View from the Typewriter

Why not get the Worthouse News by e-mail?

Photocopying, stapling, label printing, envelope stuffing... get the drift? It's cumbersome, expensive and time consuming. You can get your copy faster - and in colour - by e-mail. Just send me a note at <email removed>. The Newsletter will come in pdf format, which has the advantage that it can be read regardless of the computer system you use, and it cannot contain a virus. You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files. This you can download free of charge from www.adobe.com. Once I have you on my email list, I will not send you any more paper copies, unless you request them.

So, that was the first thing I had to get off my chest. I bet you have noticed that this newsletter is somewhat late. Simple explanation is that I didn't know I was the newsletter editor until Sunday, September 30th (missed the AGM due to jet-lagged confusion). Be that as it may, I quickly scrambled to put together a newsletter, since we haven’t had one for a while. I found some articles on the net and in Northwest Brewing News, and I hope you find them interesting (I also hope I won't get sued for copyright infringement).

Christmas is closer than you might think. Following an old tradition, the executive is going to brew a beer for our Christmas meeting. The beer is going to be a spicy Belgian Wit. It's going to be brewed on Saturday, October 13th, 10:30 start, at Frank Kuzemski's high-tech brewery (seeing is believing). Anybody interested is welcome to attend (11716-39A Ave).

The EHG November meeting is tentatively planned to be held at Brewster's on Oliver Square (116 St & 104 Ave). This will be confirmed in the November newsletter.

I am grateful to all those homebrew artisans who have volunteered to help me out over the year with articles. Thanks Martin, Guy, Geoff, Boyd, Frank K., Harry and Neil. Everybody is welcome - no, encouraged - to contribute to this newsletter. It would be great if I could have any contributions by the 20th of the month, ideally by email. Acceptable formats are: plain text file, rich text (rtf) or MS Word.

All I can say now: Enjoy your Worthouse News.

This beer tastes like... Historians recreate 'Stone Age' recipe, dung and all

SEPT 3, 2001 - Historians have recreated a "Stone Age" beer flavored with animal dung, and put it on sale only in the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland.

Merryn Dineley, a Manchester University historian and chief brewer of the ancient beer, told The Observer on Sunday that the brew was "quite delicious." The ale is brewed in clay pots with traces of baked animal droppings.

He and others recreated the recipe after uncovering what they claim is a 5,000-year-old pub and brewery on the remote archipelago.

Dineley examined stone-lined drains running under houses in the neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Orkneys and found evidence of a kiln for malting grain and traces of a cereal-based fermented alcohol.

(reprinted from www.realbeer.com)

Smell Your Beer - September 2001

Last night, while attending a book launch at a local brewpub, I fell into a conversation with a fellow who insisted on professing to me in great detail his love of pubs and bars. He called himself a drinker, and did so with pride. He also claimed to be a big fan of beer.

It will likely come as no surprise to readers of World of Beer that I also consider myself to be a beer enthusiast of significant degree. Yet my argumentative drinking partner and I were about as far apart in our views on beer as two non-teetotallers could be. He frequently drank without serious consideration of what was in his glass; I seldom patronize bars that don't offer at least one good beer or suitable substitute. He claimed that the finest act a bartender could do was to have his drink waiting on the bar for him as he pulled up to his stool; I never know what I'm going to drink until I have a good look at what's on offer, even if I am familiar with the bar. He - and I admit here that I'm just guessing - probably has no idea what a beer smells like; I take a sniff of every glass that approaches my lips.

It's a funny thing, our sense of smell. It is one of the most acute of our five senses, yet we have become conditioned to use it sparingly. In fact, if you take stock of the number of times over the course of a day that you notice a smell, you'll probably find that the majority of those times the smell is a bad one. This despite the fact that a good smell, a really good smell, is as capable of delivering great pleasure as is a good flavour or a fine sight.

In beer, smell is of paramount importance. Ever wonder why mainstream beers tend to taste so much better when you drink them out of the bottle and ice cold? It's because you can't smell them. Believe me, I've sniffed many a cellar temperature mass-produced lager and I'm here to tell you that, more often than not, what I smell is not exactly the most enticing of scents.

Give me a fresh pint of cask-conditioned and dry-hopped best bitter, on the other hand, and I can smell a walk in the autumn woods, an undercurrent of fruit and perhaps a hint of spice as an accent. All of which makes the experience of tasting the beer that much more pleasurable.

Brewers the world over go to great lengths to get just the right aromas in their beers, be they Belgians brewing potent ales, Germans producing fragrant bocks or American craft brewers making...well, just about anything under the sun. To induce these fragrances they use mostly hops, but also spices, herbs, roasted or
caramelized malts, fruits and even specialized yeasts. And they do it to improve your beer drinking experience.

While I seriously doubt I will ever talk my friend from last night into considering the aroma of his beer, I think that even he would find himself deriving more pleasure from his pint if he were to stop and give it a whiff from time to time. It might even be enough to convince him to order a different beer from time to time.

(reprinted from Stephen Beaumont's www.worldofbeer.com)

Northwest Hop History

by Greg Evans

California, Arizona, I made all your crops. Then it’s north up to Oregon to harvest your hops. Pick the beets from y our ground, pick the grapes from your vine, to set on your table your light sparkling wine.
-- Woody Guthrie, Pastures of Plenty

Hops, Glorious Hops! If you've driven through the Yakima or Willamette Valleys in late summer, you've probably noticed them - extensive hop farms, with their distinctive cultivation pattern of tall, rich green foliage and trellis-like masses of wood, wire and twine.

Last year these two Northwest regions produced 62 million pounds of hops, or roughly 30 percent of the world's total production. Our world-class producing areas share a rich historical legacy - with Western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia each being significant centres of. hop production in times past. While pioneer brewers in the Pacific Northwest initially purchased California hops, they soon turned to local
producers for their needs. Chief among them was Ezra Meeker of Puyallup, a visionary who saw the potential
of growing hops for commercial purposes. Dubbed the "King of Hops" for his scientific and inventive approach
to hop cultivation, the legendary Meeker (who founded the city of Kent, WA, named for the famous centre of hop production in England) set the stage for the industry in Western Washington with his initial crop in 1866.

Simultaneously, William Towner and Isaac Cloake would earn the honour as British Columbia's pioneer growers with their first crops on the Saanich Peninsula, just north of Victoria. Little did they know that their efforts would inspire an industry that thirty years later had spread to Kamloops, Vernon and most notably to
Chilliwack in the Fraser Valley, the largest growing area in all of Canada.

The hop craze was then in full swing by the turn of the century with people of all backgrounds, from riverboat captains to tea plantation owners becoming growers. Local experts said that the future looked bright, particularly since Washington and British Columbia hops also were finding a ready market in Europe where crops were failing at an alarming rate.

But the new found prosperity was fleeting. By 1914, the hop fields of Western Washington, now stretching from Puyallup to DuvalI, were almost finished. The same was true for the hop fields of British Columbia, except for Chilliwack, which continued to produce hops until 1997. In both cases, the demise could be traced to the fall of international markets and the persistent hop louse.

The hop louse, however, never made headway in the semi-arid climate of the Yakima Valley, where hops were introduced by the enterprising Charles Carpenter in 1872. The climate, coupled with the coming of regular rail service in 1886, meant that large-scale production was now possible. The groundwork had been laid for the Yakima, Valley to become the World's largest single producer of hops, more than 70 percent of the US crop.

To the southwest, the rich soil of the Willamette Valley had also been producing notable hops and hop growers. Although hops were planted in the area as early as the late 1860s, production really started to reach major proportions by 1900. Ultimately, some of the largest hop farms in the world could be found in the Willamette Valley, including that of E. Clemens Horst, who by his early thirties was already an influential figure in the industry on both sides of the border.

Clearly, the story of hops is about people, no more so than at harvest time in the fall. Hop picking by hand was a way of life, with its own social and economic dynamics. The picking season was an intense period of work and social interaction that stretched from mid-August to mid-September, the period of peak crop maturity. The culture of picking, prior to the large-scale displacement of seasonal workers by mechanization in the 1950s, has several intriguing elements.

First, it was an inter-generational activity, with whole families making the annual trek to the hop fields. It was an important source of income for many people, from students and local farmers supplementing their income, to professional traveling or "migrant" pickers who harvested other seasonal types of crops throughout the Northwest from spring to the late fall.

The number of workers could transform a town overnight. In the 1940s it was estimated that 25,000 people flooded into the hop centre of Independence, Oregon during the late summer. On many hop farms, mini-cities sprang up each year to accommodate the seasonal workforce, with the employer providing bunkhouses, grocery stores, confectionaries, post offices and medical clinics. Dance halls also sprang up, where workers could renew old friendships or unwind after a long day that could stretch from dawn to dusk.

Pickers and the other workers employed by hop farmers, such as cultivators and balers, represented most of the cultural and ethnic mosaic of the entire Pacific Coast. From Native Americans and Mennonites to Chinese and Scandinavians, this diverse group added something of their own to the tradition of the hop harvest on both sides of the border.

And old-timers will tell you, that if you listen closely, you can still hear their voices - the sounds of Northwest brewing history.

Greg Evans is passionate about brewing history. The former executive director of the Vancouver Museum, he has made numerous public presentations on the history of brewing in British Columbia, consulted on documentaries and worked on a variety of projects from Exhibitions to specialized research.

Taking Stock

If you bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $72. (has actually gone down some more since this was calculated)

If you bought $1000 worth of Alley Kat (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, and traded in the bottles for the dime deposit, you would have $158.

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.

Beer Troubleshooting

SYMPTOM	FAULT	ACTION
Feet cold and wet	Glass being held at incorrect angle	Rotate glass so that open end points toward ceiling
Feet warm and wet	Improper bladder control	Stand next to nearest dog, complain about house training
Beer unusually pale and tasteless	Glass empty	Get someone to buy you another beer
Opposite wall covered with fluorescent light	You have fallen over backward	Have yourself leashed to bar
Mouth contains cigarette butts	You have fallen forward	See above
Beer tasteless, front of your shirt is wet	Mouth not open, or glass applied to wrong part of face	Retire to restroom, practice in mirror
Floor blurred	You are looking through bottom of empty glass	Get someone to buy you another beer
Floor moving	You are being carried out	Find out if you are being taken to another bar
Room seems unusually dark	Bar has closed	Confirm home address with bartender
Taxi suddenly takes on colorful aspect and textures	Beer consumption has exceeded personal limitations	Cover mouth
Everyone looks up to you and smiles	You are dancing on the table	Fall on somebody cushy-looking
Beer is crystal-clear	It's water. Somebody is trying to sober you up	Punch him
Hands hurt, nose hurts, mind unusually clear	You have been in a fight	Apologize to everyone you see, just in case it was them
Don't recognize anyone, don't recognize the room you're in	You've wandered into the wrong party	See if they have free beer
Your singing sounds distorted	The beer is too weak	Have more beer until your voice improves
Don't remember the words to the song	Beer is just right	Play air guitar

View from the Top

Wow, my first "View from the Top!" These are indeed lofty heights. Talk about elevation. I keep asking myself "What the hell did I ever do to deserve this?"

To those of you who still don’t know by now, our esteemed "Dean" of Home Brewing in Canada, the undisputed walking encyclopedia of beer know how and our president until November has resigned that office.

The good news is that Roxy only resigned as president but will still be a member. So on behalf of the Guild, Roxy, thanks for all you’ve done for the club in the past; but be forewarned we’ll still be calling on you for your assistance in brewing in the future. Good luck to you in your future endeavors.

As Vice-President, it never occurred to me that I would "inherit" the presidency if and when the President resigns. Well, so be it. But hey, it can't be all that bad inheriting the presidency of the best home-brewing club in Canada and the 8th or 9th best in North America. Which also means we no doubt have some of the most capable and proficient members as well.

So with your help and co-operation, we'll continue to keep improving this club and make it better and bigger and also hopefully more interesting and challenging as well.

I promise to do my bit if you continue to do yours.

Our November meeting was held at Brewsters located downtown in Oliver Square, and what a pleasant evening it turned out to be. Our Host and Chief Brewer was Rob Walsh who was most gracious and accommodating. After sampling their fine beers Rob gave us a tour of their brewery and explained their techniques and procedures.

Some of us novice brewers found it most interesting and informative. Some points to remember was the fact they
engage in water treatment and removal of chlorine plus they "lager" or cold condition all their beers after fermentation for a week or longer at or near zero degrees Celsius.

On behalf of our Guild, Rob, we thank you very sincerely for your hospitality and please accept our invitation to attend our X-mas meeting at Alley Kat Brewery on December 3rd at 7:30 p.m.

May we also remind all our members to attend our December meeting, which is always a little special, since we tend to do more socializing, what with our special guests in attendance. So be sure to bring along your significant other or others. If you know someone who might be interested in home brewing, this is the meeting to invite them to. This is also the meeting where we all bring a pot luck entrée of your choosing.

To this end, your executive all got together on October 13th at my place and we brewed a special Belgian Spiced Witbier for our December meeting. It turned out real well and I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it.

Our newsletter editor, Gunther e-mailed a copy of our new and improved newsletter for November to every member on his e-mail list. Those like me without a computer he sent a copy by regular mail. I got mine, but apparently no one on the e-mail list received theirs. We have hired the best brains available to resolve this problem and hopefully we’ll have it fixed for our next mailing.

Part of that last newsletter was supposed to contain an order form for your Hop Order. We will now try to get that form to you before our December meeting. Please complete your order and bring it along with your payment to the next meeting.

In closing, a reminder to attend the December meeting, bring along our friends and sponsors and on behalf of the Edmonton Home Brewers Guild, allow me to extend best and sincere wishes for a joyous and festive holiday season.

Great Canadian Homebrew Competition

We received the following e-mail from Dennis Kinvig of CABA:

Hello,

The deadline for the Great Canadian Homebrew Competition is Saturday, April 20, 2002. Like previous years, we will also act as the Canadian site for the first round AHA National Competition (The AHA 2nd. Round deadline is June 20-22 in Irving, Texas).

We will keep you informed as to the mailing address/drop-off site for entries.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

Dennis

Therefore, ignore what we said in the last newsletter, brew up a storm and get those entries in.

A minute or two before Hogmanay 2002, the Oatmeal Savage and his Drink

Everyone is Irish on March 17th, but New Year(Jan 1st) belongs to the Scots. When New Year approaches many of us receive gifts of hairy underwear, which we often don’t need or even want. So if scratching isn’t for you, consider the spirit that is called Scotch. Distilled malted Barley( Oh glorious All Mighty). Yes, distilled beer without hops. In the USA during production and after fermentation, undistilled whiskey is even called beer.
Often people consider a Scotch , as a person of Scotland. This is wrong, as people from Scotland are called Scots (or oatmeal savages). This small error in semantics will often infuriate your amiable Scot and cause him to exemplify Scotland’s motto - Nemo Me Impune Lacessit - roughly, If you mess with us, we’ll certainly mess with you. Scotland is not England. The difference of Canada to the U.S.A. comes to mind. The word Scotch has two main uses, one for a distilled spirit, the other for a Dog breed. Their commonality is that they both have bite. 2002 is close at hand and we might all want to have a special bite and a truly enjoyable glass of spirit at that time. There are approx. four different Scotch regions of Scotland, all of which have some distinct character. The Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside and finally the Western Isles. Oh, most of the following text is plagiarized.

Fallacies

1. Smooth Scotch is the best Scotch. (promoted by blended Scotch makers)
2. There is no bad Scotch (rubbish, but there is great variance is quality. Loch Dhu, the black Scotch is the obvious example. Do not buy this %&#$@%. A drink worthy of Parliament Hill).
3. All Scotch tastes the same, regardless of age and prize. No, there are vast diversities in flavour and character, from rich and fruity to dry and phenolic. (Enjoyably, often in the same glass).
4. Scotch is just another spirit, like Rum, Vodka, Gin, etc. Wrong, Scotch like Brandy/Cognac needs no Coke, 7-Up or fizzy pops, although plain water is often mixed to dilute the intensity and expose its subtleties.

Truths

1. Single malt Scotch is usually undervalued.
2. Most people should stick to Rum and Coke.

Uigethe Bethe(gaelic) Whisky(english)

Whisky Types - There are three types of Scotch whisky:

Malt whisky, Grain whisky and Blended whisky. Malt whisky is produced only from 100% malted barley. Grain whisky is produced from a variety of cereals which may, or may not, include a proportion of malted barley. Blended whisky is a combination of whiskies, or Single Malt whiskies and Grain whiskies, mixed together before bottling.

Scotch Whisky - All Scotch (and Irish) whisk(e)y is produced by first grinding the particular cereal grain(s) to a coarse flour and then steeping these goods in hot water in a mash tun. The resultant liquid, called wort, is then cooled to between 22 and 24 degrees centigrade and run back into a
wash back(fermentation vessel) at SG 1050-70. Yeast is then added. Fermentation down to SG .998 is common. Once the yeast has finished, a strong ale called pot ale remains, which is about 9% alcohol by volume. This pot ale is then distilled by heating it in copper stills, twice in the case of Malt whisky using a pair of Pot stills. Three stills are used for Irish whiskey and the Scottish malts Auchentoshan, Benrinnes and Rosebank,. Pot stills are usually onion-shaped, with tall, tapering swan necks designed to help the alcohols condense, after which they are collected, cooled and put into casks. General opinion is that poor efficiency
distilling (pot stills) retains character/flavour, while efficient column continuous distilling is more efficient but lessens character. A whisky, however produced, may only be legally described as Scotch whisky if it has matured in oak cask in Scotland for a minimum of three years. It must also have been bottled at a minimum strength of 40% alcohol by volume. There is no legal requirement for Scotch whisky to be bottled in Scotland. The same legal restrictions also apply to Irish whiskey (note the addition of an "e") in Ireland. I have personally bought excellent Scotch bottled in France(Old Masters).

Single Malts - Usually produced by a single distillery e.g. Aberlour, Edradour, Laphroaig or
Macallan. However, the actual distillery name does not have to be identified on the label for a whisky to be called a single malt. Single malt may come from different casks of various ages, but they must all be from the same distillery. Not all distillery owners bottle their single malts under the name of the distillery. For example, the single malt from Macduff distillery is bottled as Glen Deveron by its owners.

Grain whisky - Grain whisky is produced from a mash of various cereal grains usually, but not
exclusively, made from wheat, maize and barley. Both malted barley and unmalted barley are used in the production of grain whisky.

Blended Scotch Whisky - A blended scotch whisky may contain a combination of whiskies from over 40 or 50 different malt and grain distilleries. The normal ratio of malt to grain is 60% grain 40% malt. The percentage of malt used will determine the quality and smoothness of taste and character. Each whisky used in the blending process will normally have been matured for about 5 years, however there are a number of higher aged blended scotch whiskies available.(e.g. Johnnie Walker Black, Gold and Blue)

Vatted Malts (blended single malts) - Vatted malts are whiskies from more than one distillery which have been blended together, according to the specifications of the blender, to produce a fine, consistent product with a personality of its own. This whisky may well be given an individual name, such as Sheep Dip. A vatted malt cannot contain any grain whisky (otherwise it would become a blended whisky).

Pure Malt - All Scotch malt whiskies, whether single or vatted, are pure malt. They are produced only from malted barley. If a whisky contains just one millilitre of grain whisky, then it is a blended whisky.

Cask Strength - (usually 50-60 abv) - Scotch when stored for years in wooden barrels, looses alcohol(lost to the angels). Also after aging, many Scotches are diluted to the standard 40abv. Cask strength refers to Scotch that approaches its original alcoholic strength when first put in a barrel .This style is often bottled comparatively young, before prolonged aging robs the Scotch of its alcohol. The most easily available example in Edmonton is Bowmore cask stength (approx $35 at supermarkets).There is however the oddball 15 year Lagavulin cask strength, a drink I have never tasted, but would dearly love to imbibe.

Double Wood or Double Cask - An old and traditional practice used to mellow Scotch . This old practice has been revived and has become common among many distilleries, brought on by the popularity of one particular brand, The Macalllan. Macallan has always aged all its product in barrels previously used to store sherry(an old practice dropped many years ago by cost conscious firms, but continued by Macallan). Obviously the old sherry barrel imparts flavour to the maturing scotch, often to its benefit. Other distilleries have now copied this procedure, but only aging their own product for two to three years at the end of normal maturation. (16 years in normal barrels and then transferred to second hand Sherry/Port/Madiera/Bourbon barrels for two years, before bottling. Where will it end? The great example of the full sherry aged maturation process is the remarkable 18 year Macallan (+$100). Of the copy cats, the far cheaper Distillers Edition Oban, is a passable success. It combines a medium peat flavour with the mellowing effects of late storage in Montilla Fino barrels. A definite failure in my opinion is Distillers Edition Lagavulin, where the extra the flavours of double aging are incongruent with Lagavulin’s smoky intensity.

Age/Maturity - Aging produces harmony inside the barrel and mellows the rough edges, but when is Old, old enough? Storage costs money and therefore older Scotch is more expensive. However, older does not necessarily mean better. Scotch should be drank at the peak of maturity and some brands are better at 10 while others at 18 years. Scotch over the age of 18 years often exhibits a strong woody character from the barrel. EHG general opinion is that 12 years is just about right, but each bottle should be judged on its own merits. The Macallan is offered at 12,15.18 and 25 years. You decide.

Good places to start your collection

1. Highland Park (12years) less the $40 at Superstore. No water required. The great all rounder, complex and smooth, marvelous as an after dinner slurp. Dangerous because of its drinkability. If you don’t like this, stick to shooters.
2. The Macallan (18-15-12 and 25 years). The most famous of the sherry aged brands. 12 is very good, but 18 year Macallan has terrific balance and seamless drinkability. People who enjoy cheesecake, can only manage one slice. 18 year has no limit. This is another after dinner slurp. Its character is often compared to Cognacs rather than Scotches. Brandy glass a real plus.
3. The west coast islands of Scotland produce Scotch often noted for their smoky/peat persona. One would be advised to start on the mild side with Oban, moving up to Talisker and finally to the island of Islay where Lagavulin/Laphroaig(usually 16 and 10 years respectively) reside. These two brethren from the same small Island, are for most civilized palates, just too much. They embody the pungent, smoky, phenolic style of south west of Scotland. The Attila the Hun or Harley Davidson of the Scotch world. Heh baby, if wild is your thing, these are for you.

In closing, consider Scotch as the perfect match for Haggis, the national dish of Scotland. Take the heart, liver, lungs, and small intestine of a calf or sheep, boil them in the stomach of the animal, season with salt, pepper and onions, add suet and oatmeal. Enjoy! Maybe after all, most of us should stick to Rum and Coke. "Slainte mhath" , phonetically “Slange Va” or just say cheers.

Internet sites worth a trip

http://www.whiskylinks.com/
http://www.smws.com/
http://www.interlog.com/~contech/home.html
http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/goodbye.html
http://www.laphroaig.com/
http://www.whiskeypages.com/index.htm
http://www.scotchwhisky.net/malt/index.htm
http://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/

View from the top

Well here it is at last. Another brand New Year. 2002. Here’s hoping you all have a happy, "hoppy" healthy New Year.

First and foremost we have to acknowledge the fact that we had a terrific Christmas party on December 3rd, 2001. What a way to end the year. We had a good number of you come out, including four or five wives or girlfriends. The Pot Luck entrees you brought were varied and delicious. Also, many of you brought ample bottles of home brew and special commercial products.

This was in addition to the Executive brewed Belgian Spiced Witbier. It went over really well. On top of that Neil Herbst made sure there was an abundant supply of Alley Kat products available on ice all night.

And lets not forget Neil’s wife, Lavonne, who went all out and painted and decorated the entire premises in E.H.G. colors just for our party. Your choice of colors was terrific, Lavonne, and your workmanship was professional. Thank you both for being the perfect hosts.

Looking back, let’s also remember that our club hosted a very successful competition last June with over 60 entries. Without undue indulgence, lets remind ourselves that our members took more than their fair share of honors - Roxy Hastings and Jim Scott were first and second respectively, in the number of medals won and Gunther Trageser won "Best of Show" with his wheat beer. And again, I got the "Booby" prize - don’t laugh, what have you got against "boobies".

In less than six months, we will be hosting another competition again. Ours is a class competition, probably the Number One event in Canada. Brewers from across Canada and from various sectors of the United States respect the caliber of this event and send their best brews to vie for status. When you win here, you obviously brewed an exceptional product.

Now is the time to start brewing, especially if you intend to enter the "strong" or "big" classes, such as Strong Ales, Russian Stouts or Barley Wine, etc. The number that comes to mind is 162 entries in 2001. Can we match that number in 2002? Can we better it? It’s up to us.

The hop order has been placed and we should have it ready for our February meeting if all goes well. In total, we ordered roughly 52 pounds. Remember our minimal quota of 5 pounds. Well, surprise, surprise. Only one Hop (Cascade) exceeded the 5 pound minimum. 12 pounds to be exact. Columbus pellets totaled 6 1/2 pounds. "All" other varieties varied from a 1/2 pound to 4 1/4 pounds. Nobody ordered any of the three organic Hallertauer varieties. I was surprised to see "Cascade" by far and away the favorite. Nevertheless, we are trying to fill all orders as received, and right now we're hopeful this can be done.

Question: Do you know the difference between an alcoholic and a drunk?
Answer: Oh, sure I do. Us drunks don’t have to attend all those dang meetings.

For those of you who enjoy a wee bit of good Scotch whiskey, you'd better not miss our next meeting. We have three 'experts of good Scotch', along with their 42 advisors and consultants, who have selected some choice varieties to sample at this meeting. Our resident, World Renowned "Scotch" analyst will be on hand to professionally assess each and every type. This event alone is worth the price of admission (which is free). As a true Scott once said, "At least the price is right".

Now that we're on the subject of Scotch, it brings to mind an old Scottish friend of mine who always drank his Scotch "neat or straight" from a shot glass. No water, ice or mix. But he always held his nose when he poured it down. Puzzled by this practice, I finally asked him why he held his nose when he drank "Scotch" which he absolutely adored.

His reply, in a brogue Scottish accent was: Lad, I love my Scotch straight, and if I don’t hold my nose, I get to smell it and my mouth waters and dilutes the Scotch, so I just hold my nose and pour it down.

You can take the high road or the low road, either one or both, but just come to the meeting. You can also bring "Nessie" if you like, and failing that, just bring some haggis and I'll prove to you I can eat that stuff.

See you at the meeting.

Tour Westcan Malting

Kevin Zaychuk has worked hard and arranged a tour of the Westcan facility on Saturday, January 12, 2002 at 1:00 pm. He tells me it’s a tour not to be missed. Please let Kevin ( or phone ) know by the next meeting. We will probably meet at Alley Kat at 11:00 am and then car pool.

Free Fridge

We received the following e-mail:

Greg Wondga: I have a refrigerator that needs some repair - its temp fluctuates - here at my school if someone at the EHG wants it. I know that a fridge with a varying temp is of no use to a brewer, but if anyone is handy enough to fix it.... it's theirs.

Mashing From Scratch

Brewing from scratch instead of a kit can be an exact science or a "Make it up as you go along" type of exercise and it all depends on the type of person you are. My brewing system is somewhere in the middle of the above two brewing styles and can be easily adopted at minimal cost. I guess I could be labeled as a follower of Charlie Papazian's school of brewing. I do have reservations about Charlie, but it is a fair comment when it comes to liking and using the basic fundamentals compiled for the novice all-grain home-brewer in his book "The Home Brewers Companion".

The step from kits to all-grain recipes is a big one but not impossible. The step from partial mash (i.e. Extracts and specialty malts) to all grain recipes is a minor one that requires little extra work, some key capital purchases, significant ingredient cost reductions and unlimited results. My suggestion is that the kit brewer first experiment with partial-mash recipes and when he is comfortable with that and frustrated with the extra cost, then make the jump to all-grain.

So, for anybody who is sitting on the fence saying "Should I" or "Can I" brew from scratch? Here is my version of brewing 101 and you can make your mind up if it is for you! Remember you can make all-grain brewing as scientific and difficult as you want. The end result is still beer!

Section 1 - Brewing Literature is very important and will never be put on a shelf for too long. I strongly recommend every brewing enthusiasts slowly acquires a good collection of brewing literature that can be strategically located in ones bathroom, so that with every visit, new brewing data can be reviewed and stored for future use. The first brewing book I ever bought was "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" (TNCJOHB) by Charlie Papazian. This book is often referred to as the brewing bible, which I still reference,
primarily for his section on Preparation of Culturing Medium (Wort) pages 276 - 282. As mentioned, I have his second book "The Home Brewers Companion" (THC) which is a little bit more geared towards partial or full grain enthusiasts and includes some good all grain recipes. I also recommend "Seven Barrels Brewery Brewers' Hand Book" (SBBBHB) for it’s reliable "bench mark" recipes. Other literature to consider is books from the "Classic Beer Style Series" for the person who is interested to know more about brewing history and techniques for specific beer styles. As well as past editions of brewing magazines (i.e. Zymurgy) that can be bought from some home brew stores. To determine the literature for you and minimize costs, the above-mentioned books (plus more) can be borrowed from the public library.

Section 2 - Equipment investment is required over and above the brewing equipment you may already have at your disposal. To quote from THBC (page 282), There are four essential pieces of equipment unique to all grain mashing that you will have to procure. Plus one more item that I have chosen to add which is an aeration system.

1. A mill to grind your malt
2. A mash-tun to contain the malt grist and water at a controllable temperature.
3. A Lauter/Sparging Tun to strain and separate the sweet wort from the spent grain.
4. A cooling coil to "chill" the hot wort to fermentation temperatures as quickly as possible.
5. A wort Aerating system.

A malt mill is essential but when I first made the jump to all-grain brewing I used the mill set-up at Harvest brewing to make my first few batches (this option may or may not be still available). The job of manually milling grain is time consuming and messy which is why the free option soon becomes tiresome to both the brewer and the shop owner, Brian. To date, I own a Corona mill which I bought many years ago for around $50. I then replaced the handle with a custom made drill attachment. If I was to do it again, or had the money, I would personally purchase The Valley Mill® (http://www.web.net/~valley/valleymill.html)

My mash-tun is my cooking kettle, which is my fermenting pot. The main reason for this utilization is that it is the cheap alternative. Plus, I find primary fermenting in an open vat a whole lot less hassle than in a carboy and to date I have never had contamination resulting from open fermentation over a 5 day period. To mash properly, one should have an insulated mash-tun. This can be done relatively cheaply by insulating a plastic bucket with duct insulation tape or converting a cooler. However with a grain bill greater than 5 lbs. Temperature drop is minor and controllable with periodic top-up heating.

The lauter-tun is the only real addition that separates the mashers from the extract boys. From experience, I can say the most cost effective and least labor intensive set up for the a lauter-tun is the purchase of a 26 liter, or bigger, plastic bucket and Phil false bottom plastic screen. Phils false bottom is amazingly simple to install (i.e. drill a hole into the side of the bucket and insert a standard 3/8” siphon hose), and can be purchased locally at selective homebrew stores.

Next is the Cooling Coil. This is essential for the all grain brewer, because now the boil makes up the majority of the final volume of the brew instead of with the kits, where the majority of the brew consisted of topping up the boil with cold tap water. Without the cooling coil, the wort is very susceptible to bacteria contamination as it slowly cools down. From experience, I recommend the novice brewer starts with an immersion style coil, similar to the coil described in (e.g. THBC - Pg 156). It is easy/cheap to build from parts purchased from a hardware store and very easy to maintain (i.e. sanitize). The alternative is a counterflow system that is more intricate to build (e.g. THBC – Pg 157) requires more attention to detail to ensure it has been sanitized internally. Counter flow chillers do however offer a few added advantages in regards to cooling efficiencies (i.e. cooling time). Plus they can be used in conjunction with a "hop-back" system which some brewers use to infuse additional hop aroma flavors into the wort by passing the hot wort through a inline basket-like device that contains fresh hops. If you are thinking of making a counter flow chiller, my only advice to you from personal experience is use a 3/8" I.D. copper tube to siphon the hot wort through and make sure the tubing is thoroughly sanitized before use.

Aeration of the all-grain brew prior to fermenting becomes important because the majority of the brew has been boiled and thus is low in oxygen when compared to cold water used to top up a kit or extract brew. Oxygen levels will naturally increase over time but can be encouraged by dropping the transferring wort from a height into the receiving container. Other more complicated and costly alternatives are available such as bubbling oxygen or air through the wort as it sits in the fermenting container. The ultimate system would be to use pure oxygen and is something I have considered doing one day. I have however experimented with bubbling air through wort using a fish pond or inhaler pump and a racking cane . Especially when I am making heavier beer (i.e. above 1065) where I have read wort aeration is important. The subject of aerating wort is a topic by itself and should be covered in an article of its own.

For more information on making brewing equipment, take the time to review "Equipment and Process" pages 103 onwards in THBC.

Section 3 - Brewing Preparation to me consists of having a beer recipe in mind, a window available and a yeast culture on the go that will be ready for pitching upon completion of the brew. After which, good record keeping of the brewing details for future resurrection and tweaking is important.

Recipes can be found in the books mentioned above as well as in brewing magazines such as Zymurgy. In my opinion, a couple of good books for recipes are "Winner's Circles" which is a compilation of 10 years of award winning home brew recipes from the AHA as well as the SBBBHB (previously mentioned in section 1). As well as an unlimited recipe sites on the web (i.e. The Cat Meow @ http://hbd.org/brewery/cm3/).

The brewing window required from start to finish ranges from 6 - 8 hours depending on brewing
preparation and the efficiency of the system in place. Brewing efficiency describes both the efficiency of the
equipment and the efficiency of the brewer to complete each step. For the novice all-grain brewer expect 8 hours or longer as you need a couple of brews under your belt to develop a system unique to your setup at home.

A Yeast Culture needs to be ready to pitch as soon as the wort has been cooled via the wort chiller. Call me a snob, but I refuse to use anything but a liquid or agar yeast culture. I refer to a agar yeast culture as a culture on an agar solution that in the past have been made available by Neil or Roxy to members of the Edmonton Home Brewers Club. I purchase Wyeast from my home brew store of choice and then sub-culture to increase my pitch size to around 500 – 1000 ml per 5-gallon batch. When using Wyeast, it is important to note the date stamped on the package date, as the older the package the longer it takes to be ready for pitching. The rule of thumb is one day for every month over one month and is important when planning ahead and preparing for a brewing day.

Good record keeping can be as simple as an entry into a scrap book. Basically it is up to the individual to develop a method to document brewing and fermenting specifics and record a judgement regarding the outcome. From my experience from beer judging (BJCP), the best way to record the pluses and minuses of the beer is to judge the beer using a beer judging format. This is a useful exercise as you can develop a favorite recipe this way by gradually tweaking it (i.e. comments may say, "slightly increase recipe bittering hops to complement good malt profile"). After many years of scratching notes with the best intentions, I came to the conclusion that my record keeping is poor and needs help. Fortunately for me, I discovered "PROMASH" which is a complete brewing software package that I recommend to everybody. Not only does it help me record a brewing session, it also helps me build a recipe, brew to style, select alternative ingredients and maintain brewing inventories. Again the subject of brewing software is a topic by itself and should be covered in an article of its own. For further information on this software visit http://www.promash.com.

Section 4 - Equipment Sterilization is a major part of any brewer success and this is especially important for the all-grain brewer as it becomes even more painful to throw away a batch of beer that you slaved over for 8 plus hours to get to the fermenting stage. I sterilize primarily with generic household bleach which I dilute to around 5 - 10%. I also have Iodine sanitizer (Divosan MH) which I dilute and place in a spray bottle to spray onto outside surfaces such as racking canes and bottle necks that contain my yeast culture. I have found the bottle sterilizer very useful for sterilizing the inside of my racking hose/cane. Simply place the hose over the bottle sterilizer and pump the fluid through the hose and back into the bottle sterilizing collection bowl.

Section 5 - My Brewing System may not be for everybody. When I first started all grain brewing, I used to take over the upstairs kitchen, I would slowly watch the wort heat up on the electric stove and I generally turned the kitchen into a disaster area. As time went on, I developed little tricks and improved my equipment to a point that I don’t have to take over the kitchen. The following is a list the equipment I have and a summary of the steps I carry out to make a 5 gallon batch of beer.

My Equipment List

1. One stand alone propane burner purchased from a barbecue store.
2. 40 Liter stainless steel (Polar) pot with lid purchased from Russell Food Equipment in Edmonton.
3. 2 Liter Pyrex measuring bowl.
4. 1 pint (16 oz) beer glass used to weigh out ½ lbs. of grain, plus drink beer during brewing session.
5. One floating 0 - 110 Deg C thermometer.
6. A Corona Mill with custom machined drill attachment.
7. Large spoon or paddle to stir the mash.
8. One 26 liter plastic wort collection bucket with plastic tap installed 1" off the bottom.
9. A mash-tun (26 Liter plastic bucket with Phils false bottom kit installed).
10. A Phils rotating sparging arm. (A sparging arm is shown in the set up below - see figure 1).
11. One regular plastic siphon cane and hose.
12. One copper siphon cane with siphon hose used to transfer hot sparging water.
13. An immersion wort chiller made from 15' of coiled 3/8" copper pipe with garden hose screw fitting.
14. A sink tap thread to garden hose adapter fitting (same fitting used to attach a tap bottle washer).
15. One brass pot scrubbing ball purchased from any super market is used as a siphon filter.
16. One Beer hydrometer.
17. 5 gallon glass carboys with fermenting lock.

Brewing Steps

1. Break the news to the household that you are planning to brew a batch of beer next weekend.
2. Decide on a beer style and make appropriate arrangements to have yeast ready for the brewing day.
3. Compile recipe and make sure all ingredients are at hand.
4. Fill brew pot with appropriate mashing water (My rule of thumb is 1.2 Liter/1Lbs of grain).
5. Whilst water is heating up to mashing temperature, start grinding the grain.
6. I usually weigh most of the grains by eye using a container that has a known weight (i.e 16 Oz glass).
7. Hang a plastic bucket on the Corona mill to collect the grist (grain should be just cracked).
8. Heat the mashing water approximately 8 degrees over the recipes target mash temperature.
9. Add the grain to the mash water which should stabilize around the target mash temperature.
10. For multi step mash temperature recipes, I usually add boiling water to help raise temperature and thin the mash so it does not burn on the bottom of the pot when extra heat is applied.
11. Allow the mash to sit for 1.5 hours to be certain the malt is fully converted.
12. Heat up (referred to as "Mash Out") the entire mash to 78 Deg C.
13. Move mash off the burner and start heating up 16 - 20 liters of sparging water.
14. Transfer mash to the lautering/Sparging bucket and leave to settle for 10 minutes.
15. Clean the 40 quart pot and place onto the burner in preparation for the boil.
16. Hang Pyrex measuring bowl onto the 40 quart pot by the Pyrex handle.
17. Open up valve on Lautering bucket and collect the first of the run off into the Pyrex bowl.
18. Return the cloudy run off back into the top of the Lautering bucket.
19. Once the run off is clear, remove the measuring bowl and collect the run off into the boiling kettle.
20. When sparging water is above 78 Deg C move pot to an elevated surface (see fig 1).
21. Place copper sparging cane into the hot sparge water and hook up to Phils sparging system.
22. Open up the valve to the sparging arm to match the flow rate of the run off.
23. Once you have collected over 5 liters of run off in the kettle you can fire up the burner.
24. Allow the system as shown in figure 1 to collect the entire volume of run off unless the specific gravity out of the sparging bucket falls below 1.008 (2 B) or the PH is greater than 6.0 - 6.1.
25. Once the kettle pot is up to a rolling boil add appropriate recipe additions (i.e. hops).
26. 15 minutes from the end of the boil don't forget to add the "Irish Moss".
27. Immerse the coiling coil before or at the end of the boil (At 100 Deg C the coil will be sanitized).
28. Attach cooling coil to cold water tap and cool wort to below 30 Deg C.
29. Remove cooling coil and stir contents in a circular motion and then allow to settle.
30. Sterilize copper scrubbing ball & freezer tie by boiling in a small pot for 15 - 20 minutes.
31. Fill plastic siphon cane and hose with water, close clamp and attach copper scrubbing ball to the end of the cane with the freezer tie.
32. Insert above setup into the kettle and open up hose clamp. (Siphon should start - If not try 31 again).
33. Setup a good drop from siphon hose to a collecting bucket to encourage wort aeration.
34. Once complete, top up wort with water to required final specific gravity.
35. Add the yeast anywhere between step 29 - 34.
36. After 1 hour, transfer the brew from the collection bucket to the 40 quart pot (again encouraging aeration). Leave behind any signs of trub in the collection bucket.
37. Place lid on 40 quart pot and leave to ferment for up to 5 days.
38. Transfer to a glass carboy and leave to close ferment at recommended recipe temperatures.

Please note this is one mans system for brewing and you should adapt your system around your set up and schedule. In cases where my family weekend schedule does not permit a full days brewing. I often carry out steps 1 - 24 in the evening and then start up the boil first thing the next morning knowing that 1.5 hrs of boiling will eliminate any fear of bacteria growth resulting from the slow cool down of the run off the night before.

I hope this encourages anybody thinking about trying all-grain brewing to do so and gives those who are already all-grain brewing a few alternative ideas that may complement their set up. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. I can't promise a speedy reply but I will try.

View from the Top

Lest we forget, our next meeting is being held at "Original Joe's" and it's located on Stony Plain Road, just east of the Groat Road overpass. It's an old red brick building on the north side of the road (on the right as you're traveling west). I haven't been there yet, but I am told they have a good selection of real beer, so let's show up and sample them all.

More good news for all of you who ordered hops. All the hops came in, except for the Columbus pellets. All the leaf hops and Liberty pellets are here, and we were able to fill every order, even the varieties were only 1/2 pound was ordered. Our esteemed Vice President (vacant?, ed.) volunteered to weigh and package the entire order of 51 pounds, and they are now ready to be delivered to you.

As you'll see when you get yours, they are all nicely packaged in Zip-Lock bags in 1/2 pound packages. They were ordered from Freshops in Oregon and look like quality hops. As you know, this past season hasn't been a banner year for hop quality. We are re-ordering the Columbus pellets from Quebec and hope to have them for the next meeting.

If you are in a rush for your hops, I have them at my place. Call me at [phone removed] and you can pick them up any time. If you don't call, I'll bring them to the meeting at Original Joe's and you can pick them up there. If you see the Vice President at Original Joe's buy him a beer for his effort. He's a real nice quiet guy. He doesn't talk much and he also doesn't drink Scotch, but he's an expert on weighing and packaging hops.

I was one of the ten fortunate members who made the trip to Westcan Malting in Alix. As I'm sure the others will attest, it was a day well spent. This was my second visit, and it was as interesting again as the first. They sure know how to treat you well there. Günther has a feature article on the visit.

And lastly, my friends, I want to refer you to an article I had Günther reproduce from the Edmonton Journal about wine tasters and so-called experts. Please read it and judge for yourselves. The article speaks for itself, and I won't dwell on it. But let me repeat one line: "The opinion of the so-called connoisseurs are no better and perhaps worse than that of the occasional drinker..." Isn't that interesting. Are so-called Scotch connoisseurs any better than the wine connoisseurs?

Are the members of our club so naïve about tasting Scotch that we need a "Babysitter" to preach to the converted for an hour about where Scotch comes from, etc. etc. etc., regardless of how well intentioned the individual was.

Am I the only square peg in a round hole? I'm sorry, but I just had to get it off my chest. What do you think?

See you at the meeting.

Wine tasters no experts, study finds

Times of London - PARIS -- Drinkers have long suspected it but now French researchers have finally proved it: wine "experts" know no more than the rest of us.

Their rituals as they pronounce judgment have been revealed as little more than self-delusion by an award winning French study. They base their views as much on colour and labels as upon a wine's bouquet and flavour. "The truth is that you cannot define taste objectively," said Frederic Brochet, a researcher from Bordeaux. The opinions of the so-called connoisseurs are no better and perhaps worse than that of the occasional drinker. The greater the expertise, the greater the cultural baggage that prevents you from perceiving the actual taste in your mouth.

Brochet carried out two studies. In the first, he invited wine experts to sample different bottles, including a white wine to which he had added a flavourless substance giving it a red colour. Not a single expert noticed. In the second test, 57 experts tasted the same average bottle of Bordeaux wine on two occasions. The first time it was labeled as a prestigious Grand Cru Classe, and the second time it was labelled as a cheap Vin de Table. When they thought it was a Grand Cru Classe, the experts described it as agreeable, woody, complex, balanced and rounded. When they thought it was a Vin de Table, they said it was weak, short, light, flat and faulty.

"This is why wine frauds are virtually never detected on taste alone, but because someone tips off the police who look at the paperwork," Brochet said.

He has studied the brain activity of wine tasters and found that those sections handling information relating to colour and knowledge operate alongside those which deal with flavour and smell. What we perceive is a mixture of thought, vision and taste. Indeed, the brain receives more information more quickly from the eyes than from the mouth or nose.

Aurora Brewing Challenge/MCAB 5 News

The MCAB 5 qualifier competition have been announced and the EHG's Aurora Brewing Challenge was again chosen as the Canadian qualifier event for 2002. Here are excerpts from the e-mail Kevin received from Louis Bonham, the MCAB competition chairman.

The Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing (MCAB) is pleased to announce the 2002 Qualifying Events for MCAB V:

1. Boston Homebrew Competition, hosted by the Boston Wort Processors (www.wort.org)
2. Kansas City Bier Meisters Competition, hosted by the Kansas City Bier Meisters (www.kcbiermeisters.org).
3. Reggale and Dredhop, hosted by Hop Barley and the Alers (Boulder, Colorado) (http://hopbarley.org/dredhop/)
4. World Cup of Beer (www.bayareamashers.org), hosted by the Bay Area Mashers (California)
5. Bluebonnet Brew Off (http://welcome.to/bluebonnet) -- hosted by the Knights of the Brown Bottle (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas).
6. Drunk Monk Challenge, hosted by the Urban Knaves of Grain http://www.sgu.net/ukg/dmc/ (Chicago area).
7. Sunshine Challenge, hosted by the Central Florida Home Brewers (www.cfhb.org) (Orlando, Florida)
8. Spirit of Free Beer, hosted by BURP (http://burp.org/index.html) (Virginia/Maryland area)
9. BUZZ-Off, hosted by BUZZ (http://hbd.org/buzz/) Philadelphia area).
10. Edmonton Homebrew Competition, hosted by the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild (http://www.ehg.ca/) (Canada).
11. Dixie Cup, hosted by the Foam Rangers (www.foamrangers.com) (Houston, Texas).
12. Novembeerfest, hosted by the Brews Brothers (Seattle, WA), http://www.brewsbrothers.org/nbf/nbf_top.htm
13. Happy Holiday Homebrew Competition, hosted by the St. Louis Brews (www.stlbrews.org) (St Louis area).

As before, the MCAB Qualifying Styles will be BJCP Styles 1-20:

1. American Lager
2. European Pale Lager
3. Light Ale
4. Bitter & English Pale Ale
5. Scottish Ales
6. American Pale Ales
7. IPA
8. Koelsch & Altbier
9. German Amber Lager
10. Brown Ale
11. English and Scottish Strong Ale
12. Barleywine and Imperial Stout
13. European Dark lager
14. Bock
15. Porter
16. Stout
17. Wheat Beer
18. Strong Belgian Ale
19. Belgian and French Ale
20. Lambic and Belgian Sour Ale

All substyles within these categories will be eligible. In cases where a Qualifying Events offers ribbon categories for individual BJCP substyles within a Qualifying Style (e.g., APA and California Common), the Qualifying Event will select between the winners of those substyles to determine the MCAB Qualifier.

And, of course, keep watching the MCAB website (hbd.org/mcab) for details on MCAB IV, which will be held in Cleveland, April 12-13, 2002.

All the best-Louis K. Bonham [email removed]

Tour of Westcan Malting

On Saturday, January 12th, 10 Guild Members went on a pilgrimage to encounter the creation of the ingredient to our craft, without which we may as well plant rose gardens for a hobby or be members of a flourishing Edmonton Homebakers Guild. Of course, what I am talking about here is malt.

Thanks to our hosts, Barb and Paul, we were rewarded with the most informative, exciting and rewarding experience apart from taking that third decoction on brew day.

Malting at Westcan is arranged in a gravity fed tower (except for the kiln), so all you have to lift is the dry barley and the water for what looks like a big 'dough-in'. From then on, gravity takes care of the process (aren't our own breweries set up on similar principles?).

Anyway, first things first. Westcan is located in Alix not because that's where the best barley is grown, but because the facility has access to both CP and CN rail lines - it's also close enough to highway 2 for trucks. To keep Westcan in production, 20 semis need to disgorge their loads each day. Upon arrival samples are taken from trucks or rail cars and they are immediately analyzed for the grain's quality. The kernels have to be of uniform size and the moisture content has to be below 13.5%. Any truck or rail car, whose load does not pass these standards is immediately redirected to the nearest feed lot.

Once the barley passes the initial assay, the grain is transferred to one of the bins you see on the left of the above picture. Next, 500 tons of grain are moved up to the top story of the malting plant – and that's very high up. I don't know how familiar you are with church spires, but that place is way, way up – the view is great. The barley is then divided between 4 cylindro-conical immersion steeping tanks, each 20 feet high (6 meters for people like me) and soaked in water. Now, you are familiar with strike temperature. They do the same thing here. Depending on ambient temperature and the temperature of the grain, they infuse water at such a temperature that they achieve a strike temperature of about 18°C. Could you believe it that the concrete floor drops by about 6 inches under the weight of all the grain and water?
Air is blown through the grain/water mix constantly to remove CO2 build-up and to loosen up the grain. Big paddles skim off any scum that forms on top. After 24 hours the grain drops onto the next floor into the spray steep tank, where it spends a further day. At the end the moisture content of the grain is 45%.

Once this uniform moisture has been achieved, the grain is dropped into one of four germination tanks below, where it remains for four days (why have they four floors dedicated to germination tanks? you may ask - they get through a batch a day that way). Temperature and moisture control are most important at this stage. Also, CO2 has to be driven away and fresh oxygen supplied at all times. A huge arm with 6 huge augurs moves through the grain bed every 6 hours and sprays fresh water on the grain while the augurs redistribute the grain in the grain bed. It takes this arm just short of three hours to rotate around the whole grain bed. The grain has to stay at 45% moisture content at all times and has to have access to oxygen. During germination little rootlets form and the acrospire grows to about 3/4 length of the kernel. But that is not really important for us brewers. What is important is that hydrolytic enzymes are released which modify the starchy endosperm. The degree of modification depends on the length of time these enzymes are allowed to act.

Once germination is completed, the green malt (that's what the barley has turned into) is moved to the kiln. The kilns are not part of the tower system. They are set off to the side. Each lot is divided in two, because kilning the whole lot at once would make it very difficult to achieve even kilning. Westcan only produced pilsener malt, but it could also produce darker malt, up to Munich. Specialized equipment is needed for crystal and dark malts. Kilning happens in 2 phases: drying and curing. It is important to quickly reduce the moisture level in the grain in order to arrest any enzyme activity. During the curing phase colour, aroma and friability are closely controlled. Hot dry (50 ºC) air is blown through the grain bed while the grain is constantly being moved to aid the uniformity of the process. Eventually the temperature rises to 85 ºC. It is very important to kill as few enzymes as possible in order to maintain maximum diastatic power. After kilning the malt is quickly analyzed and then stored in bins, blended with other batches with similar characteristics.

Now guys, I have to tell you something about the lab. You know, we classify breweries depending on the scale of their batches, i.e. the size of your mash tun. We have micro-breweries that brew batches of 10 to 40 hectoliters. We call our own setups pico-breweries with our 5 to 10 gallon batches. Roxy's 3 gallon setup is a bit unclassifiable, I think. But what do you call a brewery that operates with 1/2 pint batches?

Westcan ships malt all over the world. The two breweries that concern us most, I guess apart from our own, that get their malt from Westcan are Alley Kat and Brewsters. So does Big Rock, Sierra Nevada and many other micro breweries. Westcan malt is Anhaeuser Busch approved, which, we are told is a quality milestone. Don't worry, though, it's not their malt that makes Bud tasteless.

With the tour under our belt, our hosts invited us up to the penthouse suite (lunch room). There we spend some very enjoyable time just chatting and sampling some Westcan malt in its liquid form. We commented on how many of our winning beers are brewed with malt from Alix, etc. etc. Thanks, Barb and Paul. Of course, Westcan is one of the major sponsors of the Aurora Brewing Challenge, and we are extremely grateful to them for that. So grateful indeed, that Kevin had a plaque made for them, which he presented right there and then.

That visit to Westcan Malting was an exciting tour. Trying as I might to convey some of the experience through this article, it's impossible to match the 'being there'. So, if you missed this very informative outing, I hope to have covered the essence of it right here. However, I have to urge everyone of you, if the opportunity arises again, drop whatever you have been planning for the day and go to Alix. It's worth it.

A Little Trouble in Liquor-land

Over the last two years, an unpleasant astringency/bitterness has snuck into the "house character" of my beers. In dialogue with other brewers, it appears this problem may be remedied by the dilution of our tap water. This has caused me to hypothesize that the levels of permanent hardness (particularly magnesium sulphate) in the tap water have increased. In my operations, carbon filtration, pre-boiling and acidulation treatments are insufficient for softening the liquor to remove the precursors of astringency. I am puzzled by the fact that our local breweries are producing very excellent products without deliberately altering the permanent hardness of their water. The sensitivity of the homebrewer's small batch method is a confound of scale that remains a mystery. The "buffering" effects of commercial batch sizes to subtle changes in ingredient including water - I cannot deny. Another possible difference may be a matter of source. The reservoirs feeding Alley Kat and Brewsters may be entirely different from those which a given home may draw from. The fact remains, I have not been able to produce the fine brews of the past using our city water. The most problematic beers have been stouts and porters - not entirely due to my hand getting heavy inside the bag of dark malt.

This article will explore the significant contributions of magnesium sulphate and related compounds to deleterious affects on beer flavour the practical, and, the intriguing - but devilishly complex methods of reducing permanent hardness (sorry, it doesn’t involve goat's blood, just math), a look at municipal water treatment, how water mineralizes in the first place, and finally a description of the water test kits available on order.

I can not say with absolute certainty that magnesium sulphate is the culprit of astringency. With a little knowledge, I am setting up preconceptions of a magnesium induced astringency paradigm. I am going to be guilty of what philosopher Fireabend criticized science for. Science wants to prove the preconceived and not necessarily look for all the facts. So, I will try to use knowledge to support my feeble, prejudiced spawn.

The Practical Brewer^a lists a number of miscellaneous causes of grainy, harsh, astringent bitterness that are outside normal hop bitterness. The list includes high pH of liquor, high acidity, high sulphate, high magnesium or iron, high kettle pH, abnormal level of higher alcohols and spent hop carryover to fermentor (p296). In Brewing Lager Beer^b, Noonan wrote, "In small concentrations of 10 to 30 ppm, (Mg++) accentuates the beer's flavour, but it imparts an astringent bitterness when it is present in excess" (p51). Looking back to Dave Line's The Big Book of Brewing^c published in 1985, he writes, "Magnesium sulphate ... regrettably, has an unpleasant bitter flavour that mars its usefulness if present in too large a proportion" (p99). Line raises an eyebrow at sodium sulphate. "Sodium sulphate is not very often present in water as a predominant salt (and) is noted for its characteristic hard and harsh flavour which is very difficult to eliminate or mask" (p100). Dave Miller's The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing^d describes excessive magnesium as contributing a sharp sour-bitter flavour and sodium sulphate creates unpleasant harshness (p67). Malting and Brewing Science Vol. 2e^e cited a table in "Food and Taste Chemistry", 1979 in which MgSO4 was used to test perception of bitterness at the rear of the tongue (p843). For those chemistry buffs, the mean flavour threshold of magnesium sulphate is 0.0046 molarity or 0.0554% (M&B Sci. p848).

The concentration of magnesium ions in wort and beer is dramatically higher than that of liquor. Typical levels for British beer ranges from 60 to 200 ppm. While German beer have a range from 75 to 250 ppm and lagers start at 34 and hit 162 ppm of Mg++ (p779). Due to the abundance of this ion in malt, it is unnecessary to introduce it to the softest of water (Miller p71). Some classic brewing waters appear to be in much harder shape than Edmonton's - so why do we have water problems? Again I clutch to my theory of the effects of brewhouse scale. One fact that I find paradoxical is the fact that Burton-on-Trent water has 60 ppm of magnesium, twice as much as the recommended ceiling of 30 ppm! Idiot that I am, I still believe that permanent hardness of the magnesium type is responsible for my brewing problems.

The Practical Solution
Now, as always, the solution to pollution is dilution. Roxy Hastings, among others, has achieved good results by diluting the city water with reverse osmosized water. The dilution rate is 1 part R.O. to 1 part city for ale and 2:1 for lager. After the dilution, brewing salts may be added, sans epsom (MgSO4), to simulate classic brew liquor. The dilution solution is as close as your grocery or water distiller store.
A < Practical solution
The second option that may be available to a limited number of people is softening the water by ion exchange
method. The great fear in the past was that this process exchanged sodium ions in exchange for other metal ions. Scrounging through the water chemistry geekdom that is part of the Cameron Library, I discovered that all ion exchange units are not created equal. For example, weekly basic anion exchangers replace one SO4-2 group (that's supposed to be two negative charges, eh) with two OH-. The beads are recharged using NaOH, NH4OH or Na2CO3. Weakly acidic cation exchangers scrub Ca++ from Ca(HCO3)2 and produce two H+. The bed is regenerated with HCl or H2SO4. Similar effects on magnesium compounds are produced.

Total deionization (not absolute) is possible in a system where the primary exchanger is cationic, regenerated with acid, and the secondary unit is an anion exchanger, regenerated with caustic. A CO2 eliminator between the two may be required in commercial sized operations. Mixed bed ion exchange systems where cation and anion resins are blended is a possibility. The great disadvantage is that regeneration and washing of each resin occurs separately. The different beads must be gently decompacted - anion resin is lighter and will rise to the top - and separated. Careful, non-mechanical blending of the beads with compressed air, for example, will help preserve the fragile surface of the resin^f. Perhaps a mixed bed system can make sense in the short run as a start to mucking with ion exchange before confidence in the technology is acquired. More research will be required of an individual willing to pursue purchasing an ion exchange system. The mathematics of capacity and regeneration reagents must be worked out. Buyer beware, you will have to pick the sales representative's brain cleaner than a Papua New Guinea cannibal.

The Deep End of Water Softening
The last alternative, probably the least practical but, the greatest in terms of coolness factor, is water softening via coagulation and sedimentation - just like a water treatment plant. Fear No Sludge!

For homebrewers, water treatment with coagulants could be the new schmeg on the block. Our hobby is based on extracting and decanting the good stuff. Brewing is part schmeg and part schmoogly management. From vourlauf, kettle finings secondary,fermentation and chillproofing, we are intent on creating big flocs of crud and letting them settle. For the adventurous, water treatment advances the homebrewer to the next level of adding a little bit of material to the brew to get massive schmeg products. For example, one pound of lime will yield three and a half pounds of solids^g. To be practical, water treatment procedures would start at the same time as yeast propagation. Let sedimentation take its own sweet time. To start with, tap water is extraordinarily free of chunks as compared to raw water but we can fix that, folks. With a wee pinch of bentonite the water will have enough nucleation sites for all kinds of wonderful reactions to occour. Creating artificial turbidity is just that simple Now we can add chemicals to change calcium and magnesium compounds into insoluble forms (Riehl p34).

Precipitate

Ca(HCO3)2 + Ca(OH)2 >> 2CaCO3 + 2H2O
Mg(HCO3)2 + Ca(OH)2 >> *MgCo3 + CaCO3+2H2O
*MgCo3 + Ca(OH)2 >> Mg(OH)2 + CaCO3
MgCl2 + Ca(OH)2 >> Mg(OH)2 + CaCl2
Mg(No3)2 + Ca(OH)2 >> Mg(OH)2 + Ca(NO3)2
MgSO4 + Ca(OH)2 >> Mg(OH)2 + CaSO4

(Riel p103)

The most popular and versatile chemical used in municipal and industrial water softening is slaked (hydrated) lime. Beware - cement may form on the bottom of the lime slaker. With the addition of lime Ca(OH)2 milk; Carbonates*, sulphates and chlorides of magnesium are converted to the carbonates, sulphates and chlorides of calcium and the insoluble magnesium hydroxide Mg(OH)2. Bicarbonate of magnesium will reduce to the soluble compound magnesium carbonate, yet, this product will precipitate in further reactions with lime to Mg(OH)2 as listed above.

As you can see, the resulting increase in calcium sulphate hardness can be a benefit to ale brewing! Firstly, the lime will react with free CO2, then calcium bicarbonate and then precipitate about 10% of the magnesium hardness. For further precipitation of magnesium hardness, lime treatment must continue to pH 10.0 or slightly higher. According to Riehl, "The precipitation of magnesium hydroxide provides a net benefit for coagulation of raw water particulates. Magnesium hydroxide, a bulky gelatinous precipitate which coagulates the suspended clay particles or mud as readily as the precipitates formed by the sulphates of aluminum or iron." (p96). Epcor uses alum (aluminum sulphate) as a coagulant. As far as I can see, it does an excellent job at removing some of the calcium bicarbonate, but has little direct effect on magnesium sulphate unless secondary reactions with aluminum hydroxide occur.

Now you brewers are saying, "Ok, Geoffrey, the crud is falling, the crud is falling, but I have a big alkalinity problem! What will I do?" In a municipal water treatment where over-treatment with lime is a standard procedure they will also recarbonate the water to achieve stability when required.

Ca(OH)2 + 2CO2 <<>> Ca(HCO3)2
Ca(OH)2 + CO2 <<>> *CaCO3 + H2O
*CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 <<>> Ca(HCO3)2
Mg(OH)2 + 2CO2 <<>> Mg(HCO3)2
Mg(OH)2 + CO2 <<>> *MgCO3 + H2O
*MgCO3 + H2O + CO2 <<>> Mg(CO3)2 ^h

These reactions will rid the water of fine particulates by producing soluble bicarbonates. This measure would produce liquor suitable for brewing dark beers perhaps. Boiling the water will drive off the half bound carbon dioxide portion of the bicarbonate, which will precipitate calcium carbonate. Magnesium hydroxide has a greater affinity for CO2 than CaCO3 (Riehl p132). All of the good work that has been done by raising the water pH for magnesium removal may be for naught if the clear stuff isn't carefully decanted off the Mg(OH)2 sediment prior to recarbonation. However, additions of sulphuric acid will produce calcium sulphate and stabilize calcium carbonate (Powell p85). Similarly, phosphoric acid will produce calcium phosphate - a yeast nutrient.

Ca(OH)2 + H2SO4 >> CaSO4 + 2H2O
2CaCO3 + H2SO4 >> Ca(HCO3)2 + CaSO4

Sulphate species remains soluble after treatment. It only switches partners with the cation++ of the coagulant. Soda ash (NaCO3) or caustic soda (NaOH) treatment, which complements lime treatment in municipal supply, will only exacerbate this problem for brewers by converting CaSO4 to NaSO4 (Reihl) - a salt with hard and harsh flavour (Line p100). The specific dosing calculations for lime or alum will have to wait for some other time - I've run out of mine. Be my guest to the challenge. My guess is, if you add lime milk (bentonite - optional) to get pH 10, decant and acidulate, you should get rid of the temporary hardness.

Treating water can be a real pain, so, how does H2O pick up all of these impurities in the first place? The raindrop naturally picks up atmospheric gases and industrial pollutants or sea salt. However, the majority of impurities are picked up on the ground. The earth's crust contains considerable amounts of salt, gypsum, limestone, epsom, silica, iron, etc. But this leaves the bicarbonates to question - they don't actually exist in solid form. Calcium and magnesium bicarbonates exist in water because they are half bound with CO2. Naturally, CO2 enters surface water through rotting vegetation, fish breath, beaver farts, etc. Similarly, gases bound in the earth can build up pressure in underground water channels, essentially force carbonating the water. The dissolved CO2 allows the solubility and association with chalk or limestone to create calcium bicarbonatesⁱ. The old legend of dissolving a tooth in a bottle of pop is probably explained by calcium reactions with CO2 as much as it is by high levels of acid. One can demonstrate the binding power of CO2 with powdered chalk added to tap water vs. carbonated water (Berman p28-32).

So, why all the fuss about bicarbonate removal? It causes hardness and alkalinity. The alkalinity and temporary hardness are detrimental to mash reactions and boiling reactions. Can you see the difference between acidulating alkaline water with little hardness vs. pH adjustment for hard alkaline water? In the former, acid is neutralizing OH radicals; in the later, acid is chasing CO3 radicals and sometimes stabilizing them into bicarbonates. The two waters may be pH adjusted with different levels of temporary hardness and consequently different mash pHs will result. CaSO4 and MgSO4 contribute hardness, but not alkalinity. Na2(CO3)2 - sodium bicarbonate - contributes alkalinity without hardness. Na2SO4 contributes neither hardness, nor alkalinity, but imparts off flavour (Berman p34).

Gotta Hardness Problem, Buddy?
No Need to Suffer in Silence.
Hope is on its way – water test kits are available from Cole Palmer. In discussion with Rob Walsh of Brewsters, the club is open to place an order with the Brewsters account. Test strips have a shelf life of 4-7 mo. Titration kits remain sound indefinitely. You can test for total hardness and calcium hardness – subtract the two and you get magnesium hardness. There are tests for sulphate, alkalinity, etc. Perhaps the club will purchase some of these kits for a mass testing of our member's typical brewing liquor, for analyzing treatments we do in the future and keeping an eye out on Epcor.

What Would a Microbrewer Do?
Below is a list of water treatments of some of the best beers around. Thanks, Neil & Rob.

	Kat Liquor	Brewster's Brew-water
Charcoal/Carbon Filter	Y	Y
Pre-boil	N	1 Hour, Decant
Acidulate H2PO4	Y	Y, pH 7.0
CaSo4	Scona	In Bitters
CaCl2	Scona	Lt. Beers 1oz./100L (PB)
Details:	Mash liquor pH 7.0, pH 6.0	Hot Liquor Burtonizing is calculated using Epcor data and brewers software.

Why Did I Write This?
Practically speaking, the solution to our problem is already em ployed by dilution. It will never get any simpler than a glug, glug, glug out of a water jug. The test kits will probably be needed in the case of lime treatment, thus, adding to cost. Lime suitable for water treatment will have to be sourced. Recharging an ion exchange unit is tricky - and sodium can leak from these systems when they are near holding capacity. The fact remains, better water can be made at home. You can tailor it for bitter, brown, porter, Dort, lager as you modify and test. The water I forever took for granted has changed, and, made me look for new variations and treatments to not only get back to the historical quality of Edmonton water, but improve upon it.- And in the process I will FEAR NO SCHMEG!

I feel justified in my suspicions. I have some old water reports from '88 - '90 on file. I collected them when I was first curious about mashing. I have not given the data much consideration since. The numbers don't lie, we are seeing changes and not all for the good - that's the reality of public water for profit. It leaves the beverage producer, boiler operator, and industrial water user scrambling to solve a new costly city snafu's.

units are in mg/L except *	Oct 2001 Avg.j	'99 Avg.	'99 Raw RD/ELS	'88 Avg.	'89 Avg.
Total Alkalinity as CaCO3	115	65	142/140	56	56
Conductivity *µS/cm	351	n/a	366/364	246	271
Calcium Hardness as CaCO3	112	125	n/a (Ca) 116/91	69 (Ca) 28	71
Total Hardness as CaCO3	164	164		116	115
magnesium	n/a	13.2	31.9/24.2	11.8	n/a
*pH	7.8	8.3		8.0	8.1
Sodium	8.9	4		3.64	4.83
Sulphate	62.5	59		59.8	60
Total Dissolved Solids	202	231		160	170

On the subject of Haggis. Whilst softened water is not as good a complementary pair with haggis as fine scotch, soft water is useful in the preparation of another Scottish delicacy. Soft water, when heated to boiling, is the perfect liquid to sodden MacDevilin's Cup O'Spleen (available at finer Scottish imports). Eaten from its own polystyrene service, it is scrumptious and savoury to the last of the drippings - like a fine pot of offal that Mum used to make.

---

^aHarold M. Broderick, technical director. P 296. The
Practical Brewer A Manual for the Brewing Industry,
Master Brewers Association of the Americas, Madison,
Wisconsin 53705. 1977.

^bGregory J. Noonan. P 51. Brewing Lager Beer.
Brewers Publications, Boulder, Colorado 80306. 1986

^cDave Line. P 51. The Big Book of Brewing. Amateur
Winemaker Publications, Andover, Hampshire, England.
HP2 4SS. 1985.

^dDave Miller. P 67. The Complete Handbook of
Homebrewing. Garden Way Publishing, Pownal,
Vermont. 05261. 1988.

^eJ.S. Hough, D.E. Briggs, R Stevens and T.W Young. P
843. Malting and Brewing Science Volume 2 Hopped
Wort and Beer. Chapman and Hall, London, England.
SE1 8HN. 1982.

^f Degremont. Water Treatment Handbook, 5th ed.
Holsted Press, NY, NY.1979

^g Merrill L. Riehl. P 95. Hoover's Water Supply and
Treatment, 11th ed. National Lime Association,
Washington D.C. 2016. 1976.

^h Sheppard T. Powell. Water Conditioning for Industry,
1st ed. McGraw-Hill / Maple press York, PA, USA. 1954.

ⁱ A.S. Behrman. Water is Everybody's Buisiness,
Doubleday & Company Inc. Garden City, NY, USA.
1968.

^j epcor.ca, January 7, 2002.

View from the Top

Right on, another great club meeting. Once again, about 20 plus members showed up for our February meeting at Original Joe's and enjoyed a pleasant evening of camaraderie, drinking good beer and visiting with fellow brewers.

For those of you who couldn't make it, the first noticeable feature of the bar at Original Joe's is a row of 16 taps of various draft beers. Needless to say, there was something for every taste. Four of the 16 were Alley Kat products. They also carry a vast selection of bottled beer. I don't think any member got to try all 16 brands, but no-one left heartbroken because of it. We were all treated very well by the owners and a very pleasant and courteous staff. Thank you all for a lovely evening.

Now we'll apologize for a small but honest gaffe. Original Joe's is actually located on 102 Avenue. The last newsletter said it was located on Stony Plain Road. Event though there are some that still insist that they're one and the same, I suppose we could have been more specific. Let's just blame it on the president, and I hereby offer my apology - Thank You. Fortunately we weren't swamped with another avalanche of phone calls and e-mails.

And speaking of phone calls: none of you called and commented on the hops that you all have by now. Did you get what you ordered? Where they packaged properly, and did you like the quality? Is it safe to assume there are no complaints? We are still attempting to procure the pellet hops still outstanding. We struck out in Quebec and are now pursuing other sources. We'll update you at the next meeting.

Question: Do you agree it's more difficult to raise children today? Our neighbour was putting her three year old son to bed the other night and he just wouldn't cooperate. She tried the usual inducements and nothing seemed to work. In desperation she firmly proclaimed, "Johnny, go to sleep because the Sandman is coming." Little Johnny quickly responded, "Gimme half a buck and I won't tell the old man."

Gunther, the last edition of the newsletter was one of our better productions in a long time. You wrote a terrific article on the Westcan tour, very detailed and informative. The article on water for brewing had something doe everyone. I know it's difficult to have a super newsletter every month, but hopefully we'll all keep contributing and keep int interesting and informative. Well done, indeed (feels strange to type out this song of praise for myself – thanks Frank, ed.)

And finally, it's now official. Our competition will be held on May 31, June 1 and 2, 2002. We will again be part of MCAB 5. Pretty impressive, I'd say. I know a lot of you have already started brewing for this event, and now that the hops are delivered, it shouldn't be too difficult to surpass the 162 entries we had last year. Hats off to Kevin and Bruce and their committee for another job well done.

See you at the meeting at Alley Kat, March 4th at 7:30 pm.

Letters to the Editor

Yes, we've entered a new era. We have got official readers’ responses to our newsletter content. Keep the comments coming, and this may be a regular feature. Here she goes...

I'm writing to comment on the wine tasting article that ran in the February issue of the Worthouse News. The article implies that tasting experts are largely frauds. Being a beer judge, I take some offense to this. I also believe that the results of the study don't necessarily prove that beverage tasting is a pointless exercise. The first study mentioned had expert tasters tasting a variety of wines, one of which was a white wine that was coloured red. None of the tasters noticed. So what does that prove? The researcher studied wine tasters' brain activity and "found that those sections handling information relating to colour and knowledge operate alongside those which deal with flavour and smell. What we perceive is a mixture of thought, vision and taste. Indeed, the brain receives more information more quickly from the eyes than from the mouth or nose." Hmm, so given that information we might expect that a wrong visual clue could affect overall perception! That's why when we judge beers the judges aren't allowed to see bottles and why entrants are required to use standard bottles with no labels or identifying marks.

The second study was similar to the first. In this study the same bottles of wine were labeled as a Grand Cru Classe and as a Vin de Table. The tasters were shown the bottle and then asked to describe the wines. The descriptions for the bottle labeled Grand Cru Classe were more favourable than those for the bottles labeled Vin de Table. In my opinion this doesn't invalidate the art and science of beverage evaluation but rather proves that even sophisticated tasters can be tricked. Its not really any different than blind folding someone, putting them in the back of my Neon and asking them how they like the ride of my new BMW (hey Gunther, lend me your car for a few weeks so I can run a little study)!

What these studies show is that tasting is a complex art and that it requires all of ones senses and that if we meddle with any of these senses the outcome can be greatly affected. The article states that wine tasters judgments "have been revealed as little more that self- delusion." I'm afraid the only self-delusion is that of the article's author.

By the way, I would like to complement Martin on his interesting and astute remarks during the January scotch tasting. I asked Martin to help out and as usual he stepped up to the plate with enthusiasm and and lots of information. Interestingly, I had the opportunity to taste a Macallen 15 year old a few weeks later and was quite taken with it. In my opinion it is a better scotch than the 18 year old. Even if it had been in a Jim Beam bottle I would have liked it!

Cheers!
--Neil
Alley Kat Brewing Company

Gentleman,

As president, Frank has asked for opinions, I feel compelled to respond to his request about his remarks in the February Newsletter. I sense Frank's remarks are directed at my participation in the tasting.

The Scotch tasting was arranged by the Exec for January and I was asked (did not volunteer) to facilitate at the tasting portion of the meeting. The audience came from a varied group of knowledgeable and not so knowledgeable members. Given the background of our members it is obvious that many have an appreciation of Scotch far greater than my own and others less so. I felt that since the night was educational, aiming my remarks towards the novice, served to the best purpose .In retrospect, this seems to have been an error.

I apologize for wasting anybody's time and spoiling an otherwise great meeting.

Thanks for the time
Martin L

MCAB4 Reminder

All brewers who entered our Aurora Brewing Challenge last year and won Gold should be receiving notification of the upcoming MCAB4 competition in Cleveland. All of the details are now posted on their web page at http://hbd.org/mcab/index.html . Please check that your name appears as an eligible entrant on their list if you won Gold in our competition.

Entries:
Three (3) unmarked brown or green 10 - 14 ounce bottles are required.

Entries should be shipped to:
MCAB-IV
C/O Grape and Granary
1035 Evans Avenue
Akron, OH 44305

Time your entries to arrive between March 18, 2002 and April 1, 2002. Entry Deadline is 7:00PM, Monday, April 1, 2002: Absolutely No Late Entries Accepted! NO EXCEPTIONS!

If you have any questions please contact me at [phone removed]

Aurora Brewing Challenge 2002/MCAB 5

As Frank has let us know above, the competition will be held from May 31 to June 2, 2001. The entry deadline is May 31 12:00 noon (judging starts only a few minutes later).

For the time being entry forms/brochures can be downloaded from our website at http://www.ehg.ca. In any case, please go and have a look. Jim has recently worked quite extensively on the world's window to us. Show your appreciation browse to every page and make the counter go crazy. This will show Jim how much we appreciate his hard work.

Jim, the site looks fabulous – Great job (ed.)

Never, ever boil your grains…

That's the advice I received very early on in my all grain brewing career. I was warned I would extract all sorts of tannins from the wort and I would end up with a beer that would coat your teeth like a heavy, ruby, tannic red wine. No, not me, I promised, that wasn't the beer I wanted to brew.

But then... I think it was in the homebrew digest - when I first got onto e-mail, 1993 or so – that I first came across something called decoction mashing. I didn't understand at first because I couldn't help but to conclude that they were talking about - you guessed it - boiling grain. No, I thought, something must be wrong here - whatever you do, it rang in my ears, never, ever, ever boil your grains! I had to find out. On top of that, I am of Germanic extraction, and the Germans seem to be particularly fond of boiling their grains - apart from the Czechs (and the Poles/Pollacs? for that matter). Traditionally, Czech and Bavarian beers employ a so-called triple decoction process which today has given way in many cases to the double decoction and, rarely, to the single decoction. And, of course, it stands to reason that a true German has to brew true German beer, decoction and all...

So, let's attend to the headline first: the water solubility of tannins that are contained in the husks, is dependent on two factors: temperature and (and this is crucial) the pH of the liquor - the more you raise either of them, the more tannins you extract. As long as your pH is below 5.7, you should not have much to worry about. Incidentally, this also comes into play during sparging. Always make sure that your sparge water is properly acidulated (pH 5 is very safe), otherwise it doesn't matter how much you never, ever, ever, ever boil your grains, you may end up with one of those puckering brews.

Generally, the pH of your mash should not be an issue if you brew dark beers and if your base malt is well modified (though you can run into difficulties with tap water of a high pH - say 8.5+ - especially if it contains salts or minerals that act as buffers). Pale malts tend to be less acidic, especially under-modified malts, a bit hard to come by her but still used by central European and German breweries. So you mash in at 37ºC or 100ºF for an acid rest, take 3 decoctions... everything is going to be honky-dory.

So now, that we know we can boil our grains, why would we ever want to do a decoction mash? There are several good reasons:

1. Because of the boiling, cell walls of the grains are destroyed. This allows an easier access for the enzymes to the starch. As a result the efficiency of decoction mashes is generally higher than for other methods. (This is probably the reason almost all mega brewers use this method)
2. Grains that need gelatinizing at high temperatures can be boiled separately in one of the decoction steps (can be useful if you use for example rice or rye). - Not for me, baby (that rice and adjunct stuff). Herzog Wilhelm IV of Bavaria would not approve of it!
3. Boiling part of the mash extracts more flavour from the grains. Especially beers made with a lot of pale malts improve by this effect.
4. A slight caramelization can occur during the boil, giving a fuller flavour to the beer (I don't know why, but the effect of adding dark malt is not quite the same).
5. Boiling promotes the formation of melanoidins, adding colour to the beer without affecting the flavour significantly.
6. Part of the protein already coagulates during mashing, which helps to produce a clearer beer.
7. The method allows stepped-temperature mashing in a tun that cannot be heated (picnic cooler, or 6 yards high wooden barrel)
8. It results in a mix of fermentable and non-fermentable sugars in your wort that lend beer its special character, which are difficult, if not impossible to achieve in a step infusion mash.

There are also some negatives that you may want to consider:

1. Decoction mashing takes a lot of time (may be a positive if you enjoy long brewing sessions)
2. Splashing the hot mash may cause some additional hot side aeration.
3. Care must be taken to avoid scorching the mash when it is boiled; this means the decoction method requires more attention and work (stir when you heat). Actually, I've never had a problem with this. Even a very thick decoction seems to contain enough water so that it can be boiled easily without scorching.
4. pH must be checked and corrected to avoid extraction of tannins from the husks (anything below approximately 5.7 is ok)

Special care must be taken for mash-out: boiling the grains the last time may release some more starch that will not be converted because you've just wiped out the enzymes. The traditional work-around is: boil only the clear liquid for mash-out.

The graph shows a typical three-step decoction mash. This is certainly the way to go with under-modified Moravian Budvar malt (available at Paddockwood). Dough-in is at 37ºC (100ºF). After 30 Minutes you take the first decoction, which consist of about 40% of the grain, leaving most of the liquid behind.

There are two good reasons for leaving all the liquid behind:

1. The enzymes are dissolved in the liquid and boiling fries them prematurely.
2. It's the grain that benefits from the decoction and not the liquid.

So, while 60% or so of your grain are going to enjoy a two-hour siesta during which the pH of the main mash should drop to the low 5 range, the decoction goes through an exciting step mashing schedule. You slowly raise the temperature of the decoction to 50ºC (122ºF). Stop for a 20 minute or so protein rest. The protein rest is supposed to break down complex proteins to smaller less complex ones. This aids in head retention and avoids protein hazes, particularly chill haze in the final beer. My take on this rest is to skip it altogether. Why, do you ask. To be effective, you need at least 45 minutes for a protein rest, so the 20 minutes are, in my humble opinion, just a delay. Anyway, as you will see later, the main mash will go through an extended protein rest. The purist, though may not care much about my humble opinion - it's your brew. You then keep heating your decoction (be careful you don't scorch your grains) until you reach somewhere around 65ºC (149ºF). This calls for another rest of 30 minutes. We know that at this temperature the ß-amylase is active. This enzyme breaks little 'twigs' of fermentable sugars off the ends of complex starch and dextrin molecules. If we kept converting at this temperature until mash-out, we would end up with a potent, light bodied beer. However, we want some body, too, and that's why we now raise the temperature to 72ºC (162ºF). This is where the α-amylase feels cozy. This enzyme breaks long chains right in the middle (not off the ends) and converts starch into complex, non-fermentable sugars called dextrins. These dextrins give the beer maltiness (residual sweetness) and body. Just to explain it again, we give the ß-amylase just enough time to break off the desired amount of fermentable, simple sugars (mainly maltose), and then hand the mash over to the α-amylase to break down the remaining starch into complex, non-fermentable sugars called dextrins. After 30 minutes or so you should take an iodine test to see if conversion is complete. Once there is no starch left, raise the temperature quickly to boiling and boil for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of beer you are brewing (make it short for a pilsner or a light wheat beer but long for a heavy Doppelbock).

During the boil several things happen. Starchy kernels are being gelatinized, making it easier for the amylases to break them down to sugar. Proteins coagulate to form a hot break and will be filtered out during sparging.

By now you will have noticed that the decoction has gone through a complex step mashing process of its own, similar to something that you may subject your complete mash to for some brews.

Returning the decoction to the main mash raises the temperature of the latter, and if everything goes right, this will now be approximately 53ºC (127ºF). But you can see that you main mash has in the meantime had a two-hour acid rest. Hitting the rest temperatures can be a bit of a trial and error thing. Try to take you decoctions big enough to rather err on the high side. You can always return just enough of the decoction to the main mash to achieve the proper rest temperature, and return the remainder after you have allowed it to cool down a bit.

After 10 minutes, you take another thick decoction (a bleach bottle cut into shape makes an excellent scoop for taking decoctions).

Proceed through the remaining rests to boiling (You don't need the protein rest - you're already there) and return to the main mash. Now you will be at the lower saccarification rest (65ºC or 149ºF).

Take a 20-minute rest (time to have a brew) and take another thick decoction consisting of approximately 40% of your grain (notice how the decoctions get harder to take by the scoop out method due to increasing mash temperature - put it out of your mind and keep scooping). Raise the decoction to 72ºC (162ºF), mash out, boil and return to the main mash. This will raise your mash temperature to 72ºC (162ºF). Once your iodine test reads negative your mash is fully converted. The diagram does not include another temperature raise. However, I would draw off about 10 liters of liquid for a 5-gallon mash, bring it to the boil and return it to the main mash to end up with a temperature above 75ºC (167ºF). This will kill off all remaining enzymes and you are now ready to sparge. I would not, however, take any more grain in this last boil, since you may liberate some more starches - just by chance - that had so far avoided conversion but not have any enzymes left to convert them.

If you use well-modified malt together with wheat malt or rye malt or any combination of grains that benefits from a protein rest but does not require an acid rest, a double decoction regimen will suffice since you can omit the acid rest. Even with under-modified malt you may get away without an acid rest if you employ acid malt or adjust the water pH using food grade phosphoric acid or lactic acid (may be a bit trying to find them). In a pinch I have found that small amounts of citric acid or ascorbic acid will also do. Your additions are so small that the taste is not really affected.

If your are in a real hurry and use only well modified malt, you may dough in at 65ºC (149ºF), have a 20 - 30 minutes rest and take just one decoction. This will shorten the time for your brewing session considerably - as compared to the triple decoction.

I use decoction mashing for most of my continental lagers like Bohemian Pils, Bavarian lagers, definitely bock and Weizen. With the price of malt, the increase in brewhouse efficiency is not really significant. However, I find that the maltose/dextrose profile is hard to achieve by any other method. The mash runs cleaner because of the hot break that is kept behind during lautering. I achieve better head formation and retention and minimize hazes. The downside - brew sessions can drag on a little.

---

Bibliography:

Eric Warner, German Wheat Beer, Classic Beer Style Series 7,
Brewers Publications, 1992

David Miller, Continental Pilsener, Classic Beer Style Series 2,
Brewers Publications, 1990

Darryl Richman, Bock, Classic Beer Style Series 9, Brewers
Publications, 1994

Marc de Jonge, HomebrewDigest, http://www.hbd.org/library

David Cordrey, Decoction Mashing Part 1, Strand Brewers Club,
http://www.strandbrewers.org/html/decoct1.htm

David Cordrey, Decoction Mashing Part 2, Strand Brewers Club,
http://www.strandbrewers.org/html/decoct2.htm

Some Jokes

Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
--David Moulton

People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot.
--Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI

Three men are on an expensive yacht in the middle of the sea. The boat sinks and they are stuck on a rubber dingy for a week when a magic lamp floats by and one of them picks it up. He rubs it and a genie comes out and says that he will grant them one wish. Since there are three of them, the one who rubbed it yelled out that he wanted the ocean to fill with beer a second later the ocean is covered with a frosted foam. Say the other men: "Shucks Bill now we have to go to the bath room in the boat".

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk.That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
--Ernest Hemmingway

Two elderly gentlemen spend their afternoons sitting on a bench in front of a barber shop arguing about current affairs, debating political issues and discussing life in general. Among their favorite arguments concerns which of the local brands of beer is the best. The one gentleman has his favorite, while the other gentleman favors a different brand.
After several years of listening to this argument, the barber in front of whose shop the two gentlemen sit says, "There is a way you can resvolve this dispute once and for all. Why don't you send samples of each brand of beer off to one of those new-fangled laboratories where they can test them and determine which is actually the better quality of the two."
The gentlemen find this suggestion appealing, and so they walk across the street to their favorite saloon and ask the bartender to scrounge up two jars, fill them with the respective brands of beer, and package them up for delivery to the laboratory.
After a few months, an envelope arrives at the local post office. Eager to read the test results, the two gentlemen scury over to their favorite bench in front of the barber shop and open the envelope. Inside is a letter which reads, "Gentlemen -- Thank you for submitting the two specimens. We are happy to report that both performed very well under testing. In fact, it is our conclusion that both horses are in the best of health."

The Devil walks into a crowded bar. When the people see who it is, they all run out except this one old man. So the devil walks up to him and says" Do you know who I am?" and the old man sips his beer and answers "yep". The Devil says "Well, why aren't you afraid of me?" The old man looks over and says "I've been married to your sister for 27 years, why the hell should I be scared of you."

View from the Bottom?

Sorry, everybody, but there is not going to be a 'view from the top' this month. Frank sends his apologies. However, he says he will make up for this omission in next month's Worthouse News, and he tells me it's going to be worth it.

With all these views from the top, I suddenly realize, a very important view has over the years been totally ignored. Here it is: the view from the bottom.

So, the bottom of what, you may say. Would you have guessed?

You remember I won a little prize at the 2001 Aurora Brewing Challenge? Well, what you see is the brew that went off to MCAB 4 last week in an attempt to add to the prize. I'm having one while I'm scratching my head, wondering what will go into this newsletter. Tell you what... I'll bring some to the next meeting - and some stout for good measure.

Kevin reminds me to pass the following on: The 2002 GREAT CANADIAN HOMEBREW COMPETITION needs your entries. This is also the Canadian qualifier for the NHC '02. You’ll find all the pertinent info at the end of the
newsletter.

I didn't feel like writing a big article again this months - and nobody else in the club appears to have felt like it, so I am reproducing something interesting I found on the web at http://www.alabev.com/history.htm. I hope you don't mind the history lesson.

A History of Beer

Between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, some humans discontinued their nomadic hunting and gathering and settled down to farm. Grain was the first domesticated crop that started that farming process.

The oldest proven records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and refer to the Sumerians.

Sumeria lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers including Southern Mesopotamia and the ancient cities of Babylon and Ur. It is said that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation process by chance. No one knows today exactly how this occurred, but it could be that a piece of bread or grain became wet and a short time later, it began to ferment and a inebriating pulp resulted. A seal around 4,000 years old is a Sumerian "Hymn to Ninkasi", the goddess of brewing. This "hymn" is also a recipe for making beer. A description of the making of beer on this ancient engraving in the Sumerian language is the earliest account of what is easily recognized as barley, followed by a pictograph of bread being baked, crumbled into water to form a mash, and then made into a drink that is recorded as having made people feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful." It could be that baked bread was a convenient method of storing and transporting a resource for making beer. The Sumerians were able to repeat this process and are assumed to be he first civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a "divine drink" which certainly was a gift from the gods.

From the Gilgamesh Epic, written in the 3rd millennium B.C., we learn that not only bread but also beer was very important. This epic is recognized as one of the first great works of world literature. Ancient oral sagas from the beginning of human history were recorded in writing for the first time. The Gilgamesh Epic describes the evolution from primitive man to "cultured man".

"Enkidu, a shaggy, unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and could milk wild animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh, the demigod-like sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a (prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses. Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught him of civilization. Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu, as it belongs to life. Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In this condition he washed himself and became a human being."

The Babylonians became the rulers of Mesopotamia after the Sumerian empire collapsed during the 2nd millennium B.C. Their culture was derived from that of the Sumerians, and as a consequence of this, they also mastered the art of brewing beer. Today we know that the Babylonians new how to brew 20 different types of beer.

In ancient times beer was cloudy and unfiltered. The "drinking straws" were used to avoid getting the brewing residue, which was very bitter, in the mouth. Beer from Babylon was exported and distributed as far away as Egypt. Hammurabi, an important Babylonian King, decreed the oldest known collection of laws. One of these laws
established a daily beer ration. This ration was dependent on the social standing of the individual, a normal worker received 2 liters, civil servants 3 liters, administrators and high priests 5 liters per day. In these ancient times beer was often not sold, but used as barter.

The Egyptians carried on the tradition of beer brewing. They also used unbaked bread dough for making beer and added dates to the brew to improve the taste. The importance of beer brewing in ancient Egypt can be seen from the fact that the scribes created an extra hieroglyph for "brewer". Although beer as we know it had its origins in Mesopotamia, fermented beverages of some sort or another were produced in various forms around the world. For example, Chang is a Tibetan beer and Chicha is a corn beer and kumis is a drink produced from fermented camel milk. The word beer comes from the Latin word bibere, meaning "to drink", and the Spanish word cerveza originates from the Greek goddess of agriculture, Ceres.

After Egypt was succeeded by the Greeks and Romans, beer continued to be brewed. Plinius reported of the popularity of beer in the Mediterranean area before wine took hold. In Rome, wine became ambrosia from the god Bacchus. Beer was only brewed in the outer areas of the Roman Empire where wine was difficult to obtain. For the Romans beer was considered a barbarian drink. The oldest proof that beer was brewed on German soil, comes from around 800 B.C. in the early Hallstatt Period, where beer amphora found near the present day city of Kulmbach have been dated back to this time. As Tacitus, who first wrote about the ancient Germans or Teutons, put it like this: "To drink, the Teutons have a horrible brew fermented from barley or wheat, a brew which has only a very far removed similarity to wine". Beer of that era could not be stored, was cloudy and produced almost no foam. Early civilizations found the mood-altering properties of beer supernatural, and intoxication was considered divine. Beer, it was thought, must contain a spirit or god, since drinking the liquid so possessed the spirit of the drinker. The ancient Germans regarded beer not only a sacrifice to the gods but they, as in Egypt, also brewed beer for their own enjoyment. For example, in the Finnish poetic saga Kalewala, 400 verses are devoted to beer but only 200 were needed for the creation of the earth. According to the Edda, the great Nordic epic, wine was reserved for the gods, beer belonged to mortals and mead to inhabitants of the realm of the dead.

Beer brewing played an important role in daily lives. Beer was clearly so desired that it led nomadic groups into village life. Beer was considered a valuable (potable) foodstuff and workers were often paid with jugs of beer.

A vitamin-rich porridge, used daily, beer is reported to have increased health and longevity and reduced disease and malnutrition. The self-medicating properties of alcohol-rich beer also eased the tensions and stresses of daily living in a hostile world. Those who drank thrived as the struggle of life wore on those less blessed.

Until the Middle Ages, brewing and the baking of bread was exclusively the job of a woman. In fact, ancient laws stated that brewing vessels were a woman's personal property. This began to change shortly before the end of the first millennium, when the monasteries turned their attention to beer brewing. Perhaps one reason that beer brewing has become associated with monasteries (Holland and Belgium in particular) is that in ancient Babylon, women brewers were priestesses of the temple, thus connecting beer and religion for the first time. As monasteries took over the brewing of beer, women's involvement began to wane, and brewing became a male- dominated process. The monks were intensively concerned with making beer because they wanted a pleasant tasting, nutritious drink to serve with their meals, which could be lacking, especially during periods of fasting. As the consumption of liquids was not considered to break the fast, beer was always permitted. The consumption of beer in the monasteries reached astounding levels. In many monasteries, historians report that each monk was allowed to imbibe 5 liters of beer per day. We can see in many paintings of the period that the monks enjoyed their beer, nonetheless, after a short time they began to brew more than for their own consumption. Upon payment of a fee, the monks received the right to sell beer and with this many monasteries developed into well managed commercial enterprises. The beer was sold in monastery pubs. Because the monasteries actively promoted beer brewing, their beer was of high quality and popular. After the Reformation and the weakening of the church, brewing became the responsibility of the commercial brewer. These "entrepreneur" brewers often brewed under "Royal" license and supplied the rising merchant class. Because people were inclined to support local endeavors, the art of brewing developed and became a respected trade.

The local sovereigns introduced beer taxes which rapidly began to add to their wealth. As the monastery pubs did not have to pay these taxes because of their older, privileged brewery status, they adversely affected this new source of income and many were quickly closed by the dukes and princes. Emperor Sigismund (1368-1437) was the first emperor to issue such a decree. Even though many monastery breweries were closed by the rulers, we owe much to the monks for being the first to scientifically develop the brewers' art. Monasteries had become the centers for brewing as a result of their already being the centers of learning and, as we know, because the local water supply was often contaminated, beer provided a safe drinking source and was promoted by the authorities. There was the low strength "everyday" beer and the higher alcohol beers brewed for special occasions. In the weddings of ancient England, a special "bride's ale" would be brewed for the bride by her family. The term "bride ale" became the present "bridal." Throughout the Middle Ages, hops became widely used as a way to make beer refreshing and also as a natural preservative. In fact, in France and Germany, hops were documented as being cultivated in the ninth century. Hops are said to have first been used to flavor beer in Brabant monasteries in what is now Belgium. This explains the legend falsely attributing the creation of beer to the Brabant king Gambrinus.

"In life be I called Gambrinus, King of Flanders and Brabant. I have made malt from barley and first conceived of the brewing of beer. Hence, the brewers can say they have a king as master brewer."

King Gambrinus is still revered today as the patron saint of beer. The use of hops in the making of beer started a "bitter" argument about the so-called Flavorings License ("Grutrecht" in old German). Grut was a mixture of all sorts of herbs used to flavor beer. The flavoring license was similar to a patent, allowing a brewery to produce its own flavoring mixture and became the legal basis for every brewery and ensured a monopoly position for the respective brew master. With the advent of hops as a flavoring, Grut was no longer necessary and therefore the monopoly position of the breweries were endangered. For this reason, the use of hops was often simply and forcibly forbidden. Among other things, juniper berries, sweet gale , blackthorn, aniseed, bay leaves, yarrow, thorn apple, gentian, rosemary, oak bark, wormwood, caraway seed, tansy, Saint-John's-wort, spruce chips, pine roots and henbane (the hallucinogen Alkaloid is produced from henbane during the brewing process.) found their way into these mixtures. Some of these herbs were poisonous. This could well be the reason that superstition played an important role around the brewing kettle. The main victims of this superstition were the Beer Witches.

Because things often went wrong with the beer brewing which nobody could explain with the body of beer brewing knowledge available in early times, the guilty parties were often sought in the mystical realm. Many wondrous herbs and cult objects still surrounded brewing kettles into the late middle ages. Superstition went so far that brewing failures were blamed on "brew witches" or "beer witches". The last known burning of a "brew witch" took place in 1591. The end of this superstitious era came when the use of hops caught on. Even though often forbidden at first, this practice prevailed in the long run. For one thing, the beer became less perishable and the brewing process more stable because of hops. Things didn't go wrong as often and fewer witches had to be hunted.

With the use of hops the beer revealed its "clear character". Beer began to closely resemble the modern product range, both in taste and appearance. In order to guarantee a high level of reliability, quality and consistency, the Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV, proclaimed the German Beer Purity Law in 1516. This decree established for the first time that only barley (later malted barley), hops and pure water could be used to brew beer.

The use of yeast was not yet known at that time. The success of the fermentation process was left to chance, as the brewers unknowingly relied on yeast particles in the air. Today this Beer Purity Law is the oldest still valid food law in the world. In the eyes of the European Union, however, this law was inhibitive to competition. Now, as a result of the EU ruling, beer may be imported into Germany which was not brewed in accordance with the Beer Purity Law, as long as this fact is clearly stated. The German brewers still abide by their centuries-old tradition. Of course the Beer Purity Law had its predecessors. A regulation promulgated in 1493 by the Duke of Bayers-Landshut, for example, stated that:

"Herewith shall beer brewers and others not use anything other than malt, hops and water. These same brewers also shall not add anything when serving or otherwise handling beer, upon penalty to body and chattels."

Together with the quality improvement, the distribution and export of beer also increased. The worldwide export was carried out by the Hansa of the Hanseatic League fame. As time passed, export took on an ever increasing role. Regular brewing centers developed. In the 14th century Bremen was the primary beer supplier for many countries. Hamburg also developed into one of these brewing centers. In 1500 there were 600 breweries in Hamburg alone. The Hansa even exported beer to far away India. In the small middle German and Maerkish (Brandenburg) communities of this period, breweries were the most important financial contributors to the local economy. Other German beer centers were Brunswick and Einbeck. Bok beer was first created in Einbeck and became a favorite of a Bavarian duke.

The Industrial Revolution started to take their effect on beer at the beginning of the 19th century. Two extremely important inventions revolutionized beer brewing. The first was James Watt's steam engine and the second invention was artificial cooling by Carl von Linde. It had long been known that the making of good beer required certain temperatures. Some of these temperatures occurred naturally only in winter. From the time of von Linde's invention on, brewing was a year round enterprise.

Beer in modern times.

Considerable scientific research took place in breweries in the 19th century. A famous work from 1876 by Louis Pasteur was "Etudes sur la Biere" ("Studies Concerning Beer") where he revealed his knowledge of micro-organisms. This basic knowledge is still indispensable today, not only in the production of beverages, but also in medicine and biology. (Everyone knows the word "pasteurized")

Another pioneering discovery in beer brewing was the work of Christian Hansen. The Danish scientist, Christian Hansen, successfully isolated a single yeast cell and induced it to reproduce on an artificial culture medium. With the resulting yeast propagation methods, the purity of the fermenting process has been improved and beer taste repeatable.

Beer and its price have always been of extreme importance to German consumers. The consequences a beer price increase can bring with it were shown in 1888 in Munich when the Salvator battle took place, as citizens violently rebelled against such a price increase.

Wooden barrels have been almost completely replaced by metal barrels for most pub trade. In 1964 metal kegs were introduced in Germany. Firstly, cleaning and filling was much simpler. Secondly, tapping and closing off was much easier for the bar personnel. This was a big hit with pub and restaurant owners.

View from the Top

Most of you missed a super meeting on April 8th. Almost everyone who attended brought ample homebrew to the meeting. I would venture to say, that was the most homebrew at any one meeting in years.

Günther brought a keg of his stout along with a bottle of CO2 mixed with nitrogen: and all night he tried to show up Guinness with as big a foamy head as possible. Good show, Günther.

Then we were surprised with a visit by an old-time member - none other than Jason Meyer. He brought a keg of his famous hopped-up ale. But the feature of the night was his hand-operated beer pump he brought from Scotland. Cost him 40 quid, it did. He hooked it up in the bar and everyone just had to try it: two pumps and you filled a large glass. It was nice to see you again, Jason. Drop in anytime.

Jason also was the first entrant in our MCAB5 Aurora Challenge. He dropped off four entries.

We also raffled off a St. Arnold - Patron Saint of Brewing tee shirt, donated by Bruce Sample. Thank you, Bruce, for your generosity and thank you again, for drawing my name as the winner. You're generous but, obviously, talented too.

Now that Jason has entered our competition, every member could and should bring your entries in. Bring them to the meeting if you wish. The Regina club is holding their competition soon, an Kevin Zaychuk has volunteered to deliver our club entries to Regina. They are good supporters of our competition, so we should reciprocate and support theirs.

You can sure tell it's springtime. I had two squirrels creating a racket in my yard. The male was chasing a female and she ran up my tree. The male ran round and round the tree on the ground. So I said to the squirrel, "Why don't you chase your mate up into the tree?" The male squirrel replied rather sarcastically, "Easy for you to say – you ever try climbing a
tree with a hard-on?"

Doesn't time fly when you're having a good time? This will be my last 'View from the Top' My term as president is up. We usually don't have a meeting in June, as we'll be judging for Aurora/MCAB5 - no meeting in July or August. Next meeting in September, when we elect a new executive. I’ stating this now, so it's not a surprise. And no, I will not seek election to any position - so pick your office and start campaigning.

Bits and Bobs

Our Aurora Brewing Challenge/MCAB 5 Canadian Qualifier competition is just around the corner. Hope you all have brewed up a storm - if you haven't you'd better get going right away and brew one of those styles that are best when they are young, like a Hefeweizen that doesn't even need to clear. You'll find the entry form at the back of the newsletter.

The MCAB 4 competition was held in Cleveland, Ohio, April 12 o 14, and again, a few prizes went the way of our club. Roxy scored a silver medal with his German Pils (the first prize in the category scored the Best of Show, so who knows how close Roxy came to that one - pretty close one might assume). Yours truly won a bronze medal with his Hefeweizen that some of you were able to taste at the last meeting.

Other brewers who qualified through our 2001 competition were Mike Tessier from Calgary, who won a gold with a Flanders Red Ale, Gary Falkenstein from Regina with a bronze in Scotch Ale and a bronze in English Barley Wine and last but by no means least Veryl Todd from Lethbridge who brewed a bronze medal American Pale Ale.

Well done, everybody!

Our EHG scribes all appear to be busy in the brewhouse in preparation for the ABC/MCAB5 Challenge, including yours truly. So, what can we do, but to resort to plagiarism again for our main article. I found it at http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/PrJudgeTr.html. Since our big competition is just around the corner, I think this is a very relevant piece of information, and with a bit of luck, it may stimulate some thought and discussion.

Cheap$$$Scotch

Dear Mr.Ed,

I had the opportunity of attending a Scotch tasting in Leduc recently. The event was staged at the Denham Inn by the owner of Conrinthia Liquor Store (Nisku).

The format was a brief video on Bowmore Distillery, (quite educational and not too self promotional) followed by a very generous size tasting of 8 whiskies. The price was $10. The audience received bread to clean the palate and later cold cuts and cheese over a general BS session bout Scotch and yet another swilling of a dram of your choice. That's right, $10 .The whiskies were from Aberlour, Longmorn, Glen Garioch two Auchentoshan, two from Bowmore and finally Chivas Regal. Given the price, I informed the owner of Conrinthia that I could easily double the number of people he had in attendance (approx 20). If the executive ever want the opportunity to taste an unknown Scotch, before purchase by the club, this is the event for them. It would also seem possible to arrange a club tasting, if the numbers are there, and we were honestly prepared to consider a future purchase or two. However, was no pressure to buy anything in Leduc and to my knowledge, no Scotch was sold that night. Finally, my own picks were Aberlour(aromatic and full bodied, an after munchies kinda slurp). I guess it's relatively cheap(my kinda Scotch) and secondly Glen Garioch

Martin Langshaw.

Professional Beer Tasting

Far more complex than a sip on the lips, here are the criteria, techniques and intrinsic subtleties to truly taste fine ales.
--by Edmund Osterlund, M.S.

Always in pursuit of hedonism, I recently attended an absolutely wonderful weekend seminar at U.C. Davis entitled "Sensory Evaluation of Beer for Microbrewers". It was conducted by the dynamic team of Professor Michael J. Lewis and his associate Jean-Xavier Guinard. The following highlights some of the complexities involved in judging beer on a professional basis. As a professionally trained wine taster, I found that the ritual of tasting a sample of wine before approving its service is even more suitable to the appreciation of beer. I say this because the flavor of beer immediately begins to deteriorate as soon as it leaves the brewery. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to consume beer as fresh and near to the source as possible. The best way to do this is at the brewery itself. This, of course, is why consumers have fallen in love with microbreweries and brewpubs all over the U.S. It simply doesn't get any fresher.

Allow me to begin with the basic assumption that beer is a product, produced ultimately for the expressed purpose of "providing pleasure". The tasting of beer requires an individual to attempt to measure just "how much" pleasure is being provoked or not provoked, if that be the case.

In making an organoleptic quality judgment, we use the senses of sight, smell, and taste. Obviously we use the eyes, nose, and palate to make these assessments. However, there are a number of factors that can influence the quality of sensory responses that we receive. These must be controlled and understood for valid results.

Time Of Tasting

Your ability to judge subtle differences between beers is directly proportional to your degree of hunger. Consequently, all professional tastings should be conducted at 11:30 am to 1 pm. This time period is preferable prior to the dinner hour because the taster is less fatigued.

In order for tastings to be consistently valid, all of them must be conducted at the same time in the morning. The human palate varies so much at different times of the day due to physiological and psychological stresses that comparative tastings of beers must be done simultaneously.

Sequence Of Samples

The first beer tasted in any series of samples (assuming no beer was tasted previously), has a bit of a shock effect on the palate. Here the sting of the carbonation, the warmth of alcohol and the bitterness of the hops all make their first impressions.
The second beer in the same series has a marked advantage over the first due to the apparent aggressiveness of the first. In order to compensate for this, the taster should rinse the mouth with similar beer to those being tasted in an attempt to condition the palate.

Effect Of Temperature

All beers must be sampled at exactly the same temperature or results will not be valid. This must be verified with a thermometer just prior to the tasting. As far as the correct service temperature of beer, that depends upon its style and alcoholic strength. It was identified that most beers are consumed too cold to actually perceive flavors at their best. The American on vacation in England returns home talking about how the Brits drink warm beer. Taste tests revealed that beer flavors reveal themselves best at around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit.

The reason people like their beer "frosty" cold is a result of the tactile impression of feeling on one's thirsty palate rather than flavor. Of course, many commercial beers, if allowed, warm up to ideal sensory taste temperatures are seemingly devoid in any flavor dimension.

Glassware

It is important that all beers be sampled in the same sized glasses. The same beer samples in a larger glass will always have significantly stronger aroma. All glassware must be of the same type. Lighter or crystal glasses will have an aesthetic appeal on the taster that, consequently could influence the judgment of flavor.

The cleanliness of the tasting glass is of utmost importance. If not thoroughly clean, the bubbles will tend to stick to the sides of the glass and not release the beer's aroma properly. The glassware should be air dried with no spots. By wetting the glass with cold water prior to pouring, the bubbles will release to the surface more easily.

Lighting

The color of beer is beat evaluated under tungsten-light or natural sunlight. Florescent light isn't as good, but efforts to obtain constant lighting is what's more important.

"The appearance of a product must not bias the way we perceive its flavor", said Guinard. Because of this, beer samples are frequently analyzed in opaque vessels so that color does not become a factor. For example, a dark beer will give the taster an impression of bitterness when, in fact, there might not be any. Other methods used to control color involve the use of tasting under a red light filters, which cause the samples to appear the same.

Pouring

The way a beer is poured has an effect on the release of aromatics as well as the head that is formed. Care must be taken to adhere to consistency in pouring techniques if valid results are to occur.

Not all beers have the same degree of head. Head retention is part of the critical analysis done by beer tasters. A collapse rate of more than 50% within a minute is often considered a flaw in regards to visual appeal.

Smell

The aromatics of beer are released immediately after the beer is poured. It is therefore necessary to smell the sample quickly. The first sniff of a beer will be the most accurate and should be done with the eyes closed for better concentration. Each sniff thereafter leads to olfactory adaptation.

The sniffing should be done with a slight force being exerted; this serves to intensify the aromas. A conscientious effort must be made to exert the same sniffing force with each sample; if not controlled, one beer might make a stronger impression, invalidating the results. Its a learned skill requiring practice.

In olfactory analysis, the taster is looking essentially at the aroma (prefermentation smells) and the bouquet (product of fermentation) as well as the relevant hoppiness, which will be more or less pronounced depending on the style of beer. Certainly, no off odors like wet newspaper (indicating oxidation) or skunkiness (damage from sunlight) should be present. A pleasant fruitiness is usually apparent.

Efforts must be made to reduce ambient noise from distracting the taster's attention. The biggest sources of these are vibrations, air conditioners and, of course, table chatter. For these reasons tasters are separated by walls of tiny booths. This also prevents distractions from other tasters who may make a face or gesture after sampling a beer.

Eighty percent of evaluating the flavor of beer can be achieved by smelling its aroma. If the taster perceives a subtle fault in the nose, he should, after swallowing the beer, immediately exhale the aromas in the mouth back through the nose; this heightens the flavor sensation (whether positive or negative) and is referred to as "retro-nasal" breathing.

Beer Quality

The three criteria used to define quality are:

1. Is the product true to type?
2. Can the beer be reproduced? (consistency)
3. Is the beer defect free?

One of the things that differs in tasting beers as opposed to wines, is that beer tasters drink the sample instead of spitting it out. This is partially due to the fact that it is important to feel the tactile sensation of carbonation as it dissipates upon swallowing, and also that many of the beers have three times less alcohol.

Contrary to popular opinion, tasters do not need to cleanse their palate with a piece of bread or cheese. If, while sampling several beers, one introduces a cracker between beer samples, this severely alters the tactile impression in the mouth. The taster becomes distracted with the crumbs and the beer sample that follows in the sequence of tasting suffers accordingly. By resting 10 to 15 seconds the palate sufficiently recovers from the previous tasting and is ready again.

Rinsing with water is okay, provided it is done after two samples have been evaluated. If not, the water can dilute the initial taste of the beer that follows.

Systematic Approach

In order to properly evaluate the overall flavor characteristic of each beer in a series, the taster must proceed systematically.

The raw materials that make up the origin of the beer's flavor are:

1. malt (pale or roasted) Sweetness
2. hops (aromatic or bitter) Bitterness

Mouthfeel, the sensation of thickness, viscosity (a direct result of the original gravity) is one of the first qualities that people tend to use to judge the strength of a beer, or, to separate one beer from another.

What makes for the style of a particular beer is how the brewmaster makes a choice regarding raw materials to be added to the recipe and the types of yeast interactions desired. The attempt is made to design the beer for the intended consumer market.

What makes a good beer taster is one's abilities to discern the interplay between the flavor of sweetness (malt) and the bitterness/aromatics of the hops, on a consistent basis.

Personal Preferences

No two persons will have the same taste impression. This is due to our unique sensory awareness levels (thresholds of perception) to the tasters of sweetness, sourness and bitterness. Therefore, one taster's favorite choice could be another's last choice!

At U.C. Davis, their course labored to manifest some of the points I've mentioned with a constant eye on maintaining consistency. Professors Lewis and Guinard should be applauded in their delivery of such a vast amount of useful information over one weekend.

Tasting beer requires the ability to recognize the constant rate of change that is going on between the elements of flavor and to do so with consistency. Everyone has the aptitude, it just requires some discipline.

---

Edmund Osterlund is a Master Sommelier and received his degree in professional wine tasting from the University of Bordeaux school of enology. He is a consultant to the hospitality industry residing in La Jolla, California.

Beer Trivia

(Better taken with a grain of salt? Ed.)

The name of the beer paid to stonemasons working in the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt was KASH, from which comes the modern name for money. Another name for beer in the Ancient World was BOOZAH, which survives today as both a slang name for a British pub and for a heavy drinker.

In Anglo Saxon times, drinking goblets were marked with pegs to show how much a person had drunk. This gave rise to the expression "To take someone down a peg or two". In England, inns in towns had to pay a tax known as a "Scot". Drinkers who went out of town to rural inns were described as drinking "Scot-free".

During the Middle Ages, governments and town councils in the British Isles and mainland Europe employed officials known as "Ale Conners" to test the quality of the ale brewed commercially. They would test it by pouring it onto a wooden bench, then sitting in the puddle. If their leather breeches stuck to the seat, the ale was considered to be of good quality.

The term 'toddlers' originated in England. There were impurities in the drinking water that disallowed the water to be used for drinking. A common alternative drink was beer (it was cheep, plentiful and the water used to make it was treated during the initial boiling during brewing). Toddlers, just weaning off of mothers milk were unaccustomed to the effects of beer. This coupled with the fact that they were just learning how to walk really made them toddle......

Beer's origin actually comes from ancient Egypt. It was made with grains native to their region and intended for the Pharaoh but tasted a lot different from modern beer. The straw was probably invented by Egyptian brewers to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients, which floated on the top of the container

It was the accepted practice in Babylonia 4000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period called the "honey moon".

View from the Top

Because you're all such a nice group of homebrew members, your executive got together at the last meeting and decided you should all have one more newsletter before our competition – and please note, this was decided before we got into another bounty of homebrew at the May 6th meeting. Bryan Halliday brought a keg full of India Pale Ale. It was well hopped, Bryan, but we all knew it would be. Bryan loves hops.

Then we brought out what was left of our Belgian Spice Wit from our Christmas Party, and we finished that off. It wasn't bad, either. And a lot of members brought homebrew as well. Good meeting, good brews - good news.

Now it's time to get serious and get your entries in for the Aurora Brewing Challenge/MCAB 5 Qualifier. Bring them in to Alley Kat Brewery. Judging starts Friday, May 31 and continues on Saturday and Sunday, June 1st and 2nd. Your entries will be accepted until noon May 31st.

Talking about beer... Shortly after the recently announced price hikes for beer, a real live nun walked into a local brewery and asked for a 12-pack. The manager had a look of bewildered disbelief on his face, which the nun noticed and quickly stated, "Oh, it's not for me. It's for the constipated bishop." So Herbie, the manager, donated the 12 pack to the nun. A couple of hours later, Herbie left the brewery and, low and behold, he spotted the nun staggering and reeling in an obvious drunken spree. He stopped his can, approached the nun and asserted, "Sister, how dare you! I thought you said the beer was for the constipated bishop." "It is, it is, she blurted. He'll shit when he sees me like this."

Eulogy for someone who loves brewing too much…

Could you imagine, there is something you love so much that you are afraid it prevents you from doing all those other worthwhile things in your life, things that you know, you have to do... but where do you get the time? Poor Geoff Kuziw was in that dilemma. He needs more time to devote to the arts (not the one of brewing), music, philosophy...

Now, Geoff is not just a homebrewer. He has been a homebrewer since 1978, was brewmaster at the Strathcona Brewery, and also for a while at Alley Kat. He has been mentor to many a guild member. He won his share of prizes and accolades - and does he own a brewery!!! Stainless everywhere, super high output burners, gadgets... you name it, he has it.

Anyway, here's the dilemma: Geoff can't cut back on his brewing. It's an all or nothing type of thing. I'm sure those of us who have tried to quit smoking, know exactly what he's going through. So Geoff has decided the only way to solve this problem is to quit cold turkey. Geoff is giving up brewing - forever. He's selling his brewery and all his gadgets. He's a brewer no more. He's joining Brewers Anonymous.

However, Geoff, let's hope that giving up brewing does not mean giving up being a guild member and coming to the meetings (Brewers Anonymous may advise you against it, though. Ignore them!). We don't mind if you drink our brews without bringing any of your own - we drank yours long enough and we understand.

However, rumour has it, Geoff is going out with a bang, so to speak. It's like someone smoking a carton of cigarettes or getting stociously pissed the night before he quits. From what I hear, he's back at Alley Kat, brewing, for the time being. But it will be cold turkey, once Neil finds a replacement for him.

Now, everyone be honest, what could be a bigger true, pure love, but the one that makes you part in agony, knowing that it's the only way to escape her seductive, sweet embrace, which you are just not strong enough to resist, but through the sacrifice of a clean cut through the chord, right at the umbilicus? The reward is freedom - or is it?

Silent Auction

The ink wasn't even dry on my eulogy and I received the following e-mail (ed.):

Hello Friends, it occurs to me that it is time to get out of active homebrewing. I have loved this hobby for fifteen years with all the passion and obsession that many of you are familiar with. If I have the option, I would produce all the damn fine homebrew possible. The trouble is, I have many more artistic interests worth pursuing. As long as I have a bottlebrush in my hand, I won't get busy with new endeavors. So now is a time when I hang up the brew-paddle and let the spiders claim a resting spot inside my bottles. Instead of putting my equipment into storage indefinitely, I'm sellin' her off! It brings me joy knowing that these vessels will once again be blessed with wort handcrafted by joyful homebrewers. I'm not giving up imbibing. Should you find yourself overjoyed with some of this equipment and wish to share some of your [ahem] sentiments with the original owner, I will more than accommodate your graceful invitation to share a libation birthed from my old brewhouse.

GEOFF'S OPENING INVENTORY LIST

Some of the items listed bellow will have found new homes by the time the silent auction is run. Some items will be subject to a minimum bid price. The money raised is supporting a local charity yet to be determined.

KETTLES

• ONE 90L Sanke Style, Polished Stainless Steel with Lid, 1/2" Inlet and Outlet w/ S.S. valve, V-wire Lautering Screen, Sight Glass, 3 x (1/2" MPT x 1/2" O.D. Comp. Fittings with hardware), + One 60,000 BTU "Doughnut Style" Propane Stock Pot Stove and bottle.
• TWO 90L Sanke Style Stainless Steel, 1/2" Inlet and Outlet w/ S.S. valve, V-wire Lautering Screen, Sight Glass, 3 x (1/2" MPT x 1/2" O.D. Comp. Fittings with hardware), + One 120,000 BTU "Doughnt Style" Propane Stock Pot Stove and bottle.
• TWO 58L Peerless Style (Barrel Shaped) Stainless Steel, 1/2" Outlet w/ S.S. valve, + Lid materials
• ONE 35L Heavy Wall + Heavy Bottom (12" Pipe) Stainless Steel, 1/2" Outlet w/ S.S. valve, V-wire Lautering Screen

LAUTER TUNS, SEXY STAINLESS, etc.

• ONE S.S. V-wire screen for Sanke Style Kettle.
• ONE 38L Coleman Beverage Cooler Style, Insulated, w/Drilled Plastic Cutting Board Bottom, Lid comes with 1/2" Hot Liquor Inlet.
• ONE 30L Double Bucket Style w/ Lid.
• ONE 20L Coleman Cooler w/ Roto-tap. Used as a Hot Liquor Tank.
• (1' x 2') #30 S.S. Wire Mesh. [0.021" Opening]
• 3-1/2' and 6'10" lengths 1/2" O.D. S.S. Tubing.
• Ceramic Wool Refractory Insulation For Direct Fired Vessels.
• WORT CHILLER
  ONE 50' Copper Immersion Style, 3 x 16-1/2' coils, garden hose fittings.
• PUMP
  ONE 6-1/2 gal./min. pump, Food Grade Ryton High Temperature Plastic Head.

YEAST STARTER FLASKS

• THREE 2L Graduated Erlenmeyer Flasks, Bungs & Locks
• TWO 1L Graduated Erlenmeyer Flask, Bung & Lock
• ONE 1L Erlenmeyer Flask, Bung & Lock
• THREE 3.8L Glass Jug, Bung & Lock
• 7 Cases 12 x 1USG Glass Juice Bottles c/w new caps (Excellent for Starter Wort Preserves)
• 6 Cases 24 x 500 ml Glass Juice Bottles c/w new caps (Excellent for Starter Wort Preserves)

CARBOYS

• THREE 23L Glass, Handle, Stick-on Thermometer, 1-1/4" Blow-off Hose, Bung & Lock
• FOUR 23L Glass, Handle, Stick-on Thermometer, Bung & Lock
• TWO 23L Glass, Handle, Bung & Lock
• ONE 23L Glass (Slight Damage), Handle, Bung & Lock
• ONE 8L Glass, Bung & Lock, Wood Crate.
• TWO 23L Made From Space-Age Polymer!!, Bung & Lock (Great for Lime Treating Water!)

DRAUGHT 'n' Stuff

• TWO Pepsi Style (Ball Lock) S.S. Keg with Tap
• TWO Pepsi Style (Ball Lock) S.S. Keg
• Assorted Keg and Tap parts
• ONE 12 Point Deep Socket, 1/2" Drive (For CO2 Fitting)
• Hotpoint Beer Fridge - Holds 4 Kegs or 2 Carboys + 1 Keg. Can be Modified to Hold 2 Carboys + 3 Kegs w/o Door Skin.
• ONE Roto Keg w/ Cartridges - Leaks CO2, OK for water treatment or Flower Planter

TONS 'O' BOTTLES

• 12 oz. Big Rock
• 12 oz. Amber Stubbies!!!
• 12 oz. Samuel Adams Amber Pry-off

BOTTLING EQUIPMENT

• ONE Double Handle Crown Capper
• ONE 90 Bottle Capacity Bottle Drying Tree/Rack
• ONE Bottle Sanitizing Hand Pump
• ONE 14 Gallon Bucket

INGREDIENTS

• Amber Malt (Toasted – good for browns and black beers)
• 1/2 Bag Crisp 2Row
• Smoked Malt (Cherry 'n' Pecan wood smoke)
• Excellent Aged Hops for Belgian and Weisse (Hallertauer and Tettnang Varieties)
• Dextrose, Glucose (Something For Everyone! Even Brewmart Mexican Lager Fans!)
• Mead and Wine Aids. Yeast Nutrient, Organic acids, Camden Tabs, Preservative, Acid and Sugar Test Kits, Oak Chips.

MISCELANEOUS
Wine Thief, 2 Carboy Handles, Large Funnel & Sieve, Assorted Bungs, 2 Hydrometers & Jars, Long Handled Plastic Spoon, Various Hoses, Shoulder Length Gloves (for soaking bottles or pulling calves), Peanuts & Bubble Wrap for Shipping Bottles, Glasswear.
BOOKS & RAGS

• Classic Beer Style Series: Belgian Ale, Vienna/Marzen/Oktoberfest, Pale Ale, Continental Pilsner, Porter.
• 2 x Winner's Circle
• 2 Mead Booklets
• Zymurgy Back Issues
• Brewing Techniques Back Issues

MALT SPECIAL!

Paddock Wood is pleased to announce a SPECIAL PURCHASE of a top quality Franco-Belgian Pils malt from MALTEUROP. This is the same base malt used by Unibroue for their Belgian style beers like Fin du Monde and Maudite. A 70/30 blend of Scarlett and Optic, this malt is suitable for Pilsners and European Lagers and Ales of all kinds. Scarlett is the most widely grown variety in Europe and was used by DWC for all their base malts. It has proven to equal the quality of Alexis. This Pils malt is close in specs to the Weyermann Pils, and our new Muessdorfer Pils, which is also Scarlett.

Humidity: 4.1%
Extract-Fine: 81.9%
Fine coarse extract difference: 1.5%
Wort Color: 2.8 EBC
Zastrow Kolbach Color: 5
Total Protein Dry Basis: 10.5
Soluble Protein Dry Basis: 4.0
Kolbach Index: 38.1
Wort pH: 5.97
Friability: 85.2

This malt will regularly be priced between $60-70/25kg sack along with Weyermann, Muessdorfer etc. We are overstocked, so we are happy to offer a limited time INTRODUCTORY PRICE of more than 50% OFF at $29.95/25kg sack. At this price we expect the malt to sell quickly, book yours now!

cheers,
Stephen Ross
-- "Vitae sine cerevisiis sugant."

Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
experts@paddockwood.com www.paddockwood.com

HOPS: The Bitter Herb

University of Atlanta, Master Rhys Terafan Greydragon, terafan@greydragon.org

Hops were first used in beer in Asia 10,000 years ago.

It appears that hops were used in Babylon before 200 AD. Hops Latin name appears in records of Jews's captivity in Babylon. They mention sicera (strong drink) ex luplis confectam (made from hops).

Hops spread into Europe from Asia through Eastern Europe. The most consistent fact about the spread of hops is that in almost every
country, the use of hops was resisted.

Hops are a distant relative of stinging nettle and cannabis. This is a major reason for the relaxing effect of hops. They have been used for insomnia since their earliest mention in literature.

Pliny (61-113 AD) discusses hops in his study of natural history. To the Romans, it was Lupus Salictartius, from the way they originally grew. As the ancients said, hops grew "wild among willows, like a wolf among sheep," hence the name Humulus Lupulus.

The hop has its place in folklore. Along with the animals who are supposed to receive the gift of speech late on Christmas Eve, the hop is supposed to turn green in the same night.

The first mention of hops is in reference to a hop garden in the Hallertau district in 736 AD.

The first EUROPEAN mention of hops being added to beer was in 1079 by Abbess Hildegarde of St. Ruprechtsberg. "If one intends to make beer from oats, it is prepared with hops."

Brewing was traditionally a monastic task, and much mention is made of hop gardens in monasteries.

In Germany, which was the centre from which hops conquered all Europe, it was not until the 13th century that the traditional flavouring of gruit was seriously threatened.

In some places, like Cologne, monopolistic rights were associated with gruit, generally the Church's The Archbishop of Cologne possessed the "Grutrecht" (gruit rights) and tried to suppress the use of hops, which of course the brewers saw as a commercial as well as technical advance.

While the composition of gruit was subject to local variations, it commonly contained bog myrtle, rosemary, yarrow, alecost, and many others. The herbs were not chosen only for their flavour, but for their reputed medicinal properties as well.
The hopped beer of the Middle Ages was extremely heavily hopped. 7 lb. to the hogshead, or 5 lb. to the barrel were not uncommon.
Records reflect the use of hops in beer in France in 1268 during the reign of Louis IX. the law stated that beer should only contain good malt and hops.

In Holland, by the 14th century, the Netherlanders had already developed a taste for Hamburg beer, which was hopped beer, in contrast to the normal Dutch beer, which was still based on gruit.
The Dutch nobility tried to exclude foreign beers by prohibition and high import duties, but the reputation of Hamburg beer as so great, that it all came to naught. In 1376 there were no less than 126 'sbraxatores de Almsetlredamme' (Amsterdam breweries).
The Dutch were apt pupils and by 1517, Antonio de Beatis stated the "the beer in these regions is better than in Germany and brewed in larger quantity."
The English developed a taste for hopped Dutch beer while soldiering in the Low Countries. Hopped beer, or beer (as opposed to ale) was imported into Winchelsea as early as 1400, with the first hops being planted in England in 1428.
In 1524, hops were condemned as an adulteration by Henry VIII, and an injunction against their use was issued. However, in 1536, Edward VI (Henry's successor) commended hopped beer as "notable, healthy, and temperate."
The Brewer's Company, formed in 1437 and made up of ale brewers, concerned about the spread of beer petitioned the Lord Mayor of London in 1484 that "no hops, herbs, or other like thing be put into any ale or liquore wherof ale shall be made--but only liquor, malt, and yeast." This was intended to keep clear the demarcation between ale and beer.
In 1493, the beer brewers themselves became a definite craft (guild) and ale and beer were to remain quite distinct for over 100 years.
Although unhopped ale had ceased to be brewed in England by the sixteenth century, it could still be found in Scotland. We read of Jerome Cardan, a French physician, who traveled to Scotland in 1552. He frequently mentions food and approves of Scotch ale and says that it "it differs from beer in the omission of hops."

ADVANTAGES OF HOPPED BEER
Beer was the one drink that had been sterilized and was safe to drink.
Prior to hops, the stronger (more alcoholic) beer was, the longer it kept. The addition of hops is a preservative, thus allowing beer to be weaker and still keep longer. Hops allowed you to produce more beer from the same amount of malt. Reynold Scot, in A Perfite Platforme for a Hoppe Garden, states "whereas you cannot make above 8-9 gallons of a very indifferent ale from a bushel of malt, you may draw 18-20 gallons of very good beer." Hops also aid in clarification as well as head retention.

Beer Humour

There's this guy who's sitting in the bar he orders two pints at a time. He drinks one of the pints pours the other between his legs. The waitress comes around again asks the guy if he'd like two more beers. He replies, "Yes, two more pints." She brings him two more pints. Then she notices that he drinks one of them and pours the other between his legs. She asks him, "what are you doing, sir?" He says, "Well miss, I just won the 6/49 lottery and this is the only PRICK I'm sharing it with."

This guy walks into a bar and tells the bartender to line up 10 glasses and start filling them up with beer. So the bartender starts filling the glasses up with beer, and the man is right behind him drinking them straight down. The bartender says, hay buddy whats your hurry? The man says if you had what I have you would do the same thing. The bartender backs up and says what do you have. The man says about 75 cents!

True story from Orange County: A man goes to a party and has too much to drink. His friends plead with him to let them take him home. He says no - he only lives a mile away. About five blocks from the party the police pull him over for weaving and ask him to get out of the car and walk the line. Just as he starts, the police radio blares out a notice of a robbery taking place in a house just a block away. The police tell the party animal to stay put, they will be right back - and they run down the street to the robbery. The guy waits and waits and finally decides to drive home. When he gets there, he tells his wife he is going to bed, and to tell anyone who might come looking for him that he has the flu and has been in bed all day. A few hours later the police knock on the door. They ask if Mr. X lives there and his wife says yes. They ask to see him and she replies that he is in bed with the flu and has been so all day. The police have his driver's license. They ask to see his car and she asks why. They insist on seeing his car, so she takes them to the garage and opens the door where they find: the police car, lights still flashing. This true story was told by the driver at his first AA meeting, according to the newspaper account.

Epilogue

That's it, the final issue of the Worthouse News for the season. I had fun doing it for the year. Thanks to all contributors who made it so much easier to produce an informative and, I hope, interesting newsletter. Alas, I think a year is enough. We'll need new blood to take over the Worthouse News. I'll gladly help to get you started.