Professor Good Ales

Bar customers finding new ways to boost profits with Beer Tubes, as fans put the Tubes to the test at parties and sports leagues.

From mmdnewswire.com. Author(s) not attributed

(MMD Newswire) July 9, 2010 –  The evolution of Beer Tubes continues to gain momentum as new uses for the 100-plus ounce table top beverage dispenser are reported by bar managers and Tube fans around the world. Promotions involving the Beer Tubes are driving sales and increasing profit margins for bars and restaurants, as patrons looking for a good deal are “doing the Tube.” While those buying Beer Tubes for personal use are putting the Tubes through their paces at parties, tailgates and sports leagues.
Continue reading “Beer Tubes evolving quickly as fans, young and old, discover new ways to ”do the Tube””

Shi Shi Beach: Beautiful images require wondrous beer.

From “the crew” @ beerblotter.wordpress.com (writers or writer not credited on site)

Last weekend we embarked on what might be the greatest “hike-in” beach camp spot in all of the Northwest. Our trip to Shi Shi Beach in the Makah Indian Reservation (Neah Bay, WA) was beyond epic. Many a new terms were coined, wooden implements fashioned, pasty foods consumed, ocean plunges taken, driftwood bonfires lit and even a few articles of clothes smoked for that take home campfire flavor (see SmokedJorts.com).

But like many of you, I was stumped by how to perfectly plan for 50+ hours in no man’s land, sans cooler and additional space for my brethren – beer. Food was a stumble, but doable. Equipment seemed to fit without excess weight. Even multi-weather clothing seemed to be a cinch. But Beer – not exactly.

The Dilemmas of Beerpacking

Continue reading “Beer Planning: A Backpacker’s Perspective”

Written by Scott Hammers for The Democrat Herald

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s new interpretation of an old law has put homemade beer and wine in the spotlight, effectively banning judged competitions, home-brewing club tasting nights, and even the taking of a six-pack of home-brewed beer to a neighbor’s barbecue.

At issue is ORS 471.403, a statute that forbids the production of alcoholic beverages by anyone not licensed by the OLCC. But it “does not apply to the making or keeping of naturally fermented wines and fruit juices or beer in the home, for home consumption and not for sale.”

Citing the new interpretation of the phrase “home consumption,” the Oregon State Fair has canceled this year’s beer and wine competitions. The wine competition has been a fixture at the fair for 31 years, the beer contest for 22 years.

Rachel McIntosh, director of open class exhibits for the Deschutes County Fair, said that unless she’s explicitly notified by the OLCC that beer and wine contests are out, the county fair will be accepting entries for the fair later this month.

“Somebody’s opened a can of worms,” McIntosh said. “We’ve done this for a long time, and it’s probably been a law forever, but somebody opened the can and stirred the pot.”

Representatives of the OLCC did not return calls for comment. On the agency’s official blog, a July 2 posting states that the OLCC’s current interpretation of the law came through a recent analysis of the statute by the Oregon Department of Justice.

“The Department of Justice’s guidance certainly requires us to look at the competitions in a different way than we have before,” the posting read. “It’s completely understandable that home beer and wine makers would be disappointed.”

Brett Thomas, past president of the Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization, or COHO, said clubs and competitions have played a big part in helping him hone his skills in the 13 years since he began home-brewing. Now a professional brewer for Silver Moon in Bend, Thomas said COHO has about 75 registered members. He said there may be as many as 900 home-brewers in Central Oregon.

Thomas said he was surprised to learn that the law appears to forbid what he and others have been doing for years.
Continue reading “Commission tightens rules for homebrewers”

Hop (Humulus lupulus): Downy Mildew

Note the shoots with shortened internodes, characteristic of hop downy mildew

From OSU University’s Website: content edited by: C. M. Ocamb and D.H. Gent

Aerial spike present on hop bine
Cause: The fungus-like microorganism Pseudoperonospora humuli persists from year to year in infected hop crowns or plant debris in soil. It is an obligate parasite specific to hop. Disease is promoted by wet or foggy weather.

Symptoms: In early spring, spike-like infected bines rise among normal shoots from the crown. Spikes are silvery or pale green, rigid, stunted, and brittle. The undersides of leaves may be covered by profuse sporulation by the pathogen and appear dark purple to black. Tips of normal branches may become infected and transformed into spikes. Leaves of all ages are attacked, resulting in brown angular spots. Flower clusters become infected, shrivel, turn brown, dry up, and may fall. Cones also are affected, becoming brown. Severe infection in some susceptible cultivars may produce a rot of the perennial crowns.

Hop cone with downy mildew infection
Continue reading “The Technical Edge: Hop Solutions”

Written by Peter Waterman for bgyh.com and homebeermakers.com

For people that love home brewing, nothing would make them happier than having the right type of brew beer equipment to enhance the brew that’s created. Having the right brew beer equipment can make or break the brew that’s produced, with the wrong equipment causing frustration as the home brew may not come out exactly like the brewer would like it to. There are lots of reasons why selecting the correct sort of brew beer equipment can make the brew that’s produced a success so the choice of what type of equipment to buy ought to be carefully thought of ahead of making a final decision.

Controlling The Quality Of the Brew That’s Produced

Picking the right kind of brew beer equipment for your home brewing needs is extremely important because the correct items can control the quality of the brew that’s produced. In home brewing, keeping the brew which is produced at a consistent temperature is extremely important to the quality of the brew. So you need a device like the ranco temperature control this kind of high quality products can ensure that you can maintain control of the temperature of the brew throughout the entire procedure and that the taste of the brew will not be off because of bad equipment.

The Durability Of the Brew Beer Equipment
Continue reading “The Benefits Of Selecting Good Quality Brew Beer Equipment”

Somewhat convenient model. VERY convenient model

Written by Laura June for engadget.com

The thing about the future is this: we’ll still have to do menial things like answer the door, or take out the trash, or get up off our couches to get our own brews after a long, hard day at the office… unless we’re smart enough to invent robots to do such menial things, that is. Well, Willow Garage has spent some time building a “Beer Me” application for its PR2 robot which gets at least one of these tasks under its belt. They added a a four-holed foam block placed behind the robot’s navigation laser so that it can safely carry four bottles across the terrain, and equipped their refrigerator with a tilted “self-stocking” shelf. Check out its operation in the video below.

Watch the YouTube

HERE