Month: February 2016

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Exploring the German Technique of Krausening

krausening

It’s a day or two after the yeast was pitched in your most recent homebrew and there are signs of fermentation in the form of foam called krausen. A few days later, the rocky froth nearly fills the headspace of your fermenter as the yeast work through their busiest period, known as high-krausen.

German lager brewers traditionally took high-krausen wort from a newly fermenting batch and added it to a fully-fermented batch of the same recipe. This process, known as krausening, introduces healthy, new yeast to pick up where the primary yeast—which went dormant due to the layering temperatures—left off.

The Uses of Krausening

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

“Like shellfish… there will be a die off…”
red-tide-dead-fish
Image courtesy cdn0.wideopenspaces.com

The Topic: Where Have All the New Breweries Gone?

Written by Ken Carman

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been writing on beer-related topics, and interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast, for over 15 years.

Where have all the breweries gone
Long time passing
Where have all the breweries gone
Seems so long ago…
-apologies to the ghost of Pete Seeger


 What I fear: it’s the year 2020 and there are a vast number of empty buildings where once there used to be breweries.
DBP_1983_1179_Reinheitsgebot_Bier Couldn’t happen? Seriously, I don’t know the year: I just picked 2020 out of my creative muse, and I don’t know for how long. But sooner or later, like shellfish every spring on the Emerald Coast, there will be a die off.
 I have been so happy as of late. I started homebrewing because, in the early 70s, I discovered the real world of beer doesn’t consist of just knock offs of German Pilsners with rice, or corn, as filler. I didn’t know the Rheinheitsgebot wasn’t written into law simply out of some innate German anal sense of purity. It was because the larger German breweries were trying to crush small breweries by mass producing, get this, brews with cheap adjuncts.
 The Germans legislated against it. America embraced it. So most taps when I first started drinking beer basically had the same beer, with slight variations. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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6 of the Biggest Beer Releases of 2016

ITodd the Axe Man

It’s that time of year again, when the post-holiday, mid-winter blues turn to anticipation and excitement about all the amazing craft beers on the horizon in the coming year.

To celebrate, we once again present our picks for the biggest beer releases of the year. For 2016, we’ve introduced a six-pack of brews that includes some fresh new faces that may not have been on your radar, though we did include an old familiar friend, Pliny the Younger. Hey, you can’t leave out a beer that requires a two-week release party!

So get your plane tickets or plan that road trip, and get ready to savor some of craft brewing’s most dynamic and sought-after beer releases.

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37th Anniversary of Homebrew Legalization

JImmy Carter Homebrewing

Among homebrewers, President Jimmy Carter is best known for signing H.R 1337, which contained an amendment sponsored by Senator Alan Cranston creating an exemption from taxation for beer brewed at home for personal or family use.

 

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Sahti: One of the World’s Oldest Beer Styles

viking-main

One of the world’s oldest, continually-brewed styles of beer is the Finnish farm-style sahti. Rich with Nordic tradition, this centuries-old style has overcome many twists and turns throughout its history to remain a prevalent yet ancient style.

The Story of Sahti


The earliest written records of sahti only date back a few hundred years to the late 18th century, but casks of the traditional Finnish style were found aboard a sunken Viking ship dated back to the 9th century. Some historians even claim ancient beer styles like sahti were the motivation behind developed agriculture in Scandinavia.

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Brewing with Potatoes: Techniques

potatoes

Both corn and rice are used as starchy adjuncts by brewers worldwide. These adjuncts boost the strength of a beer without increasing its body. Corn and rice also dilute the protein content of wort. As adventurous homebrewers, there is another common starchy food we can use as an adjunct — potatoes.

Types of Potatoes

The common potato comes from the potato plant (Solanum tuberosum), a member of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. The nightshade family also includes tomatoes, tobacco and peppers. The edible portion of the potato plant is the tuber, a modified underground stem. There are many varieties of potatoes found on supermarket shelves and they can be grouped into two functional categories, waxy or mealy (or starchy). Mealy varieties — such as Russet, Yukon Gold or baking-type potatoes — can easily be used in homebrewing. Waxy varieties — such as Chef’s potatoes or red potatoes — may be usable, but I don’t have any experience with them.

Both corn and rice are used as starchy adjuncts by brewers worldwide. These adjuncts boost the strength of a beer without increasing its body. Corn and rice also dilute the protein content of wort. As adventurous homebrewers, there is another common starchy food we can use as an adjunct — potatoes.

Types of Potatoes

The common potato comes from the potato plant (Solanum tuberosum), a member of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. The nightshade family also includes tomatoes, tobacco and peppers. The edible portion of the potato plant is the tuber, a modified underground stem. There are many varieties of potatoes found on supermarket shelves and they can be grouped into two functional categories, waxy or mealy (or starchy). Mealy varieties — such as Russet, Yukon Gold or baking-type potatoes — can easily be used in homebrewing. Waxy varieties — such as Chef’s potatoes or red potatoes — may be usable, but I don’t have any experience with them.

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