in the personal brewery, the beer in the tank can be a highly carbonated wheat beer or a low carbonated English ale, so be sitting at different tank pressures. We have therefore used a beer tap with a flow-control mechanism to account for these two issues. This enables the brewer to control the speed of the pour, so that he or she can always get the perfect pour into the glass. The mechanism is simply a small lever on the side of the tap that can be easily adjusted before or during a pour, to restrict or open-up the flow inside the tap as it is dispensed. In addition, by pulling the top of the tap backwards, you can add more foam to the top of your beer in your glass.

     

    Source: http://www.williamswarn.com/

  • Was Ancient Sumerian Beer Alcohol-Free?

    January 18, 2012 Author: Scott
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    So it seems that ancient Sumerian beer may not have had alcohol in it.  According to new research:

    Despite being able to pull information from various sources, Damerow concluded that the remnants of Mesopotamia held little clue to the brewing techniques of the Sumerians, and expressed doubts that the popular beverage could be considered beer.

     

    “Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol,” Damerow wrote in his study, first published in November in the Cuneiform Digital Library Journal.

    I’m not so sure I agree with this thought, as it seems like if you were going to go to the trouble to have all the ingredients what then would be the point of such a beverage?

    Looking over the cuneiform texts, Damerow found that many contained records of brewery deliveries of emmer wheat, barley and malt, but hardly a scrap of information on the beer production processes. While seemingly surprising, the lack of a beer recipe makes sense, as the administrative documents were likely written for an audience already familiar with the details of brewing, according to Damerow.

     

    Whatever information Damerow could glean from the documents was clouded by the fact that the methods used for recording the information differed between locations and time periods. Moreover, the Sumerian bureaucrats didn’t base their records and calculations on any consistent number system.

    Well, maybe Mr. Damerow is just trying to make a name for himself and this will amount to nothing.  As for me, I’m not sure I buy into the philosophy.

    Source: msn.com

  • SOPA and PIPA are bad news for the internet.

    January 18, 2012 Author: Scott
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    To take action now: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

    If you don’t know what SOPA and PIPA are, it’s time for a quick lesson.  They are two bills that are currently making their way through congress that could SERIOUSLY cripple the internet.  Their core purpose is to combat piracy, but the wording in the bills is so vague that any site (including this one) could be taken offline without warning.  Freedom of speech, that is a thing of the past.  Here are some sites that are participating in today’s blackout:

    http://www.reddit.com/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (currently providing an easy way for you to contact YOUR representative on this matter)

    https://www.google.com/ (Their image is covered up)

    http://boingboing.net/

    http://www.mozilla.org/ (Makers of the firefox web browser)

    http://charlotte.craigslist.org/

    I’d like to thank Reddit for the following FAQ on SOPA/PIPA, the irony being that if SOPA/PIPA passed this site could be taken offline for use of their FAQ.

    FAQ

    What is the intent of SOPA/PROTECT IP?

    The stated intent of the bills is to provide tools for law enforcement and copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights.

    What’s wrong with protecting copyrights?

    Nothing! The devil, as they say, is in the details. PROTECT IP and SOPA will cause too much collateral damage, have a high potential for abuse, and won’t even be that effective at stopping the crimes they target. Read alienth’s examination of where these bills fail.

    I’m not in the U.S. Why does this affect me?

    Many of the sites that you may use (e.g. Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc.) are all affected by this law and will be required to hide offending domains from you.

    If a non-U.S. site is blocked in the U.S., the site could suffer financially or even be bankrupted by the loss of U.S. traffic and revenue.

    What are the differences between PROTECT IP and SOPA?

    At a general level, the bills are very similar. SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” is from the House of Representatives, while the PROTECT IP Act is from the Senate. Either or both bills may pass a vote in their chamber of congress on their way to becoming law. Both must be defeated to end this threat. There have recently been more detailed explanations in an ELI5 thread and alienth’s blog post.

    What about ACTA?

    The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, is a multi-national agreement with similar goals to the U.S.-only PROTECT IP and SOPA bills. It is criticized for many of the same reasons that PROTECT IP and SOPA are, but is also concerning because it has been drafted in secret. ACTA is not the focus of this blackout but please take the time to learn more about ACTA.

    I’m not a U.S. citizen. How can I help?

    You can still call or e-mail the U.S. representatives (sponsors of the bills would be a good choice). However, you may want to turn your attention more towards ACTA or other over-zealous copyright bills in your country.

    When will reddit be back? What should I do when it comes back?

    reddit will return to normal service at 8 PM EST (0100 UTC). While our protest is temporary in nature, PROTECT IP and SOPA are not. Continue to pay attention and join the conversation in /r/SOPA when reddit returns.

    More answers

    Check out the /r/SOPA Community FAQ.

    Learn more

    Get Involved

     

  • Yuengling now America’s Largest Brewer

    January 16, 2012 Author: Scott
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    I’m not a big fan of Yuengling beer, but I’ll drink it any day of the week over the swill produced by Anheuser Busch, Miller, or Coors.  Yuengling is now the largest American owned brewery in the United States.

    According to new estimates from Beer Marketer’s Insights, Yuengling surged last year with shipments up 16.9% to 2.5 million barrels, placing it eighth in overall U.S. market share, at 1.2%. That was good enough to nose by Boston, which grew by 8% to 2.4 million barrels, dropping to ninth place. Boston owns the Sam Adams brand.

    I’m very happy to see that the top largest American owned breweries are independent.  Further down the list, however, there is some room for improvement:

    Yuengling’s ranking as the top American-owned brewer comes with some caveats. Pabst Brewing Co., which ranks fifth overall, is U.S.-owned, but outsources its brewing. Sixth-place North American Breweries, which sells brands such as Genesee and Magic Hat, is also U.S.-owned, but a chunk of its volume comes from the imported Labatt brand.

    If you haven’t had Yuengling, it’s worth a try, and it’s better for the US economy, too!!!

    Source:  adage.com

  • Review – Anchor Steam Beer

    January 12, 2012 Author: Scott
    1 Comment

    Today Chris, Mathew, and I are reviewing Anchor Steam Beer.  I was recently reading the book Home beermaking: The complete beginner’s guidebook and there was a section in the book talking about “steam beer”.

    Steam beer, the only native American beer style, was born in late 19th century San Francisco, when refrigeration and ice were unavailable to Eastern immigrants accustomed to lager brewing.  Desiring local beer, they brewed with lager yeast at (unrefrigerated) temperatures, producing a robust, highly hopped (partly for preservation reasons) brew more like an ale than a lager in flavor, yet with a unique sharp character imparted by the warm fermenting lager yeast.  Unlike most draft beers at the time, steam beer was carbonated (by krausening), and the hissing noise issuing from a freshly-tapped keg probably gave rise to the name steam.

    That is a nice piece of history, but it’s the next part that caught my eye:

    Today, steam is a trademark of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco.

    I find that funny simply because the top of their bottle states:

    …Anchor alone has used the quaint name “steam” for its unique beer.

    With all the fanfare, we figured we give the beer a try.

    In our ongoing review series we’ll be covering the following 5 items:

    • Appearance
    • Aroma
    • Mouthfeel
    • Flavor
    • Aftertaste

    Here is a quick guide for the beginner http://indybeers.com/beer-tasting-guide/. At the bottom of that page is an HTML template that can be used in our comments if you would like to post your own reviews along with us.

    About Anchor Brewing:

    Based out of San Francisco, CA they have roots in the area that go back to 1849.    I was going to post more information about them, but I really hate their website.  The “Our Craft” and “Our History” sections are bad.  The guys over at Aleheads should consider using it in their “worst brewery websites” series.

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/AnchorBrewing

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anchorbrewing

    Appearance

    Scott: There was a slight cloudiness to the beer.  It had a good golden/amber color.  I must have poured mine wrong (or right depending on your personal thoughts) because I got almost no head.  My second beer I poured with a heavy hand to get a nice thick, creamy head.

    Chris: The body was a cloudy shade of amber. Pouring this beer differently changed the appearance. If you slowly poured it into a glass it had almost no head. If you didn’t baby it, the head was a fluffy off white that lasted throughout the entire glass. Lots of bubbles floated up from the bottom as carbonation was plentiful.

    Mathew:  There was a small head but seemed to vary a lot with everyone’s pour. It was also very bubbly and not creamy like the description says. The color was a light Amber with a slight cloudiness to it. There seemed to be a large amount of carbonation as there was a continued bubble stream from the bottom of the glass, like a soda, the whole time I was drinking it.

    Aroma

    Scott: Not much on the nose.  Maybe some hints of malt and grass.

    Chris: The aroma was very mild. Hints of grain and sweetness were noticable but faint.

    Mathew: There was not a lot of aroma and it was hard to distinguish.

    Mouthfeel

    Scott: Very crisp and smooth.  Lots of light carbonation across the tongue.

    Chris: Medium-bodied with abundant carbonation.

    Mathew: There was a large amount of carbonation leaving a bubbly feeling on the tongue, like champagne.

    Flavor

    Scott: As with everything else, light in flavor, but that’s not a bad thing.  It has a very approachable quality to it.   Unquestionably easy to drink.  I could see myself putting back more than a couple of these.

    Chris: I was very happy with this beer. It had a clean, lightly sweet caramel taste with no hoppy bitterness.

    Mathew: It had a light beer taste with a hint of wheat but was not strong with any flavors.

    Aftertaste

    Scott:  Nothing too much on the backend.  Mathew mentioned that it had a bitter aftertaste, but I think that is only in comparison to the mild flavor of the beer to begin with.  Held against any other beer it wouldn’t be considered as bitter.

    Chris: I didn’t pick up on much of an aftertaste.

    Mathew: At first it seemed to leave a sticky dry aftertaste but as I moved to my second one that went away and it have the taste and feel of a light lager.

    Final Thoughts

    Scott:  At $9.99 a six pack I won’t be rushing to drink a lot of these; however, if I find myself looking for something easy to drink, and this is part of my selection from which to choose, I would happily drink a few more.  I’ll give it a 3.5 out of 5.

    Chris: Above I noted that it didn’t have much of an aftertaste. Beyond this being a clean-light beer it was so easy to drink and found myself going through one very quickly. I like trying new beers and this one was a good one. Its mild palate makes it and easy to drink.  I’ll give it a 4 out of 5.

    Mathew: The beer was not bad, it was supposed to beer a mix of an ale and lager, I didn’t really get that as I am a big ale and lager fan. I think it more had the mix of a light beer with a hint of Champagne. I would drink again but would not order at a bar. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 with a 2.5 out of 5 on the manufactures description.


  • Anheuser-Busch no longer the #1 and #2 beers in America

    January 9, 2012 Author: Scott
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    It’s not really news that big beer is slowly losing it’s grip on the American consumer, but it’s still interesting to watch things things at the top change.  It turns out that AB just lost the #2 spot to rival Coors and their Coors Light beer.

    This is the first time in nearly two decades that Anheuser-Busch hasn’t controlled the top two beers in the country. The King of Beers is on its way to becoming court jester.

    I wouldn’t read too much into this, but my take it on it is Budweiser customers are finding other beers to drink, whereas Coors customers are still following the pied piper.

    “Anytime you can dethrone the king, it’s special,” a MillerCoors spokesman told Advertising Age. An Anheuser-Busch spokesman was less celebratory, saying the company was on track with a strategy to stabilize Budweiser.

    The No. 1 brand is Bud Light.

    Source: MSN.com