Well this week we spent some time talking to people about beer and peer places and the wife and I thought maybe we can to a little pubcast on how to be a beer advocate. There is a great site Beer Advocate That is all about beer. We share some of our experiences with talking to people about beer.
Also how to not be a beer jerk, or a beer snob because in all honesty that turns people off.
I'd like to say hi to Matt and Katie as well as Harry and our old Friend Q-ball.. Met all these nice people at The Bavarian Lodge in Lisle ,which has a new look on their website.
There will be some pictures here later once I get them downloaded.
The new beer we tried this week is Floris Apple from the makers of Delirium beers
Brouwerij Huyghe in Belgium
Oh you know one things I forget to give in all this time was the link to my reviews on Beer Advocate. Murphy's Reviews I am under the name, Taelec on there I'll put the link on the side bar as well.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Even you can age beer #21
Well another week and another topic has come by my way. Aging beers. Now if you have a nice house with a great beer cellar than you are probably already in the know about how to age beer.
But if you live in an apartment and have no cellar never fear you are not out of luck. We have a some tips on the pubcast #21 You too can age beer. I'll have some notes here and a link to a great site about aging beer, down to the chemistry involved.
Aging beer is a great way to take a really good beer and make it even better. Aging lets the beer flavors mellow, mingle, and mix to achive some really astounding tastes and depth of character. A few pubcast ago I had talked about aging a beer accidentally. It was an Edmund Fitzgerald from Great Lakes.pubcast #11 I had left it in a fridge for about a year and I tell you there was a big difference. the beer had a richer more complex taste to it. I like the beer but this was even better than fresh. There are some beers that should be fresh but we are not worried about those. We are thinking about beers you can age.
When you want to ager a beer. In a cellar or in a beer fridge you should consider a few things.
1st and foremost is get a quality beer. Not some mass produced low grade swill but a good solid beer from a reputable and good or excellent brewer.
2nd Decide what kind you would like to age or if you can pick one style get a varity of what you like and experiment. Look for beers with big taste like an Imperial IPA or a a good Barleywine. Belgium strongs both light and dark. You get the idea.
3rd check out the ABV% higher the better for the most part. You really don't want to age a beer that is under 5-6% they jsut won't last the time you need to develope those tastes. A good idea is to star with 10% and up but that 7-9% range can work. Try them out and see how it goes.
4th Place to age. If you have the cellar you want a nice cool dark out of the way place where the beer can sit and develope. Store them up right and let nature take its course. Stay away from places taht have a wild range of temps. You do not want it too cold the beer chemistry will not take place. Too warm and you spoil the beer. There is lots of thought on the temperature range but I think a good rule of thumb is around 45- 55 degrees F. If you do not have the cellar get yourself a spare fridge. Get a good thermometer set you fridge up and get it to that nice stable temp range and then filler up. Though with a fridge corked bottles are not really a good idea. A fridge is a very dry place and that could ruin your corks and lead to spoilage. If you want and can afford the wine fridge go for that. It keeps the inside more humid so corks don't dry out. Again store up right as much as possible.
So you see it is possible to age in an apartment if you give it some thought and figure out what you want to do. The one draw back of course is you limit your aging stock if you can only get a small fridge. Although it is worth the effort and it gives you a great place to experiment.
Oh one more thing about aging. PUT THE DATE ON YOUR BEER! it helps to know how long its been in there :)
What we are aging.
Bells 3rd coast Old Ale
Hop Wallop
Edmund Fizgerald from
Duvval
3 Philosophers
North Coast Old Stock Ale
Bells Two Hearted
All that aside don't forget the
But if you live in an apartment and have no cellar never fear you are not out of luck. We have a some tips on the pubcast #21 You too can age beer. I'll have some notes here and a link to a great site about aging beer, down to the chemistry involved.
Aging beer is a great way to take a really good beer and make it even better. Aging lets the beer flavors mellow, mingle, and mix to achive some really astounding tastes and depth of character. A few pubcast ago I had talked about aging a beer accidentally. It was an Edmund Fitzgerald from Great Lakes.pubcast #11 I had left it in a fridge for about a year and I tell you there was a big difference. the beer had a richer more complex taste to it. I like the beer but this was even better than fresh. There are some beers that should be fresh but we are not worried about those. We are thinking about beers you can age.
When you want to ager a beer. In a cellar or in a beer fridge you should consider a few things.
1st and foremost is get a quality beer. Not some mass produced low grade swill but a good solid beer from a reputable and good or excellent brewer.
2nd Decide what kind you would like to age or if you can pick one style get a varity of what you like and experiment. Look for beers with big taste like an Imperial IPA or a a good Barleywine. Belgium strongs both light and dark. You get the idea.
3rd check out the ABV% higher the better for the most part. You really don't want to age a beer that is under 5-6% they jsut won't last the time you need to develope those tastes. A good idea is to star with 10% and up but that 7-9% range can work. Try them out and see how it goes.
4th Place to age. If you have the cellar you want a nice cool dark out of the way place where the beer can sit and develope. Store them up right and let nature take its course. Stay away from places taht have a wild range of temps. You do not want it too cold the beer chemistry will not take place. Too warm and you spoil the beer. There is lots of thought on the temperature range but I think a good rule of thumb is around 45- 55 degrees F. If you do not have the cellar get yourself a spare fridge. Get a good thermometer set you fridge up and get it to that nice stable temp range and then filler up. Though with a fridge corked bottles are not really a good idea. A fridge is a very dry place and that could ruin your corks and lead to spoilage. If you want and can afford the wine fridge go for that. It keeps the inside more humid so corks don't dry out. Again store up right as much as possible.
So you see it is possible to age in an apartment if you give it some thought and figure out what you want to do. The one draw back of course is you limit your aging stock if you can only get a small fridge. Although it is worth the effort and it gives you a great place to experiment.
Oh one more thing about aging. PUT THE DATE ON YOUR BEER! it helps to know how long its been in there :)
What we are aging.
Bells 3rd coast Old Ale
Hop Wallop
Edmund Fizgerald from
Duvval
3 Philosophers
North Coast Old Stock Ale
Bells Two Hearted
All that aside don't forget the
Wife's birthday is Feb. 14th
... I'm going to have to get her Something nice.. maybe beer.
Ok links time
The Brew Basement This guy know his beer aging. Check out all the information
Oy Sinebrychoff Ab Makers of the Porter I tried this week
Ok links time
The Brew Basement This guy know his beer aging. Check out all the information
Oy Sinebrychoff Ab Makers of the Porter I tried this week
Kerry Piper Not a beer bar so to say but a great place to go and have a good time
So thanks for coming by we will see you in a week!
EDIT
This was sent to me by a listener. He as a lot of great ideas here and the invention is pretty cool too.
Some tips on laying beer down for storage…
1. You are right; you don't actually lay it on its side. Keep itstanding upright, this will compact the yeast on the bottom of thebottle.
2. If you will be keeping the beer a long time you may want to dip thecap in Wax. Over a long time O2 can leak in around the cap or throughthe cork, oxidizing the beer. Regular candle wax will work, but mosthomebrew shops have the good wax like they use on wine bottles.
3. Refrigerators cycle temperatures that are how they do the frostfree trick. So it is a good idea to insolate the bottles in the fridge. That way the bottles do not swing in temperature as much as the air in the fridge. Even just a beer cozy will help.
I have invented a little part used in long term storage of fermented beverages inCornelius kegs www.kegpasties.com
Thanks Jeff!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Playing with the new toy and some goose
Just playing around to lighten a bit of a tuff mood of late around the house.
Enjoy and feel free to share your own
Sunday, February 3, 2008
A blending we will go.. Some ideas for homemade black and tans
Ok so we don't brew the beer but we can mix beers at home.
On Beer Advocate the member HombreWing started a thread about making his own black and tan. He used Troegs Scratch #5 and Nugget Nector. I decided I want make some of my own mixes.
My first attempt is was with what I had at home at the time. Great Lakes Commadore Perry IPA and Left Hand Black Jack Porter.. AKA Black Jack Perry (I like this name) Unlike other mixes I have had in the past this one starts out chocolatey up front and finishes with a nice crisp hoppy bite. Usually you get the hop up first. I liked this mix of a straight 50/50. The sweetness of the lefthand was a good balance to the IPA. With one success I forged on and wento and baought some beers.
BA member Stopbarking gave me the idea of Hop Wallop with Storm King Stout from Victory Brewing in PA. I tired this one as 60% Wallop and 40% Storm King. I really liked this mix. I called it a Wallop King or King Wallop not sure which I like better. After that I made waht is called a Dark Devil. Hop Devil and Strom King from Victory as well. I did a 50/50 mix with this one. I have to say I was not as impressed with this one. I think I should have done a 60/40 mix. The Mix looked great but there was not smoothness of blends this time. Sharp almost acid like bite of the hops up front and then noting till the really hard coffee finish of the Storm King. I'll try it again with a different ratio see how it goes.
So I moved on to maybe and English style of a black and tan. I used St. Pete's Golden Ale and St. Pete's Bottled Aged Old Porter. This went into my litter stiend. MAN! the color was gorgeous! A very beautiful rich garnet red! The mix sparkled int he light it was truly a pretty sight to see. This mix was 50/50 and the taste was very well balanced. The sweet smooth golden ale showed right off on the tounge with a nice but not heavily bitter finish. The two just seemd to blend so well I just may have to do this one more often. On of my favorites by far. Need a name for it. I thought of St Pete's Tanning Salon but the wife laughed at me so not sure on that one.
Finally back to America for the final mix. Anchor Liberty Ale and Achor Porter. (no name yet either) This too went into the liter stien with a 50/50 mix. This was another nice red color with a very balanced taste. There was the smoothness you expect from this style but the end had just the right hint of dark toffee to make you thirsty for more.
Also we managed to make it to the Lunar this weekend. Charlie had this wonderful Imperial Blackberry Cream Ale!! Great stuff. Sweet with jsut enough hops to balance the whole beer out. VERY drinkable!
A whole list of Black and Tan mixes for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_tan
That is the stations you can listen you Yeast Slurry
Also remember he is on at 7:30pm Sundays now
The stations the podcast air on are :
KBSU 730 AM - Boise, Idaho
KEZJ 1450 AM - Twin Falls, Idaho
KBSK 88.9 FM - McCall, Idaho
Fellow Beer Casters Davis on Draft.
http://www.davisondraft.com/joomla/
They are a lot of fun too!
Ruby Tuesdays is going to carry craft beer in thier resturants! Thats good News
http://beeradvocate.com/news/1221588
On Beer Advocate the member HombreWing started a thread about making his own black and tan. He used Troegs Scratch #5 and Nugget Nector. I decided I want make some of my own mixes.
My first attempt is was with what I had at home at the time. Great Lakes Commadore Perry IPA and Left Hand Black Jack Porter.. AKA Black Jack Perry (I like this name) Unlike other mixes I have had in the past this one starts out chocolatey up front and finishes with a nice crisp hoppy bite. Usually you get the hop up first. I liked this mix of a straight 50/50. The sweetness of the lefthand was a good balance to the IPA. With one success I forged on and wento and baought some beers.
BA member Stopbarking gave me the idea of Hop Wallop with Storm King Stout from Victory Brewing in PA. I tired this one as 60% Wallop and 40% Storm King. I really liked this mix. I called it a Wallop King or King Wallop not sure which I like better. After that I made waht is called a Dark Devil. Hop Devil and Strom King from Victory as well. I did a 50/50 mix with this one. I have to say I was not as impressed with this one. I think I should have done a 60/40 mix. The Mix looked great but there was not smoothness of blends this time. Sharp almost acid like bite of the hops up front and then noting till the really hard coffee finish of the Storm King. I'll try it again with a different ratio see how it goes.
So I moved on to maybe and English style of a black and tan. I used St. Pete's Golden Ale and St. Pete's Bottled Aged Old Porter. This went into my litter stiend. MAN! the color was gorgeous! A very beautiful rich garnet red! The mix sparkled int he light it was truly a pretty sight to see. This mix was 50/50 and the taste was very well balanced. The sweet smooth golden ale showed right off on the tounge with a nice but not heavily bitter finish. The two just seemd to blend so well I just may have to do this one more often. On of my favorites by far. Need a name for it. I thought of St Pete's Tanning Salon but the wife laughed at me so not sure on that one.
Finally back to America for the final mix. Anchor Liberty Ale and Achor Porter. (no name yet either) This too went into the liter stien with a 50/50 mix. This was another nice red color with a very balanced taste. There was the smoothness you expect from this style but the end had just the right hint of dark toffee to make you thirsty for more.
Also we managed to make it to the Lunar this weekend. Charlie had this wonderful Imperial Blackberry Cream Ale!! Great stuff. Sweet with jsut enough hops to balance the whole beer out. VERY drinkable!
A whole list of Black and Tan mixes for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_tan
That is the stations you can listen you Yeast Slurry
Also remember he is on at 7:30pm Sundays now
The stations the podcast air on are :
KBSU 730 AM - Boise, Idaho
KEZJ 1450 AM - Twin Falls, Idaho
KBSK 88.9 FM - McCall, Idaho
Fellow Beer Casters Davis on Draft.
http://www.davisondraft.com/joomla/
They are a lot of fun too!
Ruby Tuesdays is going to carry craft beer in thier resturants! Thats good News
http://beeradvocate.com/news/1221588
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