Professor Good Ales

Written by John Biggs for Crunch Gear

While you may be thinking, given my current reviews streak, that the V Vessel involves the genitals and/or aliens dressed up like humans who live among us only to spring out and attack us with the time is ripe, it, in fact, does not. In fact, the V Vessel is a brewing vessel designed to hold up to 23 liters of liquid. It allows you to produce alcoholic beverages in the comfort of your own home and prevents many of the major headaches associated with home-brewing.

Continue reading “What I Got For Valentine’s Day: The V Vessel”

Written by Martin H. Stack, Rockhurst University, courtesy EH.net

1650 to 1800: The Early Days of Brewing in America

Brewing in America dates to the first communities established by English and Dutch settlers in the early to mid seventeenth century. Dutch immigrants quickly recognized that the climate and terrain of present-day New York were particularly well suited to brewing beer and growing malt and hops, two of beer’s essential ingredients. A 1660 map of New Amsterdam details twenty-six breweries and taverns, a clear indication that producing and selling beer were popular and profitable trades in the American colonies (Baron, Chapter Three). Despite the early popularity of beer, other alcoholic beverages steadily grew in importance and by the early eighteenth century several of them had eclipsed beer commercially.

Between 1650 and the Civil War, the market for beer did not change a great deal: both production and consumption remained essentially local affairs. Bottling was expensive, and beer did not travel well. Nearly all beer was stored in, and then served from, wooden kegs. While there were many small breweries, it was not uncommon for households to brew their own beer. In fact, several of America’s founding fathers brewed their own beer, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (Baron, Chapters 13 and 16).

1800-1865: Brewing Begins to Expand

Continue reading “A Concise History of America’s Brewing Industry”

Tom Dalldorf for Celebrator

Alaskans are a sturdy bunch. Independent and resourceful, they are in survival mode for much of their existence in the wilds of the Last Frontier. Included in “travel gear” are water, blankets, Spam or jerky and a good supply of duct tape (called 100-mile-an-hour tape). Downtown Anchorage is a bit more civilized, with modern hotels, shops, restaurants and pubs. Scattered around the biggest state in the U.S. (with one of the smallest populations) are an impressive collection of breweries and brewpubs (more per capita than any other state?) catering to the eclectic tastes of its hearty inhabitants.

Once a year, during the dead of winter (the summer is far too busy for such foolishness), the Alaskan brewers and beer fans converge on the “big city” of Anchorage for the annual Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival. Traveling 300 to 800 miles to a beer fest is a challenge for most brewers and beer geeks, but in Alaska it means over roads that can be covered in snow, with temps plunging to –30ºF. For this year’s festival, the weather was milder, with highs in the upper 20s and lows in the teens — a regular heat wave for those rugged inhabitants.

Aurora Productions did another superb job of organizing a great beer show. Fest founder Billy Opinsky of Humpy’s Alehouse did yeoman’s work in bringing the best Alaskan beers together, along with excellent offerings from the Pacific Northwest and beyond in the Lower 48. Classic European beers were also available to provide a truly excellent cross section of great beer for interested Alaskan beer lovers, and an inspiration to local brewers and homebrewers alike.

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No, that’s not the Blob that ate the brewer. A mixture of diatomaceous earth and yeast. DE is used for filtering. Picture from Wiki Commons

Written by Brad Smith for Beer Smith

Note: Professor GA does not recommend washing and reusing yeast that you bought in a dried form. Drying yeast stresses it. Best start with a new yeast if it was dried.

Washing yeast to reuse it in another batch of beer is a great technique to have in your home brewing arsenal. Yeast washing is a simple process used to separate the live yeast from the underlying trub (hops and spent grains) left at the bottom of your fermenter when making beer.

Continue reading “The Technical Edge: Washing Your Yeast”

Topic for this edition of Brew Biz: Worst Beer Ever

Written by Ken Carman

So many bad beers. So much wasted time. So many times my taste buds have been offended.
Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Courtesy Statemaster.com. Stamp commemorating the 1923 beer-related coup event issued years later.

Reported by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.org

Stories abound of stupid things done while visiting your local pub, bar or beer hall. Sometimes things can get strange like patrons passing an obnoxious drunk over their heads on Saint Patty’s Day and tossing him out the door, or drunk streakers who do more stumbling and less streak-ing. But one of the most famous events surrounds a soon to be a lot more famous fellow named Adolf Hitler. If only this event had been the high point of his political career because, if not for those who died, in places it reads a little more like the Stooges than a serious attempt by a world conquer wanna be, mass murderer.

Continue reading “Beer History: Hitler and Beer”

This image shows malt samples milled with a 0.65 mm (26 mil) mill gap. The left hand sample has been conditioned and the right hand sample has been milled dry. The conditioned malt’s volume is about 30% larger than the dry milled malt’s volume.

Conditioning you malt helps you to lessen the crush you use and access the fermentables. Another site recommends you can actually increase your crush.

Here are a few links to start your exploration.

Link 1

Link 2

A cold brew has high levels of dietary silicon, analysis shows.

Picture source: Kirsty Wigglesworth for AP

While researchers don’t recommend gulping beer to meet your silicon intake needs, a new study shows the potential health benefits of a cold brew.

Written by Jeanna Bryner for msnbc.com

(With National Hop Day approaching, note the silicon levels on IPA- Prof GA)
Continue reading “Beer May Be Good for Your Bones”