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When you first start to homebrew, it seems like there are a million people telling you a million different things you HAVE to do to make good beer. Fortunately, as you get more experience, you start to figure out how things work and what really matters. Now, while I may not have as much experience as some homebrewers, I’ve brewed 493 batches since I began in March 1998. And since my brewing is driven by my laziness, I’ve used that experience to figure out what matters and what doesn’t.

If you’ve read the writings (Experimental Homebrewing or www.experimentalbrew.com) or listened to the podcast (“Experimental Brewing,” available on iTunes and others) I do with my co-author, Drew Beechum, you might think my tips come down to: 1.) Brew like me and 2.) Don’t brew like him! But that leaves out the other 8, so here’s a list of my Top 10 Tips for Brew Day.

1. Plan and prepare….I like to think about my recipe at least a week ahead of brew day and get my ingredients prepped at least the day before. Even if you’re doing a spur of the moment brew, take a few minutes to calmly think through what your brew day will be like and get your brewing supplies mise en place….that’s French for “aggregate your fecal matter.” 🙂

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This is part 3 in the Style of the Month: Trappist Ale series (part 1). See part 2 to discover the history of Trappist monasteries and breweries. 

In 1950, Saint Joseph’s Abbey was founded on the crest of sloping hill blanketed in trees just north of the town of Spencer, Massachusetts. The Roman Catholic monastery is home to the monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, which you may know better as Trappists.

It is common for Trappists to produce goods and provide services to help fund their monastery and support charitable efforts. Since 1950, the monks at Spencer Abbey have packaged jams and jellies for such purposes, but it wasn’t until more recently that the Massachusetts abbey decided to pursue brewing traditions that have long been rooted in the Trappist monasteries of Europe.

After spending much time researching brewing practices and visiting some of the most well-known Trappist breweries, Spencer Trappist Brewery opened its doors in 2013 becoming the United States’ first, and currently only, ITA-recognized Trappist brewery.

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For our very first experiment we asked our to tackle a fairly simple experiment. Can tasters detect a difference between the same wort fermented with the classics Wyeast 1056 American Ale (nee Chico) and White Labs WLP001 California Ale? See the link above for the full writeup on the parameters of the experiment.

The Experiment

Here are the basics – IGORs brewed and split a batch of our Magnum Blonde ale, chilled and then pitched one part with a pack of Wyeast 1056 and the other with a vial/pack of WLP001. We asked the IGORs to grab yeast samples of roughly the same manufacture date and to pitch without making starters to reduce possible variations. (Thought on that towards the end!) After fermentation, the IGORs were instructed to package the beers in the same manner and run a basic triangle test to determine if tasters could reliably detect the different beer. We gave no instruction on weighting the samples in favor of Wyeast or White Labs.

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The professor cannot vouch for this method, but it is interesting…

“That guy from the TV commercials!” That’s what they call him, either because they don’t know his name, or are by now too drunk to remember it. As the co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, he has appeared in countless Sam Adams commercials over thirty years. And, while this always-smiling man is a regular guy like you and me while walking the street, the second he enters a bar Jim Koch becomes a celebrity.

We met at a midtown Manhattan monstrosity called The Keg Room, where at least four people stopped Koch to say hello as we made our way to a table. One apologized for currently drinking something yellow and fizzy as opposed to a Boston Lager as we sat down.

“So many beer lists are poorly arranged, but this is pretty nice,” Koch noted. “A good mix of styles, not just a bunch of IPAs like most bars have nowadays.”

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Head brewer Ben Maeso mashes grains at Prison City Pub & Brewery in Auburn July 16.

Cayuga County’s craft beverage industry has exploded in the past year.

Three Auburn establishments — The Good Shepherds Brewing Co., Prison City Pub & Brewery and the Thirsty Pug Craft Beer Market — are thriving.

 
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It took 65 years for Vincent Speranza to find out that his actions in Belgium during World War II had been immortalized — for his ingenuity with the beverage that the country is famous for producing.

The Auburn, Ill., native had buried the war — and the pain he endured — deep inside until his wife died four years ago and he began thinking about the past. Visiting his storied 501st Infantry Regiment earlier this month in Alaska to observe readiness training, he shared his rich combat experiences.

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No one would ever argue with the reality that war is tough, and that the men and women who elect to serve are a truly special breed. But it might come as some surprise that during World War II the British and U.S. governments believed soldiers were so vital that they were willing to go to great lengths in order to supply them with a substance they felt was incredibly important for their morale: beer.

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