Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers Contest Details Announced. Finally…

Here is a quick run down on the Portland Cheers to Belgain Beers Home Brewing Comp. Entries can be dropped off at FH Steinbart Co. or Lucky Lab by 4/14. Entry fee is $15, but also gets you admission to the PCTTB festival 4/21. Judging is done using a March Madness inspired bracket system. Brackets are defined by color and strength of your brew and if it passes muster it moves on to the next round.

All entries are to brewed with Wyeast 3864, Canadian/Belgian Ale Yeast. This is a special strain available at Steinbarts for a limited time. Be sure to call the shop for availability as we only have so allotted for you guys.

Details below come straight from Oregon Brewers Guild:

Enter you beer in one of Four Categories based on color and alcoholic strength either light or dark and high or low for alcoholic strength where 6% Alcohol by Volume is the divider.
Enter your beer labeled as Light/Low, Dark/Low, Light/High, Dark/High you can use the BJCP bottle ID form download the form here
Usee the Category Entered to say Light or Dark and Subcategory Entered to say Low or High.
Drop off 3-12oz beers or 2-22oz beers

Judging will be 04/18/2012
Beers will be divided into the 4 categories and tasted such that we have a semi-finalist from each of the 4 brackets.
After that we will go to a mini Best of Show competition were the winner will win prizes yet to be determined.

The $15 entry fee will get you admission to Portland’s Cheers to Belgian Beers on Saturday, April 21st, 2012 at Metalworks Fabrication.
Checks are preferred and can be made payable to Oregon Brewer’s Guild.

Contests Are Coming!

Hey Guys,

It’s time to sharpen your skills and get ready for competition season! We have lots coming. If you have never competed before and want to know how your beer would stack up, our staff is always happy to analyze it for you and help you figure out how to enter it.

National Homebrew Competition – Entries Due 3/19

This is completion is open to all styles. Entry fee ranges from $9-$14 per entry. Rules and entry details can be found here. Steinbarts will be a drop off location!

Portland Cheers to Belgian Beers – Deadline TBD (Sometime in April)

PCTBB is a really fun contest in which all beers are brewed with the same Belgian style yeast. This year we will be handling wyeast strain #3864 for the years competition. More info on the special strain for this year can be found here.  For details on the PCTBB home brew contest go here http://oregonbeer.org/pctbb/. Cost and exact entry deadline are TBD. We will be collecting entries here at Steinbarts.

Steinbarts Wheat Beer - Entries Due 5/15 – No Entry Fee

This is a free fun contest that we will be hosting this year. Styles are limited to wheat beers. More details here.

Cascade Brewers Cup/Puget Sound Pro-am – Entries Due 3/3

The Cascade Brewers Cup and Puget Sound Pro-am have joined forces this year. Winners will collaborate with a Washington brewery to develop a beer for the Great American Beer Festival. This contest is open to all styles. $6 per entry. Rules and details can be found here.

Slurp and Burp – Entries Due 3/10

A long standing Local Competition. Winner gets to brew with Ken Johnson at Fearless Brewing. Open style $7 entry fee. We will collect your entries at Steinbarts. Rules and details can be found here.

OBC Club Only, Dark Lager – Entries Due 2/10

OBC club members only. Dark Lager contest. Check OBC’s website here for details.

OBC Club Only, Stout – Entries Due 2/10

OBC club members only. Stout contest. Check OBC’s website here for details.

Upcoming Home-Brew Competitions

Here at F.H. Steinbart Co. we’re gearing up for some great upcoming brew competitions.  One in late spring and the next in the heat of summer.  We’ve had a blast with our last couple competitions and are looking forward to seeing what you guys bring to the table in the future.  Oh yeah, there will also be some great opportunities for you guys to win cool stuff through these competitions.

Wheat Beers

This one is pretty straight forward.  We want to know what you guys have up your sleeve as far as wheat beers go.  We will be limiting this competition to BJCP styles 6D, 15A,15B and 15C.  If you are unfamiliar with the BJCP style guide, you can download a PDF of the guide by clicking here.  There is no entry fee for this competition, please use the standard BJCP competition entry form, you can download it here.  Attach the entry form to your beers along with BJCP bottle labels that you can download here.  Only two entries per brewer, please.  Entries should be three 12oz bottles and should be turned in at F.H. Steinbart Co. (234 SE 12th Ave. Portland, OR),  no later than 5:30pm on 5/15/2012.

Summer Lagers/Kolsch Beers

We want you guys to brew us your version of PBR!  Okay, maybe not PBR, but we want to see your skills when it comes to the difficult task of making summertime lagers.  We’re looking for the kind of beer you would want to crack open after spending the day under the hot summer sun, doing yard work.  BJCP styles 1A through 2C and 6C will be accepted.  Same general rules and entry forms apply as with our wheat beer competition.  Deadline for entries is 8/15/2012 by 5:30PM.

Good luck to you all and happy brewing!

7 Tips For Cold Weather Fermentation

Managing fermentation temperatures during the winter can be difficult. Many of us do not have the ability, or the financial means to keep our houses at exactly 68-70F. We get a lot of “my beer is not fermenting” phone calls during late fall and winter. The first thing we ask home brewers having this problem is, “what temperature is the beer?” The second question we ask is, “did you measure the temperature and how?” This article is designed to give you some tips on managing your fermentations during the winter time.

The problem we home brewers face is during the winter is a two-part problem. The first being, inconsistent temperature in the fermenter and the second being wide temperature swings. The issue of temperature swings can be highlighted in the way a basic household thermostat works. Most of us (if we are energy conscious) will program our thermostat to turn on about an hour before you get home and turn off about an hour after you leave. This means that the ambient temperature in your house might range from 55F to 70F in the course of a day. Yeast do not like this. In fact it is better in many cases to ferment a bit cooler at a constant temperature than to have large swings.

The second problem many of us face is just downright cool temperatures. When most ale yeasts get below about 60F it will quit working all together, or ferment about half the sugars in your beer and then quit giving you a stuck fermentation. This can be a problem if you ferment in areas of your home that tend to get less heat, like a mud room or a basement. Those with cool fermentation areas need not despair, however, the problem of a cool fermentation environment is easily overcome by selecting the right yeast strain or applying a little heat. We have highlighted some tips, tricks, and gadgets to help you keep brewing all winter long! We suggest that you combine these methods and experiment until you find a winter fermentation method that works for you.

Tip # 1: The Fermometer!

This is a great tool for just actually knowing what the temperature of your fermentation is. Read your fermometer by looking at the 3 temperatures highlighted. The center number shows actual temperature.

Fermometers stick to the outside of your carboys, buckets, or kegs.

Tip # 2: Make a Yeast Starter!

By making a yeast starter you are increasing the yeast cell count into your beer. This will help your yeast deal with cooler than ideal fermentation temperatures. If you are using dry yeast re-hydrate it and use multiple packages. Cool weather can cause stuck ferments, but the addition of a bit of extra yeast can often keep your fermentation going, even in cases where your yeast is working in a cool environment.

Tip # 3: Select your yeast carefully!

There are a few “hybrid” ale strains that are able to ferment quite well down into the low 60′s and high 50′s. Two good examples of these strains are Wyeast 1056 and Danstar Nottingham. It is worth noting that these low temperature ferments require a larger yeast pitch than normal and add a few days to your fermentation.

Brewing lager in the winter can also work nicely. Some lager strains like Wyeast #2124 can be used fermented around 55F and than lagered around 40-48F (think about your back porch!).

A thermometer in water more accurately measures average temperature.

Tip # 4: Find a different locations in your house or apartment to ferment beers.

The student housing/apartment I lived in freshman yeast of college had a coat closet with a hot water heater in that back of it. It was one of the older less insulated types and it put off a good bit of heat. I quickly figured out that this closet would hold at about 66-70F regardless of the ambient temperature.

A good way to find these areas in your home is simply to put a thermometer in a pitcher or small bucket of water and place it in various locations. Let this sit for half a day or so and you should have an accurate idea of the average temperature in that are. Again, remember to watch out for areas that will have large temperature swings.

Tip # 5: Directly heat your fermenter.

There are a number of different products that can be used to heat your fermenters. These tend to work best when used in conjunction with a thermostat. Below is a list of some of these gadgets:

A programmable digital controller by Ranco. This will control a heater and maintain a set point.

1 – A digital controller with a thermowell allows you to switch your heater on and off automatically. You can also do this manually by moving your heat source around and/or insulating your carboy the controller simplifies this process.

A fermwrap secured to a carboy

2 – Fermwraps. Fermwraps can be used to directly heat your fermenter. You can tape it 1/2 or 1/3 of the way onto a carboy or bucket, or use it with a digital controller.

3 – Brew Belts: Brew belts work on the same principle as a fermwrap, though they do not put out as much heat. It is also worth noting that the manufacturer of brew belts do not recommend putting a brew belt on carboys.

4 – A heating pad. Some brewers use heating pads (like the ones you would use for muscle aches). These do work for heating fermenters, but they are less precise than the brew belt or the fermwrap. Never place a fermenter on top of this type of heating pad. Another option for heating pad is the “Copper Tun” heat pad. You can, and should, put your fermenter right on top of these.

A copper tun Heating Pad. These put out about 25W, which is slightly more than a brew belt. But less than a Fermwrap.

Tip # 6: Use a wash tub or insulate your carboy.

A carboy in a water bath.

Wrapping a blanket around the carboy or putting it in a wash basin full of water can help stabilize the temperature of the beer. In addition a fish tank heater can be added to a wash tub full of water.

Tip # 7: Remember that the air temperature is not the same as the temperature in your carboy.

This is especially true when you are dealing with a very active fermentation. Yeast can actually produce enough heat during vigorous ferments to raise a 5 gallon batch 4-5 degrees F. If you ferment in larger batches this effect increases. Commercial breweries need to actively cool their fermenters using refrigerant even when in the winter time.

The concept of “thermal mass” is also worth noting here. Without delving too deeply into the science of it all, what this basically means is that it takes time for thing to heat up and cool down. A bucket or carboy with 5 gallons of beer has a fairly large thermal mass. This applies to home-brew fermentation as such that the air temperature will not exactly match the temperature in your carboy. Small swings in air temp may have little effect on the temperature of your beer. The thermal mass of your beer can be increased by placing it in a wash tub full of water.

Our Next Competition: Winter Ales

Hey Guys,

Our next brewing competition will be for “Winter Ales”. Our competition will be limited to BJCP style Catagories 23: specialty beer, 22c: wood aged, (specifically bourbon aged), 21B: Christmas/Winter Specialty Beer, 19B & 19C: English/American Barley Wine. Other catagories will be allowed provided that they can reasonably be classified as a “winter ale”, this means Big and Smooth spices  and/or wood optional.

 

There is no entry fee for the competition. Use the standard BJCP entry form that can be found here: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_EntryRecipe.pdf. This form should be attached to your entry along with a bottle label ID form, which can be found here http://www.bjcp.org/docs/BJCP_BottleID.pdf.

There is no entry fee for this competition. Entries will be due at FH Steinbart Co. by Monday 1/16.  Scores will be posted, along with your name at fhsteinbart.wordpress.com/. You can come pickup your judging sheets at the store after the competition is over.

 

Prizes will be given for the best beers in each catagory as will as the best of show. Email info@fhsteinbart.com with questions.

 

2011 Big & Small Results

Thanks to everyone that participated in our 2011 Big and Small Home Brewing Contest. Below are the contest results. Prizes for our winners as well as score sheets will be available in the store.

Cheers,

-Jeremy

Small Beers
Entrant	Beer Style	Scores			Average
Aiden Currie	Belgian Pale Ale	39	37	39	38.33
Bob Pfingston	Wheat Beer/Dunkel	36	39	36	37
Tom Gazdial	Dry Stout	13	15	15	36.33
Jason Goetz	German Pilsner	22	34	36	30.67
Eric Schlosser	Light American Lager	25	30	24	26.33
Corrie Heath	Spruce Honey Lager	26	21	23	23.33
Jim perrualt	American Pale Ale	18	26	18	20.67
Sara Boam	Honey Basil Belg. Pale	13	20	17	16.67
Big Beers
Joel Bergman	Imperial Stout	41	42	44	42.33
Jarek Szymanski	Bourbon Imperial Stout	38	38	38	38
Bob Pfingston	IPA	38	37	36	37
Eric Schlosser	Doppel Bock	37	38	35	36.67
John Vavrek	Doppel Bock	39	36	34	36.33
Jim Perrualt	Baltic Porter W/ Vanilla Bean	36	35	34	35
Jack Wainel	Rye IPA	19	19	20	19.33
Ben Cornett & Joel Nebert	Irish Stout W/ Blueberries	15	18	21	18
Winners		Prize
Best Of Show	Joel Bergman	A Steinbart “Brew Chiller” Counter Flow Chiller
1st Place Big Beer	Joel Bergman	A New old Lompoc T-shirt
2nd Place Big Beer	Jerek Szymanski	A Free Subscription to Beer NW
1st Place Small Beers	Aiden Currie	A Hopworks Trucker Hat
2nd Place Small Beer	Bob Pfingston	A Free Subscription to Beer NW

Reflections on Double Mountain’s Kriek Kamp.

Charlie and Matt welcome the Kampers.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Kriek Kamp at Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River, Oregon. From the evening July 13th, to the early afternoon of July 15th, we were immersed in all things Kriek and I thought I would share with you a synopsis of what we were able to see, taste and experience.

I arrived in Hood River on Wednesday evening to start our Kriek Kamp experience with a Brewer’s Dinner hosted by Double Mountain co-founders Charlie Devereux and Matt Swihart.  Matt, Double Mountains Brewmaster, led us through a tasting of three different krieks from Belgium paired with various cheeses to start off the evenings dinner.  With each Kriek, flavors and aromas became a little more pronounced and complex.  All in all, each of the three krieks in the flight were quite good, but they would quickly pale in the shadow of what was ahead for us.  A vertical tasting of  Double Mountain Bing and Raineer cherry krieks dating back to 2008, one of which was believed to be extinct until Matt found a keg in a corner of his cellar.

Brewing Low Gluten Beer Made Easy!?

Some scuttlebutt has been circulating through the home brewing community that challenges current conceptions about making beer that is safe for those with gluten sensitivities and/or Celiacs Disease. The problem is that the current methods for brewing low gluten or gluten free involve using grains other than barley. These alternative brewers grains such as sorghum, millet, and quinoa can be difficult for home brewers to obtain and use the same way they would barley. In addition to the aforementioned practical problems with these alternative grains, beer brewed without barley just tastes off at best. At worst it can be undrinkable.

The solution: Brew beer using conventional  methods and then remove the gluten! While there have been no scientific studies that support this; some home brewers are claiming that the addition of an enzyme called Brewers Clarex (AKA “Clarity Ferm”) can be used to reduce gluten content in beer wort to near insignificant levels. A number of home brewers have reported gluten levels in their beers to be as low/or less than 5 ppm this is equivalent to %0.0005 gluten content. In terms of actual grams of gluten per pint you are talking approximately 0.0025g of total gluten. Though this is not “gluten free” it is a very, very low level of gluten.

Tips for achieving a beer that is low in gluten:

• Do a complete all grain mash with rests at 98-113F, 120-130F, and 149-160F.
• Sparge Slowly
• Be sure to use Whirlfloc or another type of carageenan & chill rapidly to encourage cold break.
• Don’t use wheat or rye in your mash.
• ClarityFerm should be added to the beer immediately after chilling before yeast is pitched.

Please keep in mind that everyone has varying levels of gluten sensitivity. Use your judgement regarding how you present beers brewed in this way to your friends and neighbors.  Some homebrewers got vary low gluten beers using these methods, your results may vary. You can order gluten test kits here http://www.ezgluten.com/. You can also have laboratory tests for gluten done.

Cheers,

-Jeremy

NHC Days 2 & 3 The Gadgets.

Saw Some More Toys!

Even better  than the SABCO stuff (drool) and the all electric brewing system I saw down there (neat-0!), I had a chance to talk with the nice folks at Speidels about their “Braumeister” brewing system. This is by far the most innovative and compact brewing all grain brewing system I have seen in a long time.

The Braumeister takes brew in a bag to the next level. Instead of a bag to hold your grain and then laughter the Braumeister actually uses a perforated stainless tub that sits inside the kettle. After you have mashed, using the integrated heating element and temperature controller you either use a worm gear (for the 20l & 50l models) or a pulley (for the 200l model) to lift the mash tub and allow your wort to drain. When this is done you boil in the same kettle you mashed in. Pretty nifty.

The two downsides that I see to this system are:

1) The limits on how much grain you can actually get in there given that  this is a no sparge system. You cannot get above 1.060 OG without adding malt extract or boiling way down.

2) The Price. The 20L unit will rug you upwards of $2,000, the 50L over $3,000 and a whopping $14,500 for the 50L. Ouch.

Asside from the price this seems like an awesome concept and I can’t wait to see what similar systems are being built in the garage by all you innovative home brewers out there.

Some Braumeister Pics:

5oL Braumeister

20L Braumeister Taken form Speidel.com

Some more Cool Gadgets:

This interesting dispensing system was on display in the Hospitality Suite.

This generous home brewer shared some of his creations from a very portable draft system while we waited in a long line.

Inside this most portable draft system. It even holds a full size CO2!

Some of the most heavy duty HB mills I have ever seen by the folks at "Monster Mill". The larger ones just about took 2 hands to lift.

A new stand alone HRMS controller by SABCO with optional touch screen.

That’s all for now. I attended a bunch of seminars at NHC and plan to post more on those once I can link to the AHA’s lecture slides, but they are not up on the AHA website yet. Also sorry about the sideways images. The wordpress photo up-loader is a little finicky.

Cheers for now,

-Jeremy

NHC 2011 Day One

Went to some great Seminars today.

First Presentation: Chad Yakobson of The Crooked Stave:

Chad Yakobson of The Crooked Stave brewing gave a great presentation on brewing with brett. He had really easy to understand explanations on how to ferment with either 100% brettanomyces or blended fermentations. I thought it was really interesting that the time at which the brett is added during a brettanomyces/servomyces can really change to flavor of the finished beer.

Basically brett added later in the fermentation gives much more “funk” to the beer, while brett added earlier in the fermentation gives a cleaner, less “barnyard type of flavor. Chad also gave some really good information

Slides from his presentation are not available but you should be able to find them here in a few days http://www.ahaconference.org/conference-information/presentations/

You can also check out chads brewery here http://www.crookedstave.com/

and his website for the Brettanomyces project here: http://www.brettanomycesproject.com/

Second Presentation: What’s Wrong With My Beer, Randy Mosher

Randy did a great job of covering common off flavors in beer. He gave some great information on common off flavors in beer and how they result, with a specific focus on proper serving, pouring and handling of beer. I learned some particularly gross details on what a dirty draft system does to your beer. Yuck. Bacterial colonies in a faucet can actually travel all the way down a beer line and into a keg if a draft line infection gets bad enough.

Randy also had some great things to say about dirty glassware, or glassware that still has soap on it. He also had some great explanations on why it is a bad idea to serve beer on blended gas, and why so many pub owners do it (basically it makes the beer flat if you don’t do it right, but it also keeps beer from foaming).

You can find info on the Cicerone program here, which Randy has taken great steps to train beer servers, brewers and retailers on how to store, package, and serve a beer to keep all those wonderful flavors intact. http://www.cicerone.org/

Slides for his presentation can be found here as soon as AHA posts them. http://www.ahaconference.org/conference-information/presentations/

And of course the day would not be complete without checking out a little bit of bling:

The John & Crew of Blichmann Engineering gave us a sneak peak at their newest offering. “The Tower of Power”! The tower of power is a mudular structure that allows precise control over kettle temperature by regulating the gas flow to your top tier burner. He does this with a digital controller, a striker and a gas solenoidvalve to control the flow of propane into the burner. The Tower is also available with an integrated March 809 Pump, flow controller, & 3 way flow control valves. Very cool. I cant wait to have one of these in the shop to drool over.

Here are a couple of Tower of power Pics. In case you miss it in the pictures there is also a USB port in the back of it so you can plug in a laptop. And pictures:

Ohh yeah. The Blichmann Guys have also updated their “Quick Connector” design. They have changed the washer location (so they don’t fall out all the time), and added a silicone hand grip so you can grab the nut on these while the fitting is hot. They also have it available with an optional 90 degree bend on the output to keep your tubes from kinking when you put hot wort through these fittings.

Heres a pic of that design:

To finish off the night Owen from wyeast labs was kind enough to share a wide variety of belgains with myself, Sean Paxton, The guys from Northern Brewer & Midwest Homebrew supplies among others. We werent really sure what was what because all the labels were in Flemish or French, but the beers were really great. I particularly enjoyed one that was brewed with spelt and wheat. Very nice Belgium, very nice.

Here are some pics of our great Belgian Beer experience.

Thanks for reading guys. It’s back to NHC recovery now for me. More to come as I get time. Be sure to bug AHA to post those slides of you get a chance .

Cheers,

-Jeremy