February's Tasting Notes

This month, we had a smaller than usual crowd. But that really increased the ratio of beer samples to DBF members!

Ed Stone started with what he calls Studmuffin Stout. OK, so it really is a Valentine's Day card from his wife. I guess she loves him.

Gary and Ed brewed a Red.
"It tastes great," we all said.

There was also a Pale Ale that Jay Bradley shared with us all. He stated that he already brought in some of that same batch for us to sample. It's still good! Of course, this writer is partial to Pale Ales. (Or is it Stout that I'm partial to? Porter? Then, again, I really enjoy wheat beers. And don't tell the Germans that I spend time with Belgians.)

The club brew for this meeting was the Oktoberfest that Tom Adams brewed. (See related story about brewing in the Minetola garage.) There was some discussion about whether this beer would have been improved with a different yeast and the addition of other hops, like Fuggles. We'll have to get Tom back here from Washington to redo the whole process.

Toward the end of the meeting, we sampled Jay's Rauchbier. That's a style using a smoked grain. Today's malts are dried using enclosed heat sources, whereas past technology involved sun, wind or fire. Jay purchased a kit from B3, turning out a marvelous example of this old style. Just a hint of smoke to go along with the hops.

On to business items. The first important announcement is that Park Winery will host DBF's brewing event celebrating National Homebrew Day. Plan to attend and make some beer on May 6, on the sidewalk right outside of the Park Winery. The club needs you. Park Winery needs you. Our great nation needs you. No excuses. Especially if you're new to brewing, this is a great opportunity to get expert advice from fellow club members, on the spot, right when you need it. Plus, it's a whole lot of fun!

We discussed the Texas Two-Step. You can read more about this technique in Brew Your Own magazine. Lacking space, many homebrewers will brew a 2.5 gallon batch of beer, at high strength, and then add water to make 5 gallons. Briefly, the Texas Two-Step is a brewing process in which the hops are boiled in water to get higher utilization of the hop resins and oils due to the lower density of plain water. Homebrewers can do this on the stove in a small pot. Afterward, 2.5 gallons of high-strength wort are combined in the fermenter, with the water/hop solution, to make five gallons of beer.

Jay has tried this method and brought sample to a previous club meeting. The resultant beer had high bitterness and a citrus quality that, combined, was reminiscent of grapefruit. As noted in the BYO article, the ph levels in the wort have an effect on the extraction of the hop resins and oils. Al noted that he has used a similar technique to add hop aroma to an all-extract kit that, because of its inclusion of aromatic hops, should not be boiled. By adding finishing hops to boiling water, then removing the water from the heat source, he added hop aroma to the extract. He called it his Black Beer of Hoppiness, due to the sharp increase of pine scent.

At the brew event in Al's garage (see related story), Pat Scanlon suggested that the club tries a 50-gallon full mash, from which each brewer may add other grains and hops to customize his or her own variety of beer. In this way, we will not need malt extracts. Pat suggests that the flavor and mouth feel will be notably different from making beer with extracts. We will discuss this at another meeting to decide if and when to do it.

There is a beer tasting event at the War Memorial on March 24 from 7:30 to 9:30. See related article for more information.

Ed told a story of how he attempted to simulate beer overflowing from a bottle for a local high school production of "Bye-bye Birdie." Officials at the school wish to avoid an infraction of the drinking age law, so they contacted Ed to find a solution. He tried several techniques, but I guess making "near beer" is not what homebrewing is all about.

Ed told everyone to look for hot water heaters being thrown out in your neighborhoods. The burners may be used to produce beer. Easily removed, the burners will need to have the holes enlarged before use with propane. With the addition of a regulator, you will have a burner suitable for boiling a 5-gallon batch of beer. Combine two burners for more flexibility. You see where we're going with this? So, find those hot water heaters!

After the sampling ended, so did the meeting.