Palm Beach Draughtsmen

What is a Trippel?

This is a question that has been answered in many (incorrect) ways. Michael Jackson describes a tripel in his comprehensive book The Great Beers of Belgium as a style that evolved from the practice of using simple marks , such as crosses, diamonds or triangles to distinguish between the different strengths, colors and maturation of the beers that a brewery had to offer in the days when most of the world’s population was illiterate. The number of marks would delineate the relative strengths of the beers. Thus the origin of "Double" and "Trippel" to identify the stronger beers in their product line, with Trippels representing the "top of the line" product.

This practice is still in use in Belgium, where Trippels and Doubles refer to the Abbey and Trappist beers. Trippels have come to be identified as golden ales with intense and complex flavor profiles. Aromatic malts provide a maltiness that plays on the palate well with the subtle hoppiness. The use of Belgian candy sugar further increases the complexion of the bee with its contribution to the fruity taste of the style.

(article from The Pint Post)

A-B Chickens Out Again!

Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis turned some heads when they test-marketed Crossroads. a German-style hefe-weizen beer brewed with the distinctive, fruity weizen yeast, giving it an authentic taste profile for the style. Many craft-brew insiders asked, "do the big boys get it?" It seems that they don’t. After test-marketing the beer in Minneapolis/ St.Paul, Denver, Columbus,OH and Raleigh/Durham the beer was pulled from the e market. There were not enough repeat sales in these "spring break" markets to continue the marketing efforts. Just goes to show you that the wrong target clientele can kill a good thing. These college students don’t know what a good beer is! They just think they do! (Certain liberties taken with an article from The Pint Post)

A Prediction

A-B Amber Bock will be pulled from the shelves by mid February in spite of an intensive radio ad campaign. In my opinion, the beer just doesn’t have it! And the A-b people just don’t have the guts to produce a really distinctive beer!

Judging

Want to evaluate a beer like the "pros"? Beer judges basically follow these steps:

1. Hold bottle up to light, check for ring around neck, a sign of infection. 2. Uncap bottle carefully and pour about two ounces into cups, one for each judge, being careful to hold the bottle so the sediment stays at the bottom. 3.Hold cup up to light , Note color and clarity, head, or lack of, size of bubbles, carbonation presence of solids. Check for signs of bacterial infection. 4. If beer is too cold, cup in hands for a couple of minutes. 5.Smell beer. Is it hoppy, skunky, alcoholic, fruity, malty? Does it smell like chlorine or cooked corn? 6.Taste beer. Note how it feel on your tongue- the body and carbonation. 7. Repeat any steps deemed necessary. 8.Write comments on score sheet. 9. Discuss beer with colleagues. 10.Repeat step 7. 11.Come to consensus with colleagues. 12. Clear palate with water, bread, crackers. Proceed to next beer and repeat, using new cups. 13.Finish judging flight of beers, determine first, second third places. Retaste beers close in score. 14. Send first-place beer to best of show judging. (From All About Beer, Jan 1996.) These guidelines should remove some of the mystery of "How It’s Done"! The most important thing is to get a consensus! dALE

Get the Point? Know what’s at the top of the steeple of the First Baptist Church of Hampton Falls, N.H.? That’s right, a 5-1/2 foot beer bottle!

Twelve Ways to Improve a Stout

by Randy Mosher

I imagine we've all had the experience. We are offered a stout. A thick, beautiful head floats atop the inky juice, making an artful eyeful. We sniff, then sip, and the search for adjectives begins. "Hmmm. Roasty. And dark. And, um roasty. Did I mention it was roasty?"And so it often goes, even with our own home-brewed stouts. In my opinion, this popular style often lacks the depth and dimension of other styles. Because it is so easy to get into the ballpark-just add a pound of black malt to any recipe-it is hard to know what to do to make our stouts stand out. Here are a few suggestions, some traditional, some fairly deranged. 1. Weird grain. British brewers rely on what used to be called "head grains," traditionally wheat or oats, to improve the head-forming abilities of their beers. In fact, those grains were used abundantly by brewers a few hundred years ago. In quantities of five to ten percent they will indeed boost a head; in larger amounts they will contribute their own quality to a beer. Both wheat and oats tend to soften a beer's character, blunting the sharpness of the roast grains. Oats seem to have a thickening effect, giving any beer a milkshake richness without sweetening it. I have used flaked unmalted wheat from the health food store in amounts up to 40 percent without adverse effects on the sparge. Oatmeal will get gummy on you, so ten percent or below is most manageable. If you're using these grains in a mini-mash, be sure to add equal amounts of pale, or better, 6-row lager malt to convert the starches. A protein rest of 30-60 minutes at 122° F seems to help, too. Other grains should contribute their own complexities, and everything has been used in beer at some time and place: millet, buckwheat, quinoa, spelt, rye, wild rice. 2. Syrups. In colonial America, brewers often made a substance called beer simply from molasses and oat bran and hops. While this may have satisfied George Washington's servants, we can do better with the stuff. Molasses adds a unique sourish, rumlike character to stout that can be quite satisfying. Adding various sugar syrups is a good way to make a stronger beer that is dry enough to be drinkable, as is the case with abbey triples. One commercial brewer in Chicago uses maple syrup in his stout, which is a marvelously subtle way to create a unique brew. Syrups may be added directly to the brewkettle, although delicate aromas may be best preserved by adding them to the secondary, as one would fruit. I have not had experience with a honey stout, but this may be a good opportunity to a stronger-tasting variety such as buckwheat. 3. Hop character. Although the yapping lapdogs of style appropriateness will tell you that hop character has no place in a proper stout, it is our job as homebrewers to thumb our beer-soaked noses at such dogma. Hop character can indeed be a good thing in a stout. Try the kind of hop schedule you might apply to an IPA-dry hopping, the whole works. 4. The three percent factor. Guinness adds a secret potion to their stouts that is made by deliberately souring a some of their beer. When added in small amounts to the stout, it confers a lactic tanginess that makes their products absolutely unique. Technically, this is a difficult thing to do, and I don't think anyone has figured out the foolproof homebrew method yet, so you are officially pioneering here. Hold out a quart of beer and experiment. Perhaps a tablespoon of active yogurt will get it going. Hint: lactobacillus is happiest at higher temperatures, so incubate at 85° F or so. You might try one of the commercially packaged lambic microbes such as Pediococcus damnosus or one of the Brettanomyces wild yeasts. It will probably be best to pasteurize these errant cultures before adding them back to the main brew. Or, simply add a tablespoon of 80% lactic acid, sometimes available at homebrew shops. Another approach would be to add a couple of bottles of Berliner Weissbier at racking. 5. Smoked grain. The intensity of smoked grain is far less intrusive in stouts than in paler beers, and actually adds a nice complexity. These can be added in very small amounts, an ounce or two, just to add a subtle depth to the roast character. Or, you can add a pound or two for the full effect. Peat-smoked Scottish distiller's malt and beechwood-smoked German rauchmalt are available commercially, or you can smoke your own in a barbecue with the wood of your choice. Maple and apple are sweet and delicate, oak and pecan are very sharp and pungent, hickory and mesquite are mild and mellow. See what works for you. 6. Crystal malt. One of the most common deficiencies of stouts is non having enough malt character. Think of your stouts as like a paler beer that happens to have a load of dark malt in it. Try to add the richness that you might look for in a fine Oktoberfest. Even though you may not see it in your final beer, you sure will taste it! Crystal is the malt of choice if you're doing mini-mashes to add to extract beers. Its sugars are already in a converted and soluble form, so all you need to do is soak the cracked crystal malt in hot water to dissolve, then strain and add to the pot. 7. Oddball roasted grains. Fire up the oven! You can make all kinds of roasted grain you can't buy at the homebrew shop. Wheat, oats, buckwheat and other grains can be toasted, and each can lend a unique twist to your stout. I especially love the taste of toasted oats, which is the same intoxicating aroma created by baking oatmeal cookies. This aroma carries through well into the fermented beer, lending an unforgettable richness to your stout. Toast at 350° F until oats are starting to turn golden, and the kitchen smells like cookies. One note on home-roasted grain: various harsh chemicals are created during roasting which make beer unpleasantly rough and slow to clear. Allow two weeks for these to waft away between roasting and brewing. 8. Amber and brown malt. Traditionally, two types of grains were used to brew porter (stout's uncle) in the eighteenth century. These grains were used in large amounts, comprising up to 1/3 each of early porter recipes. In fact these were the only source of color in black beers before the 1821 invention of the "patent" method of making black malt. Amber, a non-crystal malt of about 35° Lovibond, made by toasting over straw fires, and brown malt, about 100° L, made by roasting over oak until light brown. Amber is sometimes available as "biscuit" or "victory" malt, but brown is quite rare on the homebrew scene. It may be made by toasting whole pale malt at 350° F for one to two hours until a deep copper color is reached. The same precautions about home-roasted grains apply. 9. Mild ale malt. If you're mashing, this poor forgotten malt can do a lot for you. Mild is the British equivalent of vienna malt, a high-kilned malt that will brew an amber beer if used all by itself. Traditionally, the highest grade of malt was reserved for making pale malt, and everything else was turned into mild and darker malts. Pale malt was used only to make pale ale where its clean flavor and extremely low protein were essential. Mild was used in the production of darker beers, where it lent a caramelly sweetness that played against the bitter intensity of the brown and black malts. It is still sometimes available; if you can't find it, vienna malt makes a fine substitute. 10. Spices and herbs. I past times all beers were herb beers. They still are, but we've narrowed down to one herb, hops. Every culinary or medicinal herb has been used in the past, but some taste better than others. In stout, I like cloves, cassia (similar to cinnamon, the Dentyne spice), rosemary, black pepper, grains of paradise (an African cardamom relative), coriander and orange peel. Quantities range from 1/4 tsp. (rosemary, black pepper, G of P) to 1-2 oz (coriander). Hot red pepper was also a common additive of old, as was ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Even espresso-roast coffee is being used as a seasoning by some commercial brewers. Cocoa can be used to add a chocolatey smoothness. Spices may be added at the end of the boil, to the secondary, or steeped in vodka before adding at bottling or kegging. 11. Fruit. Not every fruit works well with stout, but a few are standouts. Cherries are particularly nice, and I have an apricot porter (almost a stout) on tap in my basement right now. Whole fruits, juice, concentrates and extracts can all be used. For best results, use a lot of fruit-one to three pounds per gallon-and let it age sufficiently before drinking. Use caution when bottling real fruit beers; slow-fermenting sugars can cause bottles to become overprimed. I usually cut down the priming by 1/3 on those. The new concentrates being sold have a nice flavor and really simplify the process, although they don't taste quite as good as fruit beers made the hard way, with real fruit. 12. Whiskey. This bizarre approach, which involves a fresh bourbon cask, has become a cult classic here in Chicago. A group of brewers pool their fresh beer into a recently-emptied 50-gallon bourbon barrel for secondary fermentation, where it picks up the unmistakable twang of fine Kentucky sour-mash. I know this sounds like a complete aberration, but it actually tastes, well, as the say down there, "This dog'll hunt." So there you have it. Enough information to brew a different stout every month well into the next milennium. May I suggest a smoked habanero espresso imperial stout, or perhaps, an oatmeal honey apricot tropical stout, or perhaps a molasses-based pirate stout, seasoned with pepper, grains of paradise, ginger, and rum? Happy Brewing!

Findings Products and Techniques

from Brew Your Own magazine

Clarifying beer involves understanding a few basic chemical and physical properties and can be broken down into three distinct areas of concern. The first steps take place during and immediately following the boil. Theses include coagulation and precipitation of proteins and spent hop material.

The second steps occur in the physical control of fermentation and conditioning of the beer and involve the removal of yeast.

The final measures occur during the finishing and packaging of the beer sand involve final yeast removal and sedimentation and chill-haze proofing.

Apart from manipulation of the brewing process, clarifying aids are available as ingredients that can be added to your brew.

These aids are collectively called finings and often work on the principles of attraction of positive and negative charges.

The Kettle Boil

The coagulation and precipitation of proteins in boiling wort is a natural process affected by heat, time and agitation. After just a few minutes of boiling , you should see a film forming on the top of the boiling wort. This is called hot break and consists of proteins that have clumped together because their structure was destroyed by heat and agitation.

Because of the proteins present in all grain worts, a 90 minute boil is recommended to maximize coagulation. Allow the wort to boil for 15 to 30 minutes before adding hops to maximize coagulation. A rapid, rolling boil should be maintained so that the proteins bump into each other and break down. If you can’t maintain a vigorous boil, stir vigorously and often.

Irish Moss is a kettle fining. Proteins in boiling wort are positively charged and Irish Moss is negatively charged. Added in the last ten minutes , 1/2 tsp. for five gallons will attract clumps of proteins and their weight will cause them to settle out of solution.

Whirlpooling can be easily accomplished by stirring the wort in a clockwise motion and allowing it to settle for about twenty minutes. During this time all the trub will settle into a cone in the middle of the kettle.

Cold Break . Some of the proteins will remain soluble at high temperatures and only precipitate when cooled. Cooling should be accomplished as quickly as possible to maximize the cold break.

Fermentation and Conditioning.

The main concern following primary fermentation is rapid settling and removal of yeast. As the yeast use up all available sugars they begin to flocculate, or clump, and settle out to form a layer of sediment at the bottom of the vessel. After the primary ferment is complete (3 to 5 days) the bee should be racked to a secondary where conditioning can commence.

It is best to initially Warm Condition ales at close to primary temperatures until there is no sign of activity in the airlock. If possible, decreasing the temperature to 50° for a few days and again to 40° for a few more days should produce a brilliant beer a packaging time. Lager should be stored at the coldest possible temperatures.

Gelatin combines with tannic acid to form larger particles that adhere to yeast and proteins and drag them out of solution. Gelatin should be used to fine lager beers because it requires colder temperatures to work effectively, and should be added to beer that is 50° or colder. The closer to freezing , the better it will work.

Isinglass is positively charged and attracts negatively charged yeast cells. It is a fining used in cask conditioned English Ales because of its ability to settle ale yeasts quickly. It should not be used in lagers as it will not clear and may even damage them. Add at packaging.

Chill Haze

Chill haze is the phenomenon that causes clear beer to become hazy when chilled. The chemical processes are the same as discuused earlier as cold break. However, homebrew that has been oxidized or areated during racking or bottling will be particularly succeptible to chill haze.

There are two basic methods of dealing with chill haze available to the homebrewer: degrading agents and adsorbents.

Papain is a protein degrading enzyme derive from the skin of papayas. The enzyme will break down proteins, prohibiting their interaction with tannins and eliminating the possibility of haze. Add at packaging.

Adsorbents are compounds that attract other compounds by static electricity, like your sweater in the dryer attracts your socks. Polyclar and silica gel are quick and effective adsorbents that are in powdered form and should be used in the secondary, at least a day before you rack to your packaging.

Hopefully this will be helpful in developing your beermaking techniques.

Government Warning

Consuming alcoholic beverages may be hazardous or beneficial to your health, depending on the common sense employed.

Cars are not meant to be wrapped around trees, and driving while drinking excessively may be even more hazardous to your health than skydiving or military service. In addition, using a chainsaw after consuming a couple of bottles of beer may make it necessary to do your mathematical calculations in base eight from that point forward ( Damn, there goes another one!) Make that base seven!

Observe also that drinking a fifth of bourbon each day during pregnancy may cause your baby to emerge looking vaguely like a frog, brain-damaged enough to think and act like Jesse Helms!

On the other hand, under most conditions, Judicious use of alcohol has been shown to improve the body’s of high-density lipoprotein ratio, and to reduce the risk of heart attack by approx. 40%. On occasion. it has been known to encourage relaxation, singing, dancing, loving, good fellowship , original thought and lively debate.

In any case, alcohol’s greatest threat is to provide a platform for demagoguery among politicians wishing to control the private lives of citizens. Political foaming at the mouth has been found to constitute a subtle virulent threat to individual liberties.

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