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.

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!

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.

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 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.

Cheers,

-Jeremy

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.

Dinner would consist a spinach salad with dried cherries and marcona almonds, an entrée of rack of lamb served with polenta cakes and grilled asparagus, followed by a desert bar with cherry preserves playing the star.  With each course, one and sometimes two krieks were served to highlight the flavors and aromas of not only the kriek, but the course itself.  The added benefit of this dinner, was giving us all something to talk about, thus getting an opportunity to meet and get to know our fellow Kampers.  I think it goes with out saying that the meal and the krieks were fantastic and very satisfying.  Not a bad way to kick off the first day of Kriek Kamp.

The following morning we returned to the brewery to participate in a sensory evaluation training led by Matt.  Matt started off by educating us about how our palates, sense of smell, and even memories play an interconnected role in how we perceive the many layers of flavor and aroma in a beer.  Matt asked us to start by moving around the room to one of ten foil wrapped and numbered rocks glasses (so we couldn’t see the contents) that he had scattered about the room.  Our task was to put our nose to the holes in the foil of each glass and write down the first thing that came to mind whether it was a particular smell we detected or even just a memory that leaped to mind.

Of the ten, only one scent stumped everyone.  The fresh cut grass.  You would think that would be impossible to miss.  Everyone recognizes the smell of freshly cut grass right?  Clearly not when it is less than a dozen blades of grass.  The smell was so light and intangible in such a small quantity that nobody could even wrap a description of what they had smelled in that glass.  The point of the lesson was to exercise our senses and our brain to detect flavor and aroma compounds that exist in beer, both intended and unintended.  From here, Matt went on to pour a flight of five samples of the same beer.  The first was the unadulterated control sample so we always had a baseline against which to compare the doctored beers.  The next four samples highlighted sweetness, saltiness, creamed corn and buttery flavors.  We discussed the causes of each of these flaws and how to avoid them in the brewing process as well as discussing how some of these flavors are intentionally introduced into some beers with specific intent.

After the conclusion of the sensory evaluation, it was time to tour the brewhouse.  As an added bonus, one of my favorite DM beers was being brewed that day, Hop Lava.  After a quick walkthrough, highlighting a typical brewing session, we were just in time to see the fresh batch of Hop Lava leave the boil kettle and make it’s way through the huge hopback packed with Cascade and Centennial hops before heading for the chiller.  The smell was nothing short of heavenly.  In fact I’m pretty sure I saw a ray of light shinning on the hopback and an angel singing somewhere in the background trying to sing above din of the pumps.

Following the brewery tour, it was time to hop on the bus and head out to Mosier to pick cherries at the orchards of the Evans Fruit Company, a family owned farm since taking over an old neglected orchard in 2000.  Once there, Philip Evans educated us on the ins and outs of cherry production, taking us through the different varieties that they produce and how they are grown.  After that, it was time to grab our buckets and head into the rows of cherry trees to pick nearly 300 pounds of fruit.  That sounds like a lot, but between 20 plus Kampers, it took less than an hour.  At Matt’s direction, we picked two different varieties of cherries, Bings and Montmorency.  Bings are your typical supermarket/farmers market variety while the Montmorency is a smaller bright red sour cherry.  Overall, the Montmorency accounted for about 10% of our overall haul.  Once we had eaten, er, um I mean picked our fill of cherries, it was back on the bus for the next leg of our journey.

Our next stop would be Logsdon Farmhouse Ales in Odell, Oregon.  Logsdon is a co-operative brewery operated chiefly by Dave Lodsdon (found of Wyeast Laboratories) and Charles Porter.  Charles took us on a tour of the brewery built in the farm’s big red barn.  It doesn’t get anymore farmhouse than that!  While there, Charles poured samples of the first two ales to be released just last week, the Seizon and Seizon Bretta, a saison fermented with brettanomyces.  Next we headed to the small plot where Logsdon is growing root stock with which to start their own orchard of Belgian sharbeekse kreik.  This is the variety of cherries traditionally used to make krieks.  Logsdon has jumped a multitude of regulatory hurdles in order to import this variety  from Belgium and start an orchard intended to provide fruit for future Logsdon beers.

After departing Logsdon, it  was off to Matt’s home and site of his own cherry orchard (used exclusively for Double Mountain’s krieks) where hey played host for a sumptuous BBQ provided by Apple Valley Country Store and a relaxing evening chatting and strolling around his property.  A great end to a wonderful day.

Late the next morning, it was back to the brewery where just out in front of the brewery, we crushed our haul of cherries, put them into huge straining bags, and then loaded them into Double Mountains 5 bbl fermenter.  This fermenter is used for some of their one off  beers and pilot batches.  From here the fermenter was moved by forklift back into the brewery where it was filled with a porter that was already three days into it’s fermentation.  The plan was that the vigorously fermenting porter would go to work on all of the sugars we had introduced via the cherries and really take off.  That and the conditioning on the skins for three weeks, should make this a porter worth waiting for.  Once our task was complete we had a farewell lunch in the tap room and shortly there after went our separate ways.

I really enjoyed Kriek Kamp.  Charlie, Matt and the rest of the Double Mountain staff put on a top notch event.  Everyone at the brewery was extremely gracious and accomodating and really brought us into their world, if only for a couple of days.  I look forward to heading back to Hood River in a few weeks to sample the fruits of our labor (pun intended) and hope to get a chance to share a glass with some of my fellow Kampers.  If Double Mountain ever hosts another event of this nature in the future and you are thinking about going……DO IT!!!

Prost,

Duke

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

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

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

Saturday April 2nd, which is this upcoming Saturday, we will be hosting a “Set Home Brew Free” event.  We along with members of the Oregon Brew Crew will be celebrating the passage of SB 444 by inviting home brewers, professional brewers, beer bloggers and connoisseurs out to share samples of beer with each other.  Why, you might ask?  Because we can!

The event begins when our shop opens at 9am, which if you ask me is kind of early to start drinking.  However, it’s never too early to start brewing!  We would also like to encourage home brewers to bring their gear down to our shop and brew here in our warehouse, or weather permitting, in the parking lot!  Jeremy will be brewing a batch of beer and answering questions for anyone who might have them.

This is an all-ages event but we will be checking identification and asking that persons under the age of 21 not consume beer at our shop.  We would also ask any participating beer samplers to please practice moderation.  We want this event to be a fun and entertaining celebration while maintaining a family-friendly atmosphere.

If you would like to help in the promotion of this event, CLICK HERE to download the flyer, hand it out to your friends and post it up at local businesses!

Cheers!