View from the Top of the Tun

Well, I’m in far better shape, in terms of beer on hand, than I was last month at this time. As we get closer and closer to major competition season my beers are starting to come on line and I now have a Czech Pils, and a Wiezenbok on tap, minikegs of Old Ale and Belgian Double carbonating and a London Brown that just made it into the keg. So I’m drinking homebrew again!

Last Saturday we packed up 28 entries to send to Lethbridge, which is about 2x more than we’ve sent before. I hope that’s a sign that Edmonton is once more on the road to becoming a volume powerhouse in homebrew competitions. Regina sent in something between 30-40 so we are pretty close to them this year. Hopefully we’ll make up in quality what we lack in quantity.

Speaking of Regina, their entries are due at the end of April and while that seems a good ways off it isn’t really. I figure that you’ve got until about the weekends of 13 to 21 March in order to brew an ale that you can be assured of being in good condition for that competition. That’s only a few weeks after this months meeting. So if you have any questions about entering brews in this prestigious AHA qualifier then the March meeting is the time to ask. If you have questions about what categories to enter a brew in, my first advice is to enter it in more than one. Regina encourages multiple entries of this nature. And after 5 entries there is no additional charge for more entries – so go for it. My second bit of advice is to bring a sample of those questionable entries to the March meeting and pass them around to some of the experienced members for an opinion. As Jim Whittome found out last weekend when asking what style of ale he should be entering, you may get some surprising answers – like “put it in German Pils”. Remember, the EHG pays for all shipping to Regina so all you have to do is brew the beers and pay the entry fees. I figure we’ll have a group packing session on 17 April to meet the 30 April due date.

This is the first year Regina is hosting the AHA and it’s critically important that they demonstrate they can support a big competition. If they don’t get a big number there is a very good chance the AHA will pull the site from Canada. A good showing this year will secure a first round site in Canada. Otherwise we’ll be shipping to Denver! I promised Regina at least 45 entries from EHG to help them reach their goal of 300.

I plan to enter at least 15, including several multiple entries, and I know another member who will be in that range. So surely we can double the entries to Lethbridge and give Regina at least 60, if between two members we are already close to 30! Give Regina 2 of everything you’ve got. Better yet, enter a beer in more than one category and give them 4 of everything – making sure of course you save an equal number for Edmonton’s ABC! Regina has promised to match us bottle for bottle - that is for every entry we send them they will send at least one entry back to Edmonton for the ABC, so by supporting Regina you also help our own competition achieve its goal of 300.

This mutual support system is one reason why western Canada has become the centre of homebrewing in the nation. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve decided to formalize our association at the club level and form the Western Confederation of Brew Clubs. You’ll have a chance to get in on the ground floor organizing the Confederation this summer when Edmonton hosts the first WCBC conference “Hotbreak 2004” being held in conjunction with our annual Aurora Brewing Challenge on the weekend of 3-5 June. Keep these dates clear because it’s gonna be a fantastic weekend with homebrewers coming in from across western Canada to celebrate quality brewing. We’ve got a great range of sessions planned and there’s gonna be some awesome kegs of homebrew that you’re only gonna be able to sample by coming to the conference. Details will be forthcoming starting at this month's meeting. See you there.

From the Bottom of the Mash

The competition season is in full swing and so far, it's been fun, even when you don't expect it. I was just interested in trying out some new brewing techniques with the Brew House kits and gather valuable evaluations from the judges. Mostly, so I can learn more about brewing different styles and improve my brewing experience. I never anticipated looking at the Best of Show award mug as I write this column. So what did I learn from the Brew Off competition?

While it reduces the number of "drinkable homebrews", splitting my Brew House kits gave me more styles, different recipes and different yeasts to try out. While I still ended up with 5-6 gallons of homebrew, it's not all the same homebrew! It also gave me some insight into managing two (actually four) fermenting beers at one time. A technique for when I try brewing different all-grain beers from first and second runnings.

The biggest experience I learned primarily from some other members is: "If you never enter, you will never win." I have already heard from some members saying they wished they had entered more beers or entered beers, period. Even if you don't win a ribbon, you will still win by learning how to be a better brewer.

There are four more regional competitions coming up where you can win by learning to be a better brewer. And don't pass up the BURRP! 2 club competition. This is a great opportunity to experiment with a new recipe and for the extract and Brew House brewers, an introduction to working with grain. It was last year's BURRP! that gave me the push to start doing all-grain brewing. From last year's BURRP! I won many times over. My biggest wins were not just a BURRP! prize and an ABC bronze medal, but more importantly, an ongoing improvement in my homebrews.

I now have lots of "drinkable" beers to enjoy.

BURRP! 2 All grain brewing session

To help extract and Brew House brewers who might want to take the opportunity to try all-grain, Gunther and Roxy will donate Saturday, March 13th to helping you brew. They provide the equipment. You bring your recipe, all your ingredients and a fermenter. They will help you do a single infusion mash and get the wort into your fermenter. You have to get your wort home after it’s made – no fermenting at Alley Kat. We will do AM and PM runs with 3-4 people at a time. Sign up at the March meeting.

The EHG 2004 Aurora Brewing Challenge

The EHG 2004 Aurora Brewing Challenge on June 3-5, 2004 has been registered with both the BJCP and the AHA. The Edmonton Home Brewers Guild is proud to once again to be hosting this event as an MCAB qualifier.

Basic Competition Information
ABC/MCAB7 Canadian Qualifier 3-5 June 2004

Entries Due:
Friday 28 May 2004 to
Alley Kat Brewing Co
c/o Neil Herbst
9929-60 Ave
Edmonton, AlbertaT6E 0C7

Styles:
All 20 MCAB styles plus additional non-MCAB categories.

Entries:
Two, 300-500 ml bottles - any shape, type or color but must be unmarked and with plain or blacked out caps. Groelsch swing top bottles are accepted.

First three entries are $6.00 per entry with the fourth and additional entries at $4.00 CAD per entry.

We encourage brewers to enter as many beer styles/subcategories as they wish. You may enter more than one entry per subcategory. Please identify multiple subcategory entries on the entry form with a unique name or number.

All entries must identify a style and subcategory. Acceptable subcategories are listed under the style.

Special awards for Best of Show (top 3 brews), Brewer of the Year (most medal points in competition), and Best Club (most medal points).

Medals will be awarded in each beer style and in the mead category. Each split category will have it's own set of medals. Beers entered into the split category will be judged in a second round to determine the MCAB qualifiers. Only the top beer of the style advances to MCAB finals.

Judges qualified under the Beer Judge Certification Program will perform judging. Everyone who enters will have an evaluation form returned within 30 days of the end of the competition. Results will be posted on the EHG website within 48 hours.

Competition entry forms for ABC/MCAB7 are being updated for 2004 and should be on our web page http://www.ehg.ca by early March.

More to BURRP! Two

As announced at the February meeting and in the last issue of The Worthouse News, the second annual BURRP! - Brewing Under Really Ridiculous Parameters! - an in-house competition to see who can brew the best beer under challenging conditions, is building to a full wort boil. The odor and smoke of roasting barley can be seen floating over the homes of several EHG members.

Shortly after the competition was announced, there were several concerns expressed of stuck mashes and messed up wort from the various additives found in cold cereal. Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew! Based on a small test run I did a couple of weeks ago, many problems that might be associated with cold cereal can be avoided by selecting the right cereal and a few other tips.

1. Read the Label! While deciding on a cold cereal for your BURRP! brew, look at the ingredient label. Select a cereal that is low or no salt and little or no oils. Also watch for preservatives in the cereal. Labels are supposed to list ingredients in the order of most to least. So, sodium bicarbonate as the last ingredient will be minimal in your mash and wort.
2. Do a simple hot water test. Take a small amount of the cold cereal and put it in hot water. Stir gently then leave alone and watch what happens. It will be a good indication of how the cereal will hold up in a mash or steep.
3. Be gentle. For all-grain brewers, stir the cereal into the upper layer of the mash after dough-in of all the other grain. Avoid extensive stirring after putting in the cereal.
4. Bag it. For extract and Brew House brewers, do a partial mash/partial steep, keeping the cereal in a grain bag. The November 2003 issue of Brew Your Own magazine has an informative article on partial mashing and steeping.
5. Pitch a large amount of yeast by building up a big yeast starter and don’t depend on just a XL slap pack.

To clarify the rules, there is no restriction on minimal batch size as long as you meet the requirements of using the 10 pounds of WestCan pale malt and 1 pound of cold breakfast cereal. Split batches from first and second runnings along with 3 gallon big brews are all acceptable.

First Annual 2004 Brew House Brew- Off! Results

The results are in for the First Annual 2004 Brew House Brew Off! Competition. The competition had 29 entries across all categories with most from Edmonton but also several from outside of Edmonton, all the way to Winnipeg. Thanks to all that participated and congratulations to the winners.

Edmonton

Munich Dk Lager
-Munich Dk Lager

Mead with TLC

It’s interesting that home brewers consider mead to be part of their “territory”. Being that I don’t make wine or belong to a home vinters club, I don’t know if the vinters celebrate mead at all. The BJCP includes mead and for that we should all be very glad. Not only is mead an absolutely amazing drink, it is quite easy to make. Experimenters beware! Making mead will consume you forever! There is no end to the different kinds of meads that can be made. If you are wondering what it tastes like, simply come to the next meeting where we will be trying some fantastic meads made by club members. Expect a delicate drink that offers a wide variety of flavors for you to enjoy. I actually close my eyes when I drink mead.

Mead is simply a mixture of honey and water fermented over a much longer period of time than beer. There are a few tricks to making incredible mead that you should consider before your first attempt:

What kinds of meads exist?

A look through the BJCP, Internet, and various books can give you a more complete answer, however I’ll give you a quick and dirty low down.

• Traditional Mead: These are made of honey, water and yeast. They are the easiest to make, and I believe, the nicest. A traditional mead showcases the honey used, revealing the subtle characteristics. These can be made still (uncarbonated) or sparkling (carbonated). As well, they can be dry or sweet. Many mead makers vary the mead by changing the honey itself. Honey varies depending on the flowers, bees, climate, etc. I recommend using only high quality honey from a bee keeper if you want an amazing product. Typical store bought honey won’t make a mead to be proud of.
• Metheglin: Spiced mead is another favorite style of mine. I prefer to make a traditional mead, spice it in the glass, tasting along the way until I get a good compliment of flavors. After that, I scale it up and add the spice mixture prior to bottling. Favorite spices for me are nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, ginger, and many others.
• Melomel: Mead mixed with fruit. Experimenting with various fruits can produce a wonderful concoction. I buy fruit juice that has been sterilized in the cardboard 1 liter boxes and add it during the rack to the secondary. Specific types of melomel include Cyser, a mead mixed with apple and Pyment, a grape juice mead.
• Braggot: Mead mixed with ale. Braggot is a wonderful multidimensional balance of malt and honey.

How do you make it?

There are so many different opinions on the best way to make mead that it’s not easy to say any one particular procedure.

• Obtain some high quality honey, approximately 3 pounds per gallon of mead.
• Heat up the water ( I use 50:50 tap water to RO water with added yeast nutrient and acid blend) to boiling and add the honey. At this point I would highly recommend adding Irish moss to aid in clarification.
• Mix the honey in well, crash cool and add to the primary fermenter. The resulting mixture is unfermented mead, or must. I don’t boil the must because I don’t want to lose the subtle aroma from the honey, however some excellent mead makers do boil the must.
• Add Lalvin EC-1118 dry yeast to warm water until you see activity and then add it to the must. This champagne yeast does an excellent job of fermenting it down to a low finishing gravity, and thus making a dry mead. For sweeter mead use Chardonnay yeast.
• Aerate the must, add an airlock and allow the must to ferment for several months to a year before racking to the secondary. Store in the secondary for another equally long time and then bottle. Good mead usually takes about a year for me. The yeast nutrient speeds up this process however.
• Bottle and age. Mead can last many years, and some enthusiasts believe that most mead will not reach its peak until 5 years old.

I can come home from work and get the mead finished and the brewery cleaned up well before bedtime without any worries. Compared to brewing, mead making is very fast, and in my opinion, equally enjoyable. Experimentation is the next natural step, making this hobby one that will persist for many more mead making sessions. Good luck!