James Brown Car Alarm
Thursday, January 31st, 2008Some great music and home brew on Show 143
Archive for January, 2008
James Brown Car Alarm
Thursday, January 31st, 2008Some great music and home brew on Show 143
“Home Brew Beer” Probes Matt Brophy
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008Flying Dog’s analytical brewer Matt Brophy waxes poetic in a Q&A session with Bryon Turner from the renowned Home Brew Beer blog. For the full interview follow this link.
Technorati Tags: Matt Brophy, Interview, Brewer, Stephnie Kerchner, Josh Mishell Flying Dog
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“Your Next Beer” Podcast Pimps Gonzo Imperial Porter
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Flying Dog’s Gonzo Imperial Porter is featured in epidsode 42 of Your Next Beer’s podcast series. To listen to the podcast check out this link. The Gonzo review starts around the 4:25 mark.
Technorati Tags: Your Next Beer, Gonzo Imperial Porter, Podcast, Flying Dog
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The Quiet Game
Monday, January 28th, 2008On Show 142 we drink single malt Scotch whiskey and beer
The 1st Cure For What Ales You Annual Home Brew Fest Is On!
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Cureforwhatalesyou.com,the Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, and the First State Homebrewers are teaming up to promote home brewing, and you are invited to be a part!
The Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant located in Newark, DE will be hosting the 1st Annual Cure for what ales you Home Brew Fest!
This Event Takes Place on Sat, April […]
Flying Dog Photo Contest
Thursday, January 24th, 2008The People’s Republic of Flying Dog is now in session. It’s happy hour at Flying Dog Brewery, so here is your latest dose of irreverence.
Flying Dog Photo ContestA friend of Flying Dog recently snapped this photo while on a visit to Boston. Inspired by her fairly poor photographic skills, we decided to have a photo […]
Flying Dog In Amsterdam!
Thursday, January 24th, 2008This is a clip from a European TV channel featuring Snake Dog in the HORECAVA trade show January 7-10 in Amsterdam. Rick Kempen is Flying Dog’s illustrious foreign dignitary. The only thing we understand from the video is “Snake Dog” and “Flying Dog Brewery” but we trust Rick has the rest under control.
Technorati Tags: Amsterdam, […]
Flying Dog In Amsterdam!
Thursday, January 24th, 2008This is a clip from a European TV channel featuring Snake Dog in the HORECAVA trade show January 7-10 in Amsterdam. Rick Kempen is Flying Dog’s illustrious foreign dignitary. The only thing we understand from the video is “Snake Dog” and “Flying Dog Brewery” but we trust Rick has the rest under control.
Technorati Tags: Amsterdam, […]
FYI: Alabama Free the Hops update…. From the President
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008I just thought I would pass this along. It’s the latest email from the president of the “Free the Hops” organization in Alabama, Stuart Carter. (concerning our ongoing fight to change the archaic “6% ABV limit on beer” laws here)
I hope anyone living in, or planning on visiting Alabama, would support this boycott.
Free the Hops members and supporters,
We are not far from the beginning of the 2008 legislative session!
We are pushing even harder this year to ensure our bill will get passed, and have been speaking with those responsible for preventing success last year.
Unfortunately, the leadership at Birmingham Budweiser is still working against the interests of both Anheuser Busch (who, in addition to Bud, brew dozens of beers that are currently illegal under Alabama law) and Alabama consumers. They have indicated that they will again work to prevent our bill, freeing the hops, from passing in the Alabama state legislature.
It is with great sadness that I have to proceed on the basis of requesting all FtH members and supporters in the Jefferson County area to join in a formal boycott of Birmingham Budweiser products.
I have sent the attached press release to various journalists, so you can expect to see this in the newspapers soon. If you have any news contacts, please pass this email with the two attachments on to them. I have included a list of products supplied by Birmingham Budweiser for ease of reference.
If you are approached for a comment, I would ask you to model any responses on the content of the press release or to refer any requests for comment to me. Please also let me know who you spoke to and their contact details.
If you hear from any retailers or other businesses who would like to join in, please ask them to contact me but also emphasise to them that this is a targeted action against the behaviours of the leadership of *Birmingham* Budweiser.
Stuart Carter
President
Free the Hops | Alabamians for Specialty Beer
——————————————————————————–
Anheuser-Busch Beer List
â?¢ 9th Street Market Tuscan Orange
â?¢ Beach Bum Blonde Ale
â?¢ Bud Ice
â?¢ Bud Light
â?¢ Budweiser
â?¢ Busch
â?¢ Elk Mountain Amber Ale
â?¢ Hurricane
â?¢ Michelob Amber Bock
â?¢ Michelob Beer
â?¢ Michelob Black & Tan
â?¢ Michelob Golden Pilsner
â?¢ Michelob Hefeweizen
â?¢ Michelob Honey Lager
â?¢ Michelob Light
� Michelob Märzen
â?¢ Michelob Pale Ale
â?¢ Michelob Ultra
â?¢ Michelob Ultra Amber
â?¢ O’Doul’s
â?¢ O’Doul’s Amber
â?¢ Redbridge
â?¢ Shock Top Belgian White
â?¢ Spring Heat Spiced Wheat *
â?¢ Sun Dog Amber Wheat ale
â?¢ Wild Blue
â?¢ Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale
â?¢ Ziegenbock
* this is being turned into a year-round brew, Shock Top Belgian White.
Lambic Brewers
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008I plan on doing a lambic but I haven’t brewed one before. Do I need to worry about fermenting in my Sabco fermenter? When they welded the corny top to the keg, I noticed there is a couple small spots on the weld where it looks like critters could hide on the inside. I hear people say you need to dedicate your equipment to lambic brews but I don’t want to dedicate this fermenter. I have never had an infection with regular ales and lagers using this fermenter but the lambic has me wondering. Any pro lambic brewers on this board?
CBR Beer Geek Roundtable 3
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008The return of the Beer Geek Roundtable and it’s a doozy. we talk about all kinds of things which you can find on the wiki. It’s 3 hours long, listen as long as it keeps your interest and we will be back next week with a regularly scheduled episode.
NBC 25 Covers Flying Dog’s Move To Maryland
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008Flying Dog’s move to Maryland was covered by NBC 25 a local Maryland news channel. Check out this link to catch the story.
Technorati Tags: NBC 25, Wild Goose, Frederick, Maryland, Flying Dog
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New York Times Article Features Flying Dog
Monday, January 21st, 2008The New York Times recently released an article on big beers, A Taste for Brews That Go to Extremes. This article highlights the budding obsession American brewers and drinkers have with cranking out bigger and badder brews. The article features our Double Dog Double Pale Ale along with 20+ other beers produced from a myriad […]
New York Times Article Features Flying Dog
Monday, January 21st, 2008The New York Times recently released an article on big beers, A Taste for Brews That Go to Extremes. This article highlights the budding obsession American brewers and drinkers have with cranking out bigger and badder brews. The article features our Double Dog Double Pale Ale along with 20+ other beers produced from a myriad […]
Hop of the Week — Bravo
Monday, January 21st, 2008Bravo
Super-High Alpha, Good Aroma
I ran into Bravo hops when I was in the San Francisco area in summer 2007. Many of the craft brewers in the Bay Area had brewed a Bravo IPA, using the same recipe but their own house yeast. The beers I tasted were amazingly good — 21st Amendment, EJ Phair, Russian River were all uniquely different and all good (but then again, they were IPAs, so of course they were good! 
). So when Bravo became available late last year, I picked some up and brewed the Hop Recesssion Community Brew as a Bravo-only single-hop beer — but haven’t tasted the it yet. I can say that they are VERY sticky hops (mine came in at 13.5%), very aromatic in the bag, and gave the brewhouse a wonderful smell throughout the boil.
Finding info on this hop is not all that easy, but here’s an interesting report on them from Brookston Beer Bulletin (check out the link for a complete article):
QUOTE
Bravo Hop Characteristics:
Alplha Acids: 14.-17.%
Cohumulone: 29-34% of alpha acids
Beta-Acids: 3-5% w/w
Total Hop Oils: 1.6-2.4% v/w
So, has anyone had a chance to brew and taste a Bravo beer yet? Experiences? Comments? Questions? Recipes? Post them here and let’s learn about this new hop.
Hop of the Week — Summit
Monday, January 21st, 2008Summit
High Alpha, Good Aroma
This week’s Hop of the Week is Summit. There’s not a lot of information about this relatively new hop, but here’s what I was able to find.
From Freshops:
QUOTE
Summit New Dwarf Hop Variety
Summit is a dwarf hop variety that was bred by members of American Dwarf Hop Association. It is the first dwarf hop to be bred for production in the United States and it’s currently the only hop being grown on low trellis in the Yakima Valley.
The hop has only been in production since 2003, so it’s still too early to identify averages for the resin and oil contents. Last year’s production had an alpha of 18.2%, beta 4.7% and total oil content of 1.3 mls/100grams. Its cohumulone was relatively low at 27.6%.
Brewers are quite excited about the strong aroma profile that Summit adds to their beer. It has been described as a citrus, grape-fruit flavor. It has been used for bittering and dry hopping.
Brewers Supply Group adds the following information:
QUOTE
Brewers are quite excited about the strong aroma profile that Summit adds to their beer. It has been described as a citrus, grape-fruit flavor. It has been used for bittering and dry hopping. Brewers Supply Group is the exclusive marketer of the Summit hop to the craft brewing industry.
ANALYSIS: (HPLC; based on 2005 and 2006 production only)
– Alpha acid: 17.5 19.5 %
– Beta acid: 4.7%
– COH: 27.6%
– COL: 47.6%
– Total Oil Content: 1.3 mls/100 grams
– Myrcene: 28.0%
– Carophyllene: 14.5%
– Humulene: 22.1%
PRODUCTION:2,500 lbs. per acre (2005 and 2006 figures only)
SENSORY ANALYSIS: Brewers are reporting citrus, grapefruit notes in beers using Summit.
ANALYSIS: (HPLC; based on 2005 and 2006 production only)
– Alpha acid: 17.5 19.5 %
– Beta acid: 4.7%
– COH: 27.6%
– COL: 47.6%
– Total Oil Content: 1.3 mls/100 grams
– Myrcene: 28.0%
– Carophyllene: 14.5%
– Humulene: 22.1%
PRODUCTION:2,500 lbs. per acre (2005 and 2006 figures only)
SENSORY ANALYSIS: Brewers are reporting citrus, grapefruit notes in beers using Summit.
Posts here on BrewBoard indicate that Summit gives a strong grapefruit/orange/tangerine/citrus flavor and aroma (some people mentioned “grapefruit bomb,” with several reports of onion or garlic. Check out the threads here.
And that’s about it. I only used them once, and I will weigh in with a large “no comment” right now, as I don’t remember the results clearly other than I wasn’t all that impressed. But that could have been a bad recipe, bad brew day, or some other problem — I really don’t remember.
So let’s have it, BrewBoard. What questions do you have? What experiences? Recipes? Recommendations? Combinations? 
Lonnie
Sunday, January 20th, 2008Since I am in the process of building the Brutus 10, I was wondering if you have any updates on the Brutus 20? Unless I missed it, I saw your original plans but no updates. Just wondering.
Jerred
Pump From Harbor Freight
Friday, January 18th, 2008I tried out this pump from harbor frieght.
They had it on sale for $29.99 and I had a 15% off coupon. My cheap side won out and I had to try it.
I called their technical support number and they said that the impeller is made of nylon. It is offset and has three sliding impellers that push the water.
It appears that the entire pump head is stainless steel.
Anyway it works at pushing water around but it is very loud. I’m going to return it and get a march pump. It would work fine as chiller pump as it really moves water well. I just can’t handle the noise of it.
Dogfish Head 2008 Beer Release Calender
Thursday, January 17th, 2008Just a quick shout about the release calender for those wonderful Dogfish Head brews - use it too annoy your local package goods or specialty beer bar about when your favorite Dogfish Head beers will be arriving!
I’m personally looking forward to the “draft only” release in July called “Johnny Rawton”!
StarSan and your water
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008In my last post I was wondering about an off flavor in my beer and suspected that it was caused by my water. Link to the thread. Anyway, I started wondering about my water profile and its effect on StarSan, so I emailed the folks at Five Star Chemicals. I thought I’d pass this on in case others have similar experiences.
In their response the mention the solution turning cloudy. When I would mix StarSan up, it would immediately turn cloudy. Some here have mentioned that being a sign to toss it out, but I always figured since I’d just mixed it, it can’t be bad. The last bit I mixed with RO water has yet to turn cloudy after almost 2 weeks.
Also, I transfered my last batch to secondary last night (which was made with RO water) and it did not have any of the off flavor I mentioned in my previous post, however the off flavor didn’t really come into its own until it had been in the bottle a while. Keep your fingers crossed…
My e-mail:
I’ve been using StarSan for some time now and live in an area with relatively hard water - Abilene Texas. Our current home does not have a water softening system. In case you need it, here is a link to the most recent water report I can find: http://www.abilenetx.com/Enviro/doc/2007co…dencereport.pdf
I have noticed an off flavor in the beer I’ve made. I suspect it is related to the water here. Though the water report doesn’t mention this, a recent intereview in our local paper with a water board official stated that chloramines are used in our water. I suspect this is the cause of my off flavor. However, in an effort to leave no stone unturned, I was wondering if the water profile changes the effectiveness of StarSan? I can certainly get distilled water for brewing, and will do that with my next batch, but I’d like to know if I should count on getting additional distilled water for mixing StarSan?
Their response:
You are correct to assume that the off flavor in your beer is coming from the water. Chloroamines are very common in city water, but their effect on
the beer is still being debated. Your solution of using DI water is the best answer. It is not necessary to use DI when you sanitize or clean your
equipment. I would not hurt, but it is not necessary. If you notice that your sanitation solution turns cloudy immediately after mixing, then you
might have a hard water problem, and the best solution is to use DI water. The cloudy solution and a pH drift are the indicators of the water causing
problems with the Star San. If you have clear solutions and the pH remains below 3, you should be just fine.
Why is my efficiency so low?
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008I just brewed the Rogue I2PA clone from morebeer and the estimated OG is supposed to be 1.080 but I only got 1.062. I’m assuming their estimate is with 75% efficiency so that means my efficiency is 58%. I batch sparge so I know that gives a lower efficiency than fly sparging but it shouldn’t be this low should it? I brewed a oatmeal stout that had low efficiency before this I2PA but even with the low efficiency it still came out great so I’m hoping the same for this one.
Built my own stir plate as per BYO
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008I just finished building my stir plate according to a recent BYO article. It works decent but I definitely need to make some adjustments.
1) I’m using an 80mm fan, I need to beef up to a 120mm fan. The magnets are too heavy on the fan and the fan gets hot and slows down after about 20 minutes. I’m using the small, round neodymium magnets as opposed to the flat magnet found in hard drives (read one of my older posts to find out why 
)….
2) The stir bar I’m using is loud as hell and luckily I have an adjustable voltage adapter or the bar wouldn’t spin at all. I can only operate on 9 volts or the bar starts jumping and sticking. Does anyone use different types of bars for their stir plate like the “X” bars or these;
this is the current bar I’m using;
Here are the pics of my setup;
My main problem is that I can only keep the stir plate on for about 20 minutes from what I believe to be too much strain on an 80mm fan.
Any comments (smart-ass 
or constructive 
) would be appreciated!
Whats the diffeence
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Whats the difference between a stout and a porter?
Goose Island IIPA & BBQ Pizza?
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Posted: by RustyDiamond (36 minutes ago)
SA Cranberry Lambic recipes?
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Posted: by MMAJYK (2 hours ago)
No fermentation
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Hello All,
Newbee here, Is it normal to have such a delay in the yeast fermentation ignition? So, can I add an additional smack pack to accelerate this process?
Is it true, if you have a specific gravity reading of (1.050) that sugars have been extracted from the grain?
Porter
Allgrain method
1.1qts/lb of grain for Mash Soak @ 150 degrees
1.1qts of water per pound for sparging @ 150 degrees
Hopp additions
60min Challenger
20min finishing hops
S.G 1.050
Starting Ferment temp 70F
The pretzel - favorites ?
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Posted: by k75 (8 hours ago)
Did anyone watch Good Eats last night?
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Did anyone happen to watch Good Eats on The Food Channel at 11pm EST last night? He did a special on homebrewing. He had the basic concept right but I believe made some critical mistakes.
1) Started with steeping grains directly in the water, not in a grain bag, then proceeded to boil the grains
2) Once the boil was done, he needed to cool the wort so he added bagged ice……. may be ok but we’ve all heard about the contaminates in bagged ice. He was so concerned about sanitation and then added the ice and could’ve completely contaminated the wort.
3) Took the yeast out of the fridge and directly pitched into the wort @ 87 degrees possibly shocking the yeast by not allowing it to warm to room temp before pitching.
Then when it came time for bottling, he mentioned that all the yeast are dead now because the alcohol content is too high for yeast to survive (couldn’t have been above 5%abv) and said the yeast cake was dead yeast. Now immediately after this talked about bottle conditioning and adding sugar so the yeast (thought they were dead?) could continue to eat the sugars in order to carbonate the beer.
Now I know I am being particular, but it would just be nice if they could really research it before doing this and show the correct way to brew…… but I am glad they did something to bring more awareness to this wonderful hobby and continue to pull marketshare away from the macros.
yeast starter in carboy
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008I have seen a couple of articles on creating yeast starters, but I have not seen any done in the carboy that you will be fermenting in. What is the advantage of using the small beakers that I have seen so much? Why wouldn’t you create a starter in a carboy, then pour your cooled wort over it?
