Barley a View

Hi everybody. Isn't is strange, twice before I let you know that what I wrote then was the last newsletter under my editorship - I must be a notorious liar. The fact is, it's time for another newsletter and a new editor has not been elected yet, and that makes me the one that's left. So, bear with me.

We've had the greatest ABC/MOCOMB yet, only a few months ago with 216 entries from Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., Quebec and Texas, an all-time record. Our club members did great, both as competitors and also as hosts and judges. Congratulations, Harry, for best of show with his American Pale Ale, Roxy for Brewer of the Year (it surely would also be the decade, the century and probably the millennium) and all the others who placed and qualified for MCAB IV. In the picture Veryl Todd from Lethbridge receives a gold medal for his Fruit/Spiced beer entry.

Summer has been a time for everyone to relax, brew, enjoy the fruits of their labour and get ready for yet another season. It appears to me that the coming year has the potential to catapult our club to new and lofty heights. I have received two letters from Roxy, which should get you all excited. For one, I am looking forward to the revival of theme night. I remember, when I joined the club, that was the one thing I was looking forward to most for each of our meetings. The second initiative is that we will have another training course for the BJCP exam, and the date of the exam has already been set for Saturday 22 Feb 2003. This is one great opportunity for everyone to significantly improve their beer education and skills which will ultimately lead to you becoming a better brewer and helping others become better brewers. And it is fun!!!

Thanks for making the ABC2002 a huge success!

I am sure by now that after the early summer hot weather, everybody's supply of gold medal winning beer has dwindled and they have had to stoop to drinking their lowly bronze medal swill. Or, if you are like me, you have had to suck it up and drink your beer that didn't even place. As we are moving into another season of brewing quality beer I would like to look back and thank everybody for supporting the 2002 Aurora Brewing Challenge. It turned out to be one of our best competitions ever thanks in no small part to all of the people who worked during the event, all of the entrants of course and all of our supporters including our venue Alley Kat Brewing. Speaking of supporters, we have one gift certificate left over from the generous donations of Harvest Brewing and Cap 'n' Cork Brewing Supplies. I will raffle that off at the upcoming meeting along with a few beer posters I picked up in Newfoundland this summer (that is a story in itself). See you in September.

Words from the Past Past-President Roxy Hastings

Brewers, I think we should all give the past years executive a big round of applause for a job well done in taking the EHG through another great year. Although I know that all the executive had a special role to play, I think we should especially thank Kevin Zaychuk and Neil Herbst for organizing and directing our annual ABC/MCAB brewing competition. In case you haven't heard, this was the biggest competition ever held in Canada, with some 215 entries. Thanks to the hard work of Kevin and Neil, and other executive members and volunteers over the last few years, our ABC competition has steadily grown to truly become Canada's National Competition - far surpassing all other CABA sponsored events.

The only other competition of similar caliber is being hosted by sister Prairie club, the Regina ALES, who are coming on strong and mounting a significant challenge to our status as the number one brew club in Canada. Regina's regional competition is the second biggest competition in Canada, and considering that they are not yet a CABA sponsored event, that is no mean feat on their part. Regina deserves great accolades for their brewing abilities and great club spirit. They gave us a significant shellacking at the GCHC and did very well at our ABC. I for one hope that they get their CABA sponsorship and I hope the Guild supports their
endeavors to do so. It's great to see that, despite our national organization being centered in Toronto, the true heartland of home brewing is in western Canada. I see a great future in our two clubs supporting each other to promote home brewing at the national level. We're both great clubs.

That being said, now is not the time for the Guild to be resting on its laurels. Although were a great club we can be better. It concerns me that our membership has not grown in the last few years, and except for a small year end blip we have but very few new members. This is especially worrisome because Regina's club is growing like stink. How come they are growing and we're not? Given the close parallels between the clubs this makes little sense to me. Actually one thing does make sense. Recently Regina has devoted itself to doing well at national and international competitions. They compete fiercely at all levels and the club supports their competitive brewers, both through subsidizing their entries and through regular tasting sessions. Victory brings enthusiasm and enthusiasm brings in members. We used to do those things, and in fact much of our present success is built on a foundation of those very practices - practices which Regina has so successfully adopted. So it came as no surprise to me that all of Regina's entries came to us as one big shipment. The club sponsored its members to compete - that's spirit - that's what a successful club does.

So let's get it together boys and do what we used to do. And let's do it well. Let's compete with the world again! And I'm not just talking about more support for the 3-4 people who regularly compete successfully at the national level. I'm talking about support for all of our brewers. In the last few years I've never tasted better quality beer than I have at an EHG meeting. There are all sorts of national caliber brewers in our club, but yet few of you seem to have the confidence to step onto the national stage. Let's change that. Starting now - at this September meeting.

At this AGM I plan to introduce a four part plan to kick us into the next level. Here it is in outline, you'll have to come to the AGM to hear the details.

1. Host a BJCP exam

   One of the conditions that creates enthusiasm in a beer club is having a bunch of new beer judges. Not only do you get new people into the ranks - there is a whole lotta learning going on. There has been a steady demand for an exam for the past two years. It's largely my fault that I didn't organize one sooner. But now I have. The BJCP has approved our request for an exam to be held on Saturday 22 Feb 2003. Neil, myself, and Martin Langshaw will be the exam administers. We plan to hold training sessions at least once a month, starting in mid-September, and will continue to meet until the exam. We will take you through beer style identification, faults and brewing techniques. The exam costs $50.00 US but I am proposing that it cost Guild members $50.00 Cndn with the club account making up the the difference. We do require a $20.00 non-refundable deposit to help cover the initial costs of the exam.

   If you plan to take this exam I urge you to attend the September meeting and sign up for it then. You can sign up later, but we are going to start teaching in September.
   

2. Style Nights

   Ok, so we're making some new judges. Whada they gonna taste? Our beers. When we were in our growth spurt years we always had style nights. They were great. There is nothing like an organized tasting of a given style to develop your sensory appreciation for beer. We grew a lot of great judges out of those sessions. When is the last time we had an organized beer tasting?

   My proposal is that we build our style nights around the bi-monthly AHA club competitions and then fill in the gaps for the other months. You will bring 3-4 beers to the monthly competition. A panel of 1 BJCP judge and 2 candidate judges will formally evaluate the beers and then lead the club through a tasting session. The beer chosen first by the judges will go on to compete in the AHA event (costs covered by the Guild, you will need 3 more bottles for this round). Members will also vote on what they thought was the best beer. The brewer with the most member-voted points at the end of the year will get an award at our annual banquet. At the end of a tasting session brewers will be given floor time to talk about their beers and reflect on the judges comments, giving everyone instant feedback. Commercial beers may be introduced as ringers to help fill out the field and to compare and contrast with homebrew interpretations.

   Here's the styles list that Neil and I have come up with. AHA means AHA sponsored style.

   October - Fruit and Vegetable - AHA + other specialty (non-AHA)
   November - Stout/Porter
   December - Bitter/English Pale Ale - AHA
   January - Belgian Ales
   February - Brown Ales - AHA
   March - Euro Lagers - Pale, Amber and Dark
   April - English and Scottish Strong Ales - AHA
   May - American Pale Ales
   

3. Group Brews

   Here's another idea with a powerful past. If we are going to have monthly tastings we need people to brew the beer. If you are going to brew some beer why not brew with some buddies? Share some of your hard earned knowledge. There's nothing like a small group of brewers standing around a brewpot, having a few, to fire some synapses and generate more kettles being turned on to boil more wort.

   Sign up sheets will be available starting in September. We encourage all levels of brewers to host a session, you don't have to be an all-grainer to show other members how you brew.
   

4. Send them a six pack

   This idea is shamelessly stolen from the ALES. Besides having a pack of great brewers, one of the reasons Regina is now winning so many awards is because they have so many members competing. They had something like 11 members competing in the GCHC in Toronto, we had two. Proportionally we won more medals, but they beat us in overall medals taken home. How do they get so many members competing? They help subsidize their costs. It's almost as expensive to send 1-2 entries as it is to send a dozen. So, many of our members are not competing, not because they don't have great beers, but because they only have 1 or 2 great beers and it is just too expensive to just ship one or two beers out of the province.

   Let's put an end to the ridiculous situation. If you've got a great beer you should be able to enter it in national level competitions. Neil and I propose that the Guild cover the shipping costs of members sending beers to a select number of national and international events. I say we at least cover the cost equivalent of sending a six pack - that way beer hogs like myself are not unduly supported by the Guild and anything over 6 beers is really not that much more expensive to ship any ways. While the major competitors in our club would receive some support (and any winning team rewards its best) the aim of this proposal is to make national level competitions available to the new or small entry number competitor (winning teams also support developing talents). Believe me, once you start winning at the national level you're pretty much hooked. Once a lot of club members start winning, membership pretty much takes care of itself. Moral goes through the roof. We've been on this path before - I know it works.

   The competitions I would choose are all the other CABA events: March in Montreal, Great Canadian Homebrew Competition and All About Ales. I would also strongly suggest two others: the ALES competition in Regina and the Foam Rangers in Texas. Regina deserves our support. Like us they've worked hard to build their event, they always send us a huge whack of beers and they are our sister club in western Canada. Similarly, the Foam Rangers are our biggest supporters in the USA, helping give our competition international status. I have received word from CABA that they are once again hosting an All About Ales this fall and the Foam Rangers has their MCAB event in late October. Let's use these upcoming competition to put some of these ideas into practice. Let's at least send a whole bunch of beers to T Town and lets go out and kick some butt! We're number one - let's prove it again.
   

We need you to show up to our AGM in September. This plan will cost us a bit of money and we need membership approval to go ahead with these ideas. In the past, similar plans have always paid us back in spades, but these decisions go beyond what an executive can impose. So show up and help rebuild the Guild.

BJCP Approves Exam for February 2003

The Beer Judge Certification Program has approved the Guild's application to host a BJCP exam. The exam will be held on Saturday February 23, 2003 at Alley Kat Brewing. The exam costs $50.00 US but the exam directors are asking that the Guild subsidize its members so that Guild members will pay $50.00 Canadian. The difference will be made up by the club account. Non-Guild members can take the exam for $50.00 US. If you want to rewrite the exam to get the percentage needed to advance to a higher level you have two options. You can rewrite the entire exam for $30.00 or rewrite just the essay or just the tastings for $15.00 each. Roxy will serve as exam administer with Neil Herbst and Martin Langshaw serving as proctors.

The date of the exam should allow time for judging candidates to receive their results in time for our annual ABC/MCAB competition in late May, letting successful candidates pick up judging points right away. Also, if you have served as an administrator or steward in previous competitions you will be eligible for retroactive points on passing this exam.

Roxy, Neil and Martin plan to hold monthly training sessions starting in mid-September. We will cover how to evaluate beers, how to identify beer styles, brewing procedures and all other things that we can think of that will help you pass the exam. The exam itself is 10 essay questions and four beer evaluations to be done over a 3 hour time period. The three instructors gladly invite other beer judges to participate in these training sessions, both to brush up on some skills and to provide a diversity of opinion.

If you plan to take this exam the three instructors highly encourage you to attend the September meeting. We will give you more details about the course, the exam, and our expectations of judging candidates. We do require a non-refundable $20.00 deposit to help cover the up-front costs of the course. If you absolutely cannot make the September meeting contact Roxy at <email removed> or <phone removed> for information about the course.

Roxy's Successful Summer

Long term Guild member Roxy Hastings ended last years brewing season on an especially good note. Having won seven medals at the Great Canadian Homebrew Competition she sent on four entries to compete in the AHA final rounds. Roxy's British Brown, King Ghob's Brown Ale, took a second place medal in the Brown Ale Category. Also the Canadian Amateur Brewers Association awarded Roxy as Canadian Brewer of the Year at their year end banquet this past spring. This award was given to the CABA member with the most points in CABA sponsored competitions over the past year. This is the first year the award was created and we are proud that it would go to a member of the Guild. Finally, to top it all off, in late July the BJCP program notified Roxy that she now had over 20 experience points and would be formally recognized as a National Beer Judge this fall. That gives the Guild two National Judges, Martin Langshaw having achieved that status a few years ago. We are the only club in western Canada to have National level judges in our ranks.

Two International Winning Recipes

Here are two brews that Roxy used to take silver medals in international competition this year. King Ghob's Brown took a silver at the AHA finals and Gabriel's Touch took a silver in the MCAB finals.

King Ghob's Brown - Southern British Brown

5.5 U.S. 1.053 O.G. 24 IBU
8.6 lb Golden Promise - 2 row
1.0 lb Crystal - 75 L
8.0 oz CaraAroma
6.0 oz Chocolate malt
.75 oz Goldings - 5.0% - 45 min
.55 oz Bramling Cross - 5.0% - 45 min
Wyeast London Ale - 800 ml

2 step mash
1/2 R.O water
9 qts at 130 F - rest at 120 F for 20 minutes
5 qts at 170 F - rest at 155 F for 1 hour
Sparge at 190 F
Mash out at 190 F

Total boil - 1 hour - hops in for 45 minutes

Notes: What made this beer special was the Golden Promise and CaraAroma malt. Golden Promise is a deep, rich two row from Scotland. As the name implies CaraAroma is an aromatic malt - like a supercharged dark crystal. Use the latter with a bit of caution as it can be a bit astringent but it really packs a wallop in the malt nose. Both malts are only available from Paddock Wood.

Gabriel's Touch - German Pils

3.5 US 1.052 45 IBU
7.0 lb Budvar malt
8.0 oz Carahelles
8.0 oz Carapils
0.9 oz Mt. Hood - 4.7 % - 60 minutes
1.3 oz Sterling - 7.0% - 20 minutes
0.5 oz Sterling - dry hop
0.5 oz Mt. Hood - dry hop
Wyeast Steropramen 800 ml

2 step decoction mash
2/3 R.O. water
rests at 120 F and 155 F
pitch yeast at 60 F and cool over 4 days to 40 F
secondary ferment at 40 F

Notes: The Budvar malt is incredibly pale but luscious none the less. I am a total believer that the type of base malt sets the tone for the whole beer and for best results you should use a particular base malt for a particular style. I use Budvar for all my Euro Lagers whereas I use Golden Promise or Pipkin for all my British Bitters and Browns. I pretty much use only Westcan for my American style beers - its clean, simple profile lends itself well to the more straightforward American styles. The Steropramen yeast set the spicy, sulphery tone that dominated this lager - it is distinct and powerful, a character noted by all the judges. Coupled with the high noble hop character from the Sterling hops this beer danced on the edge of intensity. Both the Budvar malt and Steropramen are only available from Paddock Wood. Wyeast 2124 would give a softer affect. Sterling is a Saaz type hop.

Beer on the Rock

My wife and I had the pleasure to visit our Eastern most province this past June. Newfoundland is an amazing place and I would highly recommend it to everyone. Just make sure you take your long underwear. It is not unlike Calgary in that it can snow pretty much any month of the year. Oh, yeah, take your black fly repellant as well. With that said, it is an incredible province with majestic scenary, a hugely variable landscape and the friendliest people that you ever met (sorry Saskatchewanians).

The only problem we had was that it was more difficult to find a good beer than a can of OFF!. On day 1 of our trip we were at the liquor… , I mean grocery store picking up supplies. While Lauren was trying to find some beer I noticed the guy behind me picking up his daily supplies, 1 litre of milk, 1 litre of rum and 6-pack of Black Horse. What is Black Horse you say? Sounds interesting but it isn't. It is just the regular 'Union Made' gnats piss but with a different label and it is 'brewed and bottled right here in Newfoundland'. Not to be outdone, the other big Brewery re-labels their brew as 'Jockey Club'. Nice name. Anyway, we happened to find a beer called '1892' which turned out to be a good pale ale brewed by the Quidi Vidi (pronounced kiddy viddy) Brewing Company of St. John's. They also make an Eric's The Red Cream Ale and a Kriek.

We soon found out that the further away we got from St. John's the harder it was to find that beer. We often got odd looks from store owners when we asked for it or else they would say something to us in Newfinese that was completely baffling. It ended up that there was a stretch of about 3 days where we were forced to drink Black Jockey Horse Club or whatever you want to call it. Then one fine day we were in a small town called Trinity where we happened upon a small restaurant and lo and behold the Quidi Vidi delivery van was unloading a few cases of beer. I sprinted for all I was worth towards the van and accosted the driver practically begging for a 6-pack. To my surprise he actually offered to sell me whatever I wanted right off of the truck. Must have been the crazed look in my eyes after having been forced to drink the Black Horse Jockey Club beer.

So it turned out the guy driving the van was actually the owner (talk about multi-tasking Neil!) who invited us to the brewery upon reaching St. Johns. We finally made it to the brewery on our second last day on the rock, picked up a lot of beer and brought back some posters that I will give away at our first meeting. Sorry but I could not save any of the beer that I brought back so you will have to travel to NF to taste it!

Beer Humour

A drunk is driving through the city and his car is weaving violently all over the road. A cop pulls him over and asks, "Where have you been?"
I've been to the pub," slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few."
"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."

A man had been drinking at the bar for hours, when he mentioned something about his girlfriend being out in the car.
The bartender, concerned because it was cold, went to check on her. When he looked inside the car, he saw the drunk's buddy, Pete, and his girlfriend going at it in the back seat.
The bartender shook his head and walked back inside. He told the drunk that he thought it might be a good idea to check on his girlfriend.
The drunk staggered outside to the car, saw Pete and his girlfriend entwined, then walked back into the bar laughing.
"What's so funny?" the bartender asked.
"That damned Pete!" the drunk chortled, "He's so drunk, he thinks he's me!"

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
-- Frank Sinatra

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
-- William Butler Yeats

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
-- Ernest Hemingway

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
-- Dean Martin

Drunk is feeling sophisticated when you can't say it.
-- Anonymous

Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
-- Ambrose Bierce

Reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol.
-- Anonymous

View from the Top

I wrote most of my view in last months newsletter so I am not going to write a long one this time. For those of you who missed the AGM, all of my proposed motions were passed. We now have a program for each member to send a six pack to major out of province homebrew competitions. We have a BJCP exam in place, subsidized by the Guild, and have 8 members and 1 guest from Calgary signed up to take the course. We have a styles night tasting session and a group brew plan in place. All said and done - we are moving. We even have an executive, well we almost have an executive. We are lacking a competition chair. Given that we are running the largest and most important homebrew competition in Canada it is stunning that no one has stepped forward for the honour of running this event. This position gains you mega points towards advancing in the BJCP program and it is almost beyond belief that someone will not take the opportunity to grab this chance and get about 3 years worth of experience points in one go. Previous competition chairs have all volunteered to help anyone coming forward. If you are a BJCP judge or in our BJCP training program, we ask you to seriously consider taking on this position.

Meetings to Start at 7:30 SHARP!!

Given the amount of tastings and business planned by the new executive, it was announced at the September meeting that doors would open at 7:00 PM and the meeting would start promptly at 7:30 PM. We will organize the glasses and pour the beers for judging at 7:30 to 7:45 so if you want to participate you must be at Alley Kat by 7:30 or you will most likely not be served. Judges should be especially diligent as we need your participation to make these events a success. If you are entering beers they must be at the brewery and recorded by Neil by 7:30.

We hope the more disciplined approach to the meetings will match those we had in the past and create an atmosphere conducive to both learning and fun for all members.

Cane Exchange

In the last few months a few of our more experienced brewers noted that a number of members where bringing in beers that had a distinct if yet subtle lactic infection. This is almost certainly due to brewers not dilligently replacing their racking canes on an annual
basis. To combat this problem we have made arrangements for a cane exchange for current EHG members with two of our prominent sponsors. Both South Side Brew Crew and Harvest Brewing Company have agreed to give EHG members a brand new racking cane in exchange for your old cane and a purchase $10.00 worth of brewing product (that's about the cost of a bag of DME). I highly recommend that all members participate in this generous offer and toss your old canes.

BJCP Course

It is not too late to sign up for the BJCP training course. The cost is $50.00. We will be taking on participants until at least the October meeting, catching up after that point will prove to be progressively more difficult. In the first meeting we covered American Pale Ales and Amber and Dark Euopean Lager, with a discussion on the basics of judging beer and on mashing techniques. On Saturday October we will hold session number two. We will be tasting Stouts Porters and Bocks as well as tasting astringent vs bitter, sweet vs worty and oxidized beers. The discussion will cover topics related to profiling beers, why we boil wort and on the major malt varieties. Contact Roxy Hastings to register for this course.

Donations needed of Stout, Porter and Bocks for the October BJCP tastings. A single bottle would be greatly appreciated. Score sheets evaluating your beer will be returned to you. Bring donations to the October meeting and give to either Neil or Roxy.

October Tastings

Fruit Beers and other specialty beers

The Fruit Beer style is sponsored by the AHA and so the best Fruit Beer (BJCP Class 21) will be sent on to compete in the AHA Club only competition. Bring 3-4 bottles for the tastings and 3 more bottles in case your beer wins. Note - Lambics are not included in this class. Keg entries are fine as long as you can provide counter-pressure filled bottles or bottle primed equivalents. Be prepared to discuss your beer with the members. Winning recipe to appear in next months Worthouse News.

Group Brews

Brewers needed for:
Stout/Porter - November
English Bitter/Pale Ale - December - AHA sponsored event
Belgian Ale - January

What’s Hoppening?

It appears typos are making their way into the editorial headlines (a wrong letter or the right letters in the wrong order), and the typo seems to make the word have something to do with beer. My resolution for this year as re-elected newsletter guy is to find a new one for each month's newsletter. Do you think I'll succeed?

So, it looks, after all, that it'll be another while until you can expect the last newsletter from me - just couldn't say no under all that pressure! Unfortunately, the turnout at the AGM could have been better, and thus the executive is short one member: the competition chair. As Roxy and Martin said at the last meeting, this position would be great for a BJCP judge who wants to accelerate his/her progression to the next judging level, since there is no faster way to accumulate judging points than by being the organizer of a competition.

What I would hope for this year's newsletter is to really have a Dear Editor column. I think we can expect a very interesting series of articles this year. The idea is that all participants in the BJCP program contribute at least one article over the year. Since there is none to be expected for this month, I have taken it upon myself to start the series off with some thoughts on First Wort Hopping and Mash Hopping. Please feel free to send me your opinions or comments on anything you read in the Worthouse News. It's your newsletter - make it interesting!

Those who were at the AGM will know that we are thinking of adding a malt order to our annual hop order. Since it was yours truly who suggested it, it is also yours truly who was asked to organize it. We all know how difficult it is here in Edmonton to get anything else than Westcan 2row and some crystal and dark malts for which it is hard to find any other details than their name. Paddock Wood (www.paddockwood.com), a homebrew supply store in Saskatoon and also a valued sponsor of the ABC/MCAB qualifier, carries a whole range of Great malts from Europe and North America. The prices may be a bit higher than you are used to, but you get great authentic malt in return which will make your brews just that much better.

I was thinking of buying all malts only in 25kg sacks so that we do not need to pay the per kg price. The minimum amount you can order for each malt is 5kg. If you need less of some specialty malt, you may want to get together with someone else in order to make it a full 5kg order. I have been in contact with Steve at Paddockwood, and the shipping cost is a killer. I know that some of our members do, on occasion, have to travel to Saskatoon. If they have a vehicle that can hold our complete order, maybe we could ask that person, for remuneration, of course, to bring the order back to Edmonton.

The following are the malts I was thinking of:

(UK) Beeston's Golden Promise (36 PPG, 2.6 SRM) Considered the traditional Scottish malt, Golden Promise is made from fully modified two-row grain grown in Scotland and low box malted for an extra touch of quality and tradition. Produces a mellow wort equally suited to the production of both ales and lagers, particularly pale and Scottish ales.
(UK) Beeston's Maris Otter (38 PPG, 2.5 SRM) Made from fully modified two-row winter Maris Otter. This malt has a wide optimum temperature and pH range, making it very forgiving in the brewery and popular with small-scale brewers. Small batch malted in low boxes for superior consistency. The classic British ale malt, prized by the finest brewers in Britain. Very low protein (9.5%), high flavour malt, perfect for lower gravity Bitters
(Germany) Meussdoerffer Pilsner Malt (38 PPG, 1-2 SRM)
(Germany) Weyermann Dark Munich (34 PPG, 8-10 SRM) Enhances the body and aroma of dark beers, Bocks, festival beers, and stouts.
(Czechoslovakia) Moravian Undermodified Budvar (39 PPG, 1-2 SRM) St. Pats of Texas has provided us with the Canadian exclusive on an extremely hard to obtain malt.
Czechoslovakian Budvar Undermodified Pilsner malt is considered essential by connoisseurs wishing to brew
Budejovicky Budvar (the original Budweiser). Careful attention to pH is essential. Not suited for single infusion mash systems. Decoction or slow ramp direct heat step mashing recommended.
(Germany) Weyermann Carahell® (33 PPG, 8-12 SRM) Imparts a fuller, rounder flavor and a deep, saturated color to pale ale, festival beer, Maibock, Hefeweizen, Schankbier, light and reduced-alcohol beers. Try instead of Carapils. Use 10-30%.
(Germany) Weyermann CaraRed (34 PPG, 20 SRM) For a fuller body, improved malt aroma, deep, saturated color red color. Use in Red Ale, Red Lager, Scottish Ale, Amber Wheat, Bock Beer, Brown Ale, Alt Beer. Use up to 25%.
(Germany) Weyermann Caramunich II (34 PPG, 42-50 SRM) Best used to create Bocks, dark beers, festival beers, malt beers, nourishing beers, and Oktoberfest beers.Increased fullness, heightened malt aroma, fuller, rounder flavour, and deep, saturated colour. Use 5-10% for dark beer, 1-5% for light beer, pale ale.
(Germany) Weissheimer Dark Caramel (33 PPG, 110- 150 SRM) Adds toffee and hints of nuts with shades of red
(Germany) Weyermann Beechwood Smoked Malt
(Rauchmalz) (37 PPG, 1.3-2.3 SRM) Best used to create smoked beers, Lagerbier, and Kellerbier. Derived from Alexis, Steffi, and Krona varieties.Smoked with beechwood. 20% in the grist is a good starting point to deliver a unique smoky flavour. Can use up to 100% for a strongly smoky Rauchbier.
(UK) Hugh Baird Peat Smoked malt (38 PPG, 2.8 SRM) Kilned over peat fires for a unique flavour. (Also known as distilling malt) This malt has the enzymatic power of normal ale malt, and can in theory be used as a base malt for 100% of the grist. Most brewers use 10% or less to avoid overly phenolic notes. Smoke levels are approximately 4 - 6 PPM. Try up to 10% in the grist of a Porter.

The Golden Promise, Maris Otter, Pilsner and Munich malts will be approximatlety $3/kg and all others approximately $4/kg. That will include shipping.

Before I finish, I thought I'd show you my most recent toy. e-Bay is a great invention when you are looking to get some odd stuff at a reasonable price, just don't place any bid until about 15 seconds before an auction closes.

Shipping can be expensive, though. In my case it was just as much as the cost of the beer engine. So one day as I was on e-Bay, I decided to search for Beer Engine and... voila! Now, I thought such a fine piece of equipment does call for a proper mount, and for about another 30 bucks I built me a cabinet (faux-oak). What do you think?

Monthly Tastings - Minicompetitions

1. Enter as many as you like -- no entry number restrictions.
2. You need at least 3-4 bottles of each entry for the club tastings. For AHA events you will need an additional 3 bottles of beer, if your beer is selected to go on to the AHA event. Please try to bring these extra bottles with you on the night of the competition.
3. Keg entries are fine as long as you can produce bottled versions or counter-pressured from keg.
4. In the event that a winner cannot produce the 3 bottles for the AHA events, the second place entrant will go on to the AHA finals.
5. Please sign up in advance of the monthly tastings, not on the night of the competition. Bonus points will be awarded to brewers who sign up before the tastings night.
6. We will start pouring beer at 7:30 on the night of the competition. You must have your beers ready to go by 7:30, late entries will not be accepted. Doors open at 7:00, please come early.
7. Points awarded as follows. 1st - 3 points, 2nd - 2 points, 3rd - 1 point. Sign up in advance - 1 point.
8. Beers will be judged by a panel of 2 BJCP judges and 2 apprentice judges.
9. After the beers have been formally judged the panel will lead the other members through a tasting session, discussing the qualities of all the entries.
10. Brewers should be prepared to discuss their beers at the end of the tasting session to provide feedback to the judges and to help everyone learn brewing techniques. Bring your recipes to the event.
11. Entrants will receive the score sheets from the judging panel.
12. Winning recipes will be published in the next issue of Worthouse News.
13. The vice president, assisted by the president, will supervise, delegate and otherwise conduct the tasting sessions.
14. EHG will pay shipping and entry fees for the winning beer to compete in AHA club competition.

Monthly Styles: October- Fruit/Vegie (AHA) + other fruit. November- Stout/Porter. December-Bitter/English
Pale Ale (AHA). January - Belgian Ale. February -
Brown Ale (AHA). March -Euro Pale, Amber and Dark Lager. April - English and Scottish Strong Ale (AHA).
May - American Pale Ales - all three varieties.

What will they think of next?

As every brewer knows, hops are added to the brew during the boil in up to three additions, and in some cases also to the beer in the secondary fermenter or in the keg... or... are you sure? Now read this:

First Wort Hopping

--David Draper, http://hbd.org/ddraper/beer.html

In the latter part of 1995, Dr. George Fix posted to the Home Brew Digest about a process he had recently come across described in the brewing literature. Since then much interest in the procedure has arisen. The process is called First Wort Hopping (FWH), and it refers to the practice of adding hops to the brew kettle, into which sparged runnings are collected, at the beginning of sparging. The idea is that the hops soak in the collecting wort (which usually runs out of the lauter tun at temperatures ranging from 60 to 70C depending on one's setup) for the duration of the sparge, and the volatile hop constituents undergo very complicated reactions, producing a complexity of hop bitterness and aroma that is obtainable no other way. In general, this procedure, which originated in Germany, has been used in Pils type beers. However, it is possible that the procedure might also be beneficial for other styles as well; this remains to be determined.

The original article on which Dr. Fix reported appeared in the brewing journal Brauwelt International, by Preis, Nuremberg, and Mitter; vol IV, p. 308, 1995. In this write-up, it is my intention to summarize the main points of this article so that brewers can at least get some idea what the basic data look like, and from here the experimentation at the homebrew scale will undoubtedly provide more insight on how this process might best be used for our beers.

I will do this in two parts: first, straight reportage, in outline form, on the contents of the article (any errors or omissions are mine); and second, some commentary elicited from various brewers in the HBD during March 1996. This is not intended by any means to be a comprehensive treatment of this topic; it is only a summary.

Summary of the Article

1. Introduction. First wort hopping was used extensively at the start of the century but mainly in order to enhance bitterness rather than aroma. It was recognized that the higher pH of the wort (as opposed to later in the boil) had a positive effect on utilization, combatting the effects of losses from coagulation on break material. The higher pH of the first runnings enhances isomerization of alpha acids. Other attempts were made to actually hop the mash (!!); other early efforts involved running the sparged wort through a hop filter-- a "hop front" instead of a hop back, I guess...DeClerk steeped the hops in 50C water before adding to the wort (to remove "unpleasant" stuff); a later worker used 70C water. Both reported enhanced aroma qualities.
2. Experimental Procedures. Two different breweries produced the test brews, Pils types, that make up the subject of this article. The two breweries make a slightly different version of Pils. No mention was made in the article whether the beers were products of decoction or infusion mashes (see comments below). At each brewery, the FWH beer was brewed with a reference beer alongside. The FWH and Reference beers at each brewery were done under controlled conditions, identical ingredients, pitching rates, etc., and differed only in the way they were hopped. The reference beers were hopped in the customary fashion for the two breweries under consideration, namely with two late-kettle additions. For the FWH beers made in both test breweries, the hops that would have been used in these late-kettle additions were instead dumped into the boiler once its bottom was covered with wort; no stirring--they just sat there while wort was sparged on top of them. Brew A (total hopping: 13.0 g alpha acid per hectolitre of cast wort) was first-hopped with 34% of the total amount added-- Tettnang and Saaz that were typically used in aroma additions at the end of the boil under normal conditions. Brew B (total hopping: 12.2 g alpha acid per hl wort) used only Tettnang, but 52% of the total hop amount was used as First Wort Hops. No late-kettle aroma hopping was done in either brew. Brew A was boiled for 90 minutes and Brew B for 80 minutes, both at atmospheric pressure.
3. Tasting panel results: the FWH beers were overwhelmingly preferred over the reference beers in triangular taste tests (i.e., each taster was given three beers, two of either the reference beer or the FWH beer, and one of the other, and had to correctly identify which two were alike before their preference results were incorporated in the database). 11 of 12 tasters of each beer preferred the FWH beer. The main reasons given for the preference: "a fine, unobtrusive hop aroma; a more harmonic beer; a more uniform bitterness."
4. Analytical results--bitterness: The FWH beers had more IBUs than did the reference beers. Brew A: Ref beer was 37.9 IBU, FWH beer was 39.6 IBU. Brew B: Ref beer was 27.2 IBU, FWH beer was 32.8 IBU. This should come as no surprise, since more hops were in the kettle for the boil in the FWH beers than in the Reference beers. Prior to fermentation, the worts from both breweries showed the following features: the FWH wort had substantially more isomerized alpha acids, but less non-isomerized alphas. This was particularly true of Brew B, which had a higher proportion of first-wort hops. Nevertheless, the bitterness of the FWH beers was described as more pleasing than the (slightly weaker) bitterness of the reference beers.
5. Analytical results--aroma: For the aroma compounds, very distinct differences were measured (gas chromatography) in both the identities and concentrations of the various aromatic compounds between the FWH beers and the reference beers. Because the precise nature of the effects of aromatic compounds on beer flavor are very complicated, it cannot be said with certainty just why the various measurements resulted in the overwhelming tasting preference, but clearly something is going on here. Even though the reference beers had higher *absolute amounts* of most of the aroma compounds, again the FWH beers got higher ratings for overall pleasure.
6. Final comments: each brewery needs to experiment with its own setup for determining what sort of first-wort hopping is best for it. But the alpha-acid quantity should *not* be reduced, even if one gets more bitterness than one would get in the usual way. The tasting panel results seem to indicate that the bitterness in the FWH beers was fine, and mild--i.e. there is little harshness that can appear in a highly bittered beer. If the hops are reduced to compensate for the extra IBUs one gets from the first-wort hops, then the whole benefit of doing it might be lost. The recommendation is to use at least 30% of the total hops as first-wort hops--basically, this means adding the aroma hops as first-wort hops rather than late kettle additions.

To quote the article:
"...But we recommend that first wort hopping be carried out with at least 30% of the total hop addition, using the later aroma additions. [New paragraph] As far as the use of hops is concerned, the alpha-acid quantity should not be reduced even in the case of an improved bitterness utilization. The results of the tastings showed that the bitterness of the beers is regarded as very good and also as very mild. A reduction of the hop quantity added [to compensate for the presence of more hops early in the boil--this note added by Dave, it is clear from the context of the preceding paragraphs] could result in the bitterness being excessively weakened, and the good "hop flavor impression" could be totally lost."

But wait… there’s more to come…

--Marc Sedam alechemist@homebrew.com.

Every brewer knows when to add hops in the wort. You need some for the long boil to bitter the beer, some between 10-20 minutes from the end of the boil for flavor, and a handful at the end of the boil to get the intoxicating aroma into the beer. The hopheads among us even dry hop beer for that extra something in many pale ales. Oh, and of course you can add hops to the mash.

The mash?

Hops in the mash have a history in brewing. I first came upon this concept while trying to make the ultimate Berliner Weiss. Eric Schneider's article on Berliner Weiss in Brewing Techniques a few years back mentioned that aged leaf hops were often placed in the mash to aid in filtration. My attempt at the recipe came out well, but the concept of adding some hops to the mash was intriguing. What would hops do in the mash? Could you use pellets?

My first mash-hopped brew was a simple lager made using 10 pounds of pilsner malt, two ounces of Hallertauer Hersbrucker in the mash, and an ounce of Bullion in the boil for bittering. The resulting beer was shocking. It had hop aroma and flavor that I'd never been able to get in a beer before. When the beer was warmed up a bit, one whiff put me closer to a hop field than any glass ever before.

I continued to experiment with the amounts of hops to use in the mash, trying to make recipes I knew so I could subjectively predict the bitterness contributed. Pilsners, brown ales, barleywines, and pale ales - all of these styles seemed to benefit from mash hopping. A few postings to the Homebrew Digest (http://www.hbd.org) led me to Paddock Wood Brewing Supplies, a homebrew shop in Canada run by Stephen Cavan. Little did I know that Stephen had been dabbling in mash hopping as well and had some information up on his website. I began to share what I was doing with other homebrewing web groups and convinced a few people to give it a shot. Many were impressed with the result. Some were not. I encouraged people to write me with their experiences and asked for as much detail on the brewing process as they could remember. Several e-mails were swapped over the next few months and some "best methods" began to emerge.

HOW DO YOU MASH HOP?

Not all beers are worth mash hopping. But those beers that are characterized by hop flavor or aroma certainly seem to benefit. My Classic American Pilsner really shines when mash hopped. Others have tried it in a decoction and, other than a slightly increased bittering contribution of the mash hops, enjoyed the results. I have a few simple rules for converting a normally hopped beer to a mash hopped brew:

Replace the amount of late addition flavor and aroma hops with 1.5x the amount of mash hops. For example, if your recipe calls for an ounce of Saaz as a flavor addition and another ounce for the aroma addition, you would add three ounces of Saaz to the mash. Hops are added directly to the mash at dough-in.

Use pellets. I have mash hopped with leaf and with pellets and the pellets give much better results. This could be because the hop oils are more exposed in the pellets through processing.

Add slightly more bittering hops. Current observations indicate that mash hopping provides almost no bitterness to the finished beer. Thus when you move hops from the boil to the mash, you must compensate for the bitterness that is lost. I do this by calculating the IBUs that would have been contributed to the original recipe by the flavor and aroma hops and then increasing the bittering hop addition accordingly.

Sparge, boil, chill, ferment, enjoy! That's it. After adding hops to the mash, the rest of the brewing cycle proceeds as normal. Surprisingly, the hops do not get in the way of lautering. I always start the lauter slowly, but have never had a stuck mash since starting mash hopping.

WHY DOES IT WORK?

The short answer is that I don't know. Traditional beers generate hop flavor and aroma through late hop additions because the volatile oils that provide these properties are driven off in the boil. Mash hopping is targeting the aromatic oils and not the bittering oils. Mash hopped beers have plenty of hop flavor and aroma, yet the wort is boiled for over an hour. My main theory is that the otherwise volatile hop oils are stabilized during extended periods at mashing pH (5.2-5.5). A reason to believe this theory is found in Jean DeClerck's classic Textbook of Brewing (1957). DeClerck states that hop aromatic oils form chemical bonds at higher pH values and lower temps than found in boiling wort. The bonds which are formed are not broken during the boil; hence the permanent aromatic profile. DeClerck even suggested steeping hops in warm water. So the mash provides an attractive temperature and pH profile to allow the hop aromatic oils to form permanent bonds and making them less volatile. Even the eventual boil of the wort isn't enough to drive off the aromas. Again, this is my theory that seems to have a toehold in previous scientific observation. But this is far from the definitive answer.

I have done ten mash-hopped beers and the other feedback I've received gives a sample size of over 50 batches. Most folks report achieving a smoother hop flavor and aroma. In addition, of course, everyone gets less debris in the kettle since the hops are added to the mash and not the boil. This helps to increase wort yield and I've eked out an extra quart of wort on each batch due solely to this effect.

I have received other feedback on mash hopping from personal e-mails and public postings on the HBD. Some people have not seen a great effect from trying the process. Most of these were attributed to using too few hops in the mash. But there are still others who don't have an explanation. Other factors such as water chemistry and mash pH may play a role, but these would require further exploration.

SUMMARY

Mash hopping isn't for every beer and it may not be financially sound for commercial breweries. But home brewers should certainly try the process once to test it out for themselves. As most of what is presented here has come from experimentation by myself and others, I'd be happy to hear about your experiences. I always appreciate feedback from those who have tried it and someday hope to have a mash-hopped beer analyzed for content to empirically determine what's happening.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Sedam, a.k.a. "The Alechemist", lives in Chapel Hill, NC. He is a frequent contributor to online brewing communities and previously wrote for Brewing Techniques, winning a 1999 Quill and Tankard Award for an article on water chemistry. He can be reached at alechemist@homebrew.com.

Beer boosts Sex Life

A Czech doctor is advising men to drink beer every day to keep their sex lives active. Dr. Pavel Zemek is telling men that if they drink two beers a day, they can stave off impotence. "on the basis of clinical tests," said Dr. Zamek, "we can say moderate amounts of beer lessen arterial sclerosis, one of the cause of erectile dysfunction." (www.ananova.com)

View from the Top

We need to get some more people showing up to our meetings. We always have an enthusiastic core group, but we’re missing both new faces and some of our stalwarts. I know September is always a bad month to get members out, but October is usually packed. Not this year, not even with a hop and malt order on the agenda. So let’s talk about it at the November meeting (I hope that doesn’t scare anyone away!). In response to previous requests from members we’re doing BJCP lead tastings every month, we’re doing group brews and we’re running a BJCP course. We had hoped that all of these would boost membership and attendance. Maybe it’s just too early in the year yet, but I am concerned. The executive has a few ideas, including advertising in supportive homebrew shops and in college and university newspapers and student discounts. Now we need your input. Bring your ideas on what you want to see happening that you think will bring more people to our meetings.

Stouts and Porters - November Beer Tastings
Do you like stouts? Do you like porters? Foolish questions - of course you do. Well then grab your stein and get out to November's meeting because we have no less than six homebrewed stouts and porters that we will be sampling! Tastings will be lead by two BJCP judges and two judging candidates. The lineup looks awesome and I would bet by meeting day there will be no less than 8 beers in the event. Outside of judging at a competition you'll never get a chance to taste so many of these dark beauties at one sitting.

Can you spar(g)e me a minute?

There you are, you can't escape the silly wort game. Am I getting desperate yet? No! Anyway, we'd better get that malt order together. From what Roxy tells me, the hop order is terribly slack. Are you guys still brewing? I'll have a malt order form attached to this newsletter. We need everybody’s support to be able to pull this off. Here you are able to get some first class malt at a cost that is similar to the cost of malts here in Edmonton homebrew stores if you buy the malt by the pound. I was actually a bit shocked when I was quoted the cost for a 25kg bag of wheat malt for $60 at a local store. So, I don't think the prices are out of line. And while you're at it, make sure you order all the hops you need to go with the malt.

Before I forget it, I don't know how far advanced our apprentice judges are by now, but I was expecting some essays from them for the newsletter. Maybe none of them is feeling comfortable enough yet to write one. Any homebrew guilder is very welcome to contribute to this newsletter. What I mean to say is: help, I need some feature article for the December Worthouse News. HELP!!! Today I have resorted to some more plagiarism off the Internet with an article about the history of beer in the Czech Republic.

Hop Order Delayed till November!

Perhaps because of the short notice, our total leaf hop order from the October meeting was less than 5 lbs. We cannot place an order at this low level. In order to get a price break we need volume, and we don’t have the volume. Similarly, we are not even close on our British pellet hop order. The only order that we are close on is for Saaz plugs. Therefore, the executive has decided to extend the order deadline until the November meeting. The response at that meeting will determine if we place a leaf and pellet hop order this year. The Saaz order will go ahead, but we will also delay it until the November meeting so that if you want some Saaz you can still place an order at that meeting.

Dixie Cup Results

Despite an incredible bottle breakage rate in transit, both Roxy and Boyd managed to medal in the Foam Rangers MCAB sponsored Dixie Cup competition. With only about half of his beers making it intact, Boyd took a second place in British Bitter. A letter from the Rangers indicated that a number of his beers placed into the second round but there were no intact bottles left to judge. SHIT. Roxy had better luck with only one broken bottle, and took a gold medal in English Brown Ale. Sadly, it was a split class and an American Brown was promoted to the MCAB finals. Roxy will get a second kick at this guy because her American Brown Ale was promoted at our ABC competition. Both Roxy and Boyd wish to acknowledge the support of the EHG for helping defer some of the shipping costs. This was a huge competition - to medal at all was a real victory. It was also good politics for the Guild as the Foam Rangers have been a huge international supporter of our ABC competition.

By the way, Roxy’s beers were wrapped in plastic bags, Boyd's weren't. Despite ideas that plastic doesn't help - maybe it does. Further, for those who might not know, Boyd is an extract brewer. His silver is a tribute to the quality that is possible with extract brewing. Way to go Boyd - we're proud of you.

MCAB update

We have applied to be the Canadian host for next year's MCAB competition. Having just run the largest ever Canadian homebrew competition, coupled with one of the largest and hopefully growing pool of qualified BJCP judges, and given CABA's unqualified support (they've put it in writing) we are very hopeful that we will once again host this event.

We are planning to judge on Friday to Sunday, June 6-8. This year we will have a June meeting on the Monday before the competition. We hope that makes it easier for local entrants. We will however, impose a deadline of Thursday 5 June to get your entries in. The competition is now too large, and needs to be tightly organized, to take in last minute entries from anywhere.

BJCP Course

The course is going very well with 10 enthusiastic candidates working, or should I say imbibing, their way through the program. We have finished off our second session and the boys have tasted American Pale Ales, European Amber and Dark Lagers, Stouts and Bocks. They've waded their way through the basic flavour components of beer and are now onto learning how to judge. Their judging so far has been tight and accurate - I have high hopes for this group. Thanks to Harry, Kevin, Peter, Boyd, Neil and Roxy who donated beers for judging and for teaching to the BJCP course. Your score sheets will be returned at the next meeting. Neil and Roxy are always looking for beers to judge and teach with for the BJCP course. We will take anything from problematic to world class.

Wine Tasting

Long-time Guild sponsor, Harvest Brewing Co., is hosting a home wine tasting session on Tuesday November 19 and on Friday November 22. The session features this year's Brew King limited edition wine kits. There is a $10.00 deposit for the session; it is being held at a local hotel, not at the brew store. Contact Brian at Harvest Brewing for details - 435-2985.

Cane Exchange

The cane exchange program is working very well with both Harvest Brewing Co. and South Side Brew Crew being very enthusiastic with the results. We should be too, as there can only be better brews as a result! About 1/2 of our members have made the exchange. For those that haven't heard yet, Guild members can bring in their old hose and tube to either shop and for a $10.00 purchase they will give you a new racking cane.

The History of Beer in the Czech Lands

How long, exactly, have the Czechs been drinking beer?
The Czechs have been drinking beer since time immemorial. The secret of Czech beer is that agricultural conditions are ideal for growing hops, and chronicles establish their cultivation in Bohemia as early as 859 A.D., while the first evidence of their export dates back to 903. Bohemian hops were so prized that King Wenceslas ordered the death penalty for anyone caught exporting the cuttings, from which new plants could be grown. The first mention of brewing in the Czech territories is in the foundation charter for the Vysehrad church, dating from 1088. In this document, the first Czech king, Vratislav II, decreed that his estates should pay a hop tithe to the church. The U Fleku microbrewery in Prague has been in operation since 1499 and is still going strong.

How did the famous Czech beer industry get its start?
The first Czech brewery was built at Cerhenice in 1118. In earlier days, only citizens in the Czech lands had the right to brew beer - and that for their own consumption - so most citizens had a microbrewery in their home. It wasn't long before some of these citizens banded together to form a cooperative central brewery, from which they would take beer extract home and finish the brewing process there, in a medieval equivalent to the "home brew" kits which are so popular today. In the 13th century, King Wenceslas convinced the Pope to revoke an order banning the brewing of beer, which may explain why he's called Good King Wenceslas. It was a small step up from there for breweries to start hawking their wares to the general public as well, and so the Czech beer industry was spawned.

And when did the Czech beer industry become great?
The art of brewing beer came along gradually, with help along the way. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, for instance, was a friend of the beer industry even though he ordered that Burgundy grape vines be cultivated in Bohemia. Emperor Rudolf II's personal physician held that beer was an incredibly healthy beverage and wrote a treatise to that effect. The Czech beer industry's worldwide fame dates from the Renaissance, as does the Bohemian tavern which is famous throughout Europe. A popular rhyme of the time goes "Unus papa Romae, una cerevesia Raconae"("one pope in Rome, one beer in Rakovnik." Beer is still brewed in Rakovnik today. In the early 16th century, the Czech beer industry contributed as much as 87% of total municipal income to city coffers. Czech hops were being shipped up the Elbe to the special Hamburg hop market from 1101, and the Germans still prize Bohemian Saaz hops from Zatec today. The Czechs were even exporting their beer at this time, most notably the beer they brewed in the town of Ceske Budejovice in southern Bohemia. The Bavarians who were importing this beer, understandably had a hard time pronouncing the name of the town, and so they referred to it as "Budweis," a place name that is still associated with great beer today - as is Pilsner, which is derived from the place name of the west Bohemian town of Plzen.

And I guess it's just been getting better ever since?
Actually, no. This 16th-century beer heaven was not to last. Feudal lords discovered that forcing their laborers to drink the manor brew was a clever way to line their pockets. The Thirty Years' War, which devastated much of northern Europe, devastated the Czech beer industry as well. At one point, beer was used to pay off a Swedish army to prevent the plunder of Kutna Hora. After that, what fame the Czech beer industry managed to attain was under the auspices of the Emperor in Vienna. He even sent a Czech brewmaster to Mexico to teach the Mexicans how to brew beer. Bohemia beer from Mexico was named for the Czech contribution. The Czech nation - and its beer - did not begin to recover until the "national awakening" movement of the 19th century, when the Czech language, Czech culture, and Czech beer were reinvented after centuries of Germanization and decline.

Did the Communists appreciate the Workers' love of beer?
Under the Communists, beer was very cheap - and it was legal. This helped establish beer drinking as perhaps the single most popular hobby among Czech men. Unfortunately, as with so many other industries, the Communists failed to invest anything into the breweries. They simply produced the beer and squeezed as much money as possible out of the industry. One of the Czech Republic's most famous beer drinkers, the protagonist of Jaroslav Hasek's novel "The Good Soldier Svejk" said that the government that raises the price of beer is destined to fall within one year. The Communists almost doubled the price of beer in 1984 (from 1.70 to 2.50 crowns per half-liter), so it took 5 years instead of one for the prophecy to come to pass.

Does the President really drink beer?
President Vaclav Havel may be the best spokesman beer has ever had in the Czech Republic, at least in public office. Havel loves to take visiting politicians to pubs. He once skipped a function in the U.S. to go drink beer and watch John Cale. In fact, one of Havel's plays is based on the time he spent working in a brewery before the Revolution (Pivovar Krakonos, Trutnov).
"I suppose that drinking beer in pubs has got a good influence on the behaviour of Czech society, because beer contains less alcohol than for example wine, vodka or whisky and therefore people's poltiical chat in pubs is less crazy."
Vaclav Havel, October 1995

And so what happened with this major hobby of Czech men after the Velvet Revolution?
Although a decrease in beer consumption was predicted, the numbers did not go down much even after price controls were lifted in 1991. Beer prices have gone up as the price of everything has gone up, but are still low. Breweries have such a small profit margin at home that they try to make up for it in exports, where Czech beer commands premium prices. Shares in breweries, most of which have been privatized, trade at the top of the stock market even though many of them are deeply in debt due to payment problems. It's expected that there will soon be only a few giant breweries and a smattering of small local microbreweries in the Czech Republic. Mid-sized breweries, which face the biggest problems with marketing, transport, and taxes, are probably on the way out. Perhaps with the prophecy of Svejk in mind, Premier Klaus' government made special tax breaks for the Association of Small Brewers.

The World’s First Jet-Powered Beer Cooler

In New Zealand there are two things that are the essence of being a 'good Kiwi bloke'. These are of course playing rugby and having a shed. Not being built for playing rugby I have had to go with the shed. I may not know a rugby hoop from a cricket stick but I know my shed like the head of my hammer. A shed is a place where a kiwi bloke spends much of his time alone surrounded by his tools, current and past half finished projects and the collection of parts and material usually referred to by others (typically wives/girlfriends) as 'that pile of junk'. Here is a picture of my shed. My shed is in fact really a garage as I live in suburbia but for the purposes of this story a shed it will be. Luckily I don't own a car. If I ever do get a car it will be something to tinker with and be small, old and British. Just like my mum. Here you see my shed just before I started working on something important and it became messy. As has been mentioned many long and productive hours are spent in the shed by kiwi blokes. Many fine inventions such as the hydraulic sheep potter and the double headed golf club have been produced as the result of much blood, sweat and beers. And herein lies the dilemma. Beer. A session in the shed is typically an all day affair. Starting very early in the morning and going through until late at night when the light fades to the point that you can't see and hit your thumb with a hammer a bloke will not leave his shed for anything (Hint: Empty paint cans can be very useful here). All supplies must be taken in at the start of the shed session. And the most essential of these supplies is beer. But how to keep the beer cold? To illustrate the problem here is a typical scene inside the shed. This beer has been sitting on the bench for some time and as you can see it is at 14 C, not a temperature suitable for consumption! A closer inspection of the can shows how it quite clearly states 'SERVE EXTRA COLD'. It is interesting to note that here is one of few times a bloke will actually read the instructions for anything. Ever. Now this presented me with a problem. How do I keep my beer in the shed all day yet have it cold and ready to drink at a moments notice? My first solution to this problem was ice. Unfortunately a small quantity of ice would not keep multiple beers cold during the course of a day in the shed. And no, you cannot, not under any circumstances, put ice into the beer. No! It was obvious I had to come up with a better solution to the problem. I knew from some long forgotten physics lecture that when a liquid expands into a gas it will draw heat from its surroundings. And I happened to have a source of a suitable liquid right in my shed in the form of a LPG cylinder (liquid petroleum gas). Obviously it would not do to evaporate vast quantities of a flammable gas into the closed confines of my garage. That would probably be dangerous. What I needed was a way to remove the dangerous gas. The solution was obvious. The gas is flammable so why not burn it. Burning the gas with a normal burner would not use up the gas fast enough to give me any serious cooling. What I needed was a way to use up a lot of fuel very, very quickly. What I needed was a jet engine! As everyone knows jet engines use a lot of fuel. And a smallish one running in my shed would use up enough fuel from my gas bottle to sufficiently cool my beer. I went to work. A jet engine in its simplest form consists of a COMBUSTOR where fuel is burnt to heat air, a TURBINE extracting energy from the heated air and a COMPRESSOR which is turned by the turbine to provide air to the combustor. I knew that a common turbocharger from a car engine has two of these three things, the compressor and the turbine. All I needed to add was the third, the combustor. After much investigating and designing and building and dodgy welding I built my engine. Here it is after an early test run. You can see the cooling effect on the gas tank by the layer of ice that forms on it. All that was necessary now was to place the tank in a container holding a quantity of water and add the cans of beer and fire this baby up! The more observant of you may notice the air hose joining the compressor to the combustor was replaced with a PVC pipe. This was a very, very bad idea as PVC gets soft when it gets hot and it tends to part company with the engine at the most inopportune moments!

And now the results. The experiment was a complete success (apart from that PVC thing). Here is the LPG tank in water before an engine run with the beer at 11 C. The rubber cord over the tank is to stop it bobbing about in the water (as the beer cans do). And here is the final result after running the engine for about 5 minutes. The engine itself will run at up to 100000 rpm with exhaust temperatures of around 500 C and noise levels in excess of 125 dBA. The beer is successfully chilled to a nice cool 2 C. Which is a very good thing because a cold beer is just what you need when you're standing in shed with a jet engine running in the middle of it heating things up!

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Copyright © 2001, 2002 Simon Jansen
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

Let’s hop it won’t malt too soon!

Finally we got some snow. And what does that have to do with beer, you may ask - a lot. To make beer, you need malt, right? To make malt, you need barley - and not just barley. You need the right varieties and the grain has to be of the highest quality. That means there has to be enough moisture in the ground at sowing for good germination - and that’s what we need the snow for... lots of it. So, as you crawl to work after the holidays through freshly fallen snow, SMILE! It’s needed for good homebrew!

Welcome back to all to a Hoppy Brew Year! I hope you all had a great relaxing holiday week or so with plenty of excellent homebrew some fine wine and maybe some other cockle warmers that our friends of the saccharomyces family and their cousins have inspired mankind to concoct - all accompanied by delicious food and inspiring conversations or a good read.

The downside? That’s obvious: the holidays are over and it's back to the old grind. The upside: except for probably Roxy, the beer stores are low and there are new brew sessions to be planned and looked forward to. Brew up a storm!

The old homebrewnews@shaw.ca has been rather busy over Christmas, and that is good news for the newsletter. Essays by our apprentice judges have been pouring in... I may even have enough for two newsletters. Thanks, guys!

Competition News

We are very fortunate to have Glen Hannah step forward and take on the challenge of the position of Competition Chair for the ABC2003. Also, since the ABC has grown by pints and quarts over the past few years we have decided to try forming a committee to assist the Chair in organizing. The committee consists of myself, along with Harry Wagner, Richard Bruins, Neil Herbst, Bruce Sample and Greg Wondga. Our goal is to divide some of the responsibilities amongst the members to take some of the heat off of the organizer
and make this one of our best events ever. All though we don't have the official word yet it also looks like we will once again be hosting the MCABVI qualifier for Canada as part of our competition. Of course, to make everything work as smoothly as it has in the past, we will need the support of all the members who can contribute some time to judging and stewarding (and drinking some great beer). We are also going to have a good number of freshly malted judges straight out of Roxy and Neils BJCP course (which by the way will give us the honour of the most judges of any province in Canada). So make sure you keep your brew kettles fired and some spare time for the weekend of the 6th, 7th and 8th in June to support the competition. And don't forget to thank Glen for taking on the Competition Chair position.

P.S. For those of you who won a gold in ABC2002, you are eligible for the MCABV competition this year. If you haven't received any information on how to enter please contact me or go to the website at www.burp.org.

The Mod Squad: Barley, Maltsters and Modification

Malt can be considered the 'soul of beer'. However, before a brewer can convert barley to beer, a maltster must convert barley to malt. They do this through a controlled germination or modification of the barley. Modification is defined by the degree of conversion of the starchy endosperm in the barley to soluble malt starch. Upon steeping the barley in water to bring the moisture content to approximately 45%, enzyme synthesis is triggered. The first enzymes synthesized migrate into the starchy endosperm and hydrolyze the cell walls. The proteolytic enzymes (or protein degrading enzymes) are next and lastly the amylases that degrade the starch to produce maltose.

The process of modification must fulfill two key requirements. The first is comprehensive hydrolysis of the cell walls, which softens the grain and facilitates its milling and extraction. The second requirement is that the protein must be substantially broken down to eliminate the potential of haze forming materials. The breakdown of protein also results in amino acids, which are utilized by the yeast.

The maltster must control the modification to allow sufficient breakdown of the proteins, degradation of the cell walls and synthesis of starch degrading enzymes but not excess growth of the embryo. The degree of modification may be expressed as a ratio of the length of the acrospire (shoot) to the length of the grain. A ratio of 1.0 indicates fully modified malt. Full modification is at the expense of malt yield, however, undermodified malt requires the brewer to include a protein rest during the mash. This is essential to develop the necessary amino acids for the yeast.

In short, highly modified malt means less complex proteins, less potential for haze in the brew and more amino acids for the yeast. Undermodified malt means potentially more soluble starches to convert but comes with a protein rest requirement to reduce the possibility of a slow or stuck fermentation.

However, to add another twist to modification, George Fix writes that malt modification significantly affects foam stability and flavour. They both decrease with increasing modification. Lager beer made with highly modified malt can result in flavours that were judged to be 'dull', 'unfocused' and 'lacking in fullness'. This is in comparison to continental lager malts which are less modified than U.S. and UK malts (but apparently the continentals are modified much more today than they were in the past). In fact, continental malt is modified only to 50-75%. This retains more of the endosperm for fermentation and creates greater nitrogen complexity although reduces activity of the enzymes.

In summary, the degree of malt modification can affect a number of factors that must be considered by the homebrewer. These range from the affect on fermentation, to the amount of protein haze in the beer and most importantly, the overall taste of the brew.

Battle of the German Ales: Alt vs. Kölsch

The Altbier and Kölschbier are German style ales and are unique in that they both use top fermenting ale yeast combined with a period of 'lagering' or secondary fermentation at very cold temperatures. This period of cold conditioning reduces fermentation by-products and produces a cleaner palate than most ales. One slight exception is that the primary fermentation temperature of an Altbier is lower than that of the Kölschbier and tends towards the low range for an ale yeast.

Another unique characteristic shared by these two beers is that they are each tied to very specific regions in Germany.

Kölsch originates from the Köln (Cologne) area of Germany. Cologne has the honour of having more brewing companies than any other city in the world and most specialize in the Kölsch style. There are 24 designated Kölschbier breweries in the region and the Brewers Association of Cologne protects the name. The beer is pale golden coloured, lightly fruity in the nose, with a soft palate and dryness to slight sweetness in the finish. Hop aroma is low from German hops with low to no maltiness. The fruity-winey bouquet is a very important aspect of this beer and may be enhanced (along with good head retention) through the use of small amounts of malted wheat (10-20%). Using very soft water and an original gravity of approximately 1046 the brew should finish well attenuated with an alcohol content of 4-5% by volume. The bitterness should be in the upper reaches of 20-30 IBU's.

Kölsch makes a good apéritif and in Germany it is served with 'Cologne Caviar' (blood sausage) or steak tartar.

Commercial examples include P.J. Fruh, Malzmühle and Kuppers.

Just as Kölsch is to Cologne, the Altbier is to Düsseldorf. The word 'Alt' is German for 'old'. The beer is made in the way before the 'discovery' of lager yeast. It is copper coloured, has light to medium body and is full of hop character with considerable bitterness without acidity. The all malt mash and the period of cold conditioning at 8 C produce a smoother, cleaner less fruity character than in most Belgian or British-style ales. An Altbier should have an O.G. of 1046 with 5% alcohol by volume and 40-60 IBU's.

Commercial examples include Zum Uerige and Zum Schlussel.

A slightly lighter in character and less bitter Altbier variation is brewed in N. Germany. They more closely resemble a moderately bitter brown lager. Commercial examples include DAB Dark and Grolsch Autumn Amber.

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References:
Bamforth, Charles W. 1998. Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing. Plenum Press.
Fix, George. 2001. Malt Modification in Kobb-Knights of the Brown Bottle Newsletter, Jan.2001
Jackson, Michael. 1988. The New World Guide to Beer. Courage Books.
Papazian, Charlie. 1991.The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Avon Books.
Wolfe, Edward, et al. 1998. BJCP Exam Study Guide.
Internet with an article about the history of beer in the Czech Republic.

Düsseldorf Alt, California Common and Special Bitter

Duesseldorfer is an altbier or "old beer" that is similar to a British Pale ale. It is lagered during secondary fermentation and thus has less fruitiness, yeastiness and acidity than the pale ale. Taste is assertively bitter (IBU 40-60) and supported by Munich malt flavors, described in the BJCP study guide (1998) as "a grainy, even harsh or astringent malt flavor". The aroma of the beer is very slight in this beer, including hop aromas which are low to moderate at best. A "restrained fruitiness" and some Munich malt aroma may be detected.

California Common uses a bottom fermenting yeast to ferment at higher ale-like temperatures. A toasted malty flavor is balanced with a strong hop bitterness (IBU 35-45) and a woody or rustic hop flavor owing to the use of the Northern Brewer hop. Aroma may also be woody or rustic. They may also have moderate toasted malt aroma as well as restrained fruitiness (like the Duesseldorfer Alt). Low diacetyl is acceptable in this style.

Special or Best Bitter is to be moderately to strongly bitter (IBU 20-45). It should have evident malt flavors (often crystal malt in nature) but the balance shifts from even to "decidedly" bitter. Aroma will have moderate fruitiness and should have some malt aroma. It may or may not possess hop, caramel or diacetyl aromas.

Taste differences between the above three would be as follows; Dusseldorf Alt and Special Bitter should be balanced to the bitter side while California Common is all about balance between hop bitterness and malt character. Dusseldorf Alt has more of a malty balance than Special Bitter and has a characteristic Munich malt taste. Special Bitter also should have much more hop flavor than Dusseldorf Alt.

With aroma, Dusseldorf is to have little. California Common should have a pronounced woody hop and a toasted malt aroma. Special Bitter also has malt aroma but also a moderate fruitiness, uncharacteristic of Dusseldorf or California Common.

	Duesseldorfer Alt	California Common	Special Bitter
bitterness	Very strong	strong	medium to strong
hop flavor	Low to medium	Medium to none	medium
maltiness	Intense malty	medium malt	Low to medium
balance	highly bitter and malty	Well balanced malt, hop and bitter	More toward bitter and hop
aroma	low	Woody, malty	Malty, fruity

Give the name of the German purity law, its provisions, historical significance and current status.

The original German Purity Law "Reinheitsgebot", was actually created by the Bavarian government in 1516 to protect the privilege of the nobility of pure Bavarian beer, and control the price of beer to protect the consumer. Hence, not originally German but Bavarian! The Bavarians whom at the time referred to their land as the "Free State of Bavaria", were proud of their beer, and its purity law, refused to join the Federation of German States in the late 19th century without the inclusion of "their" purity law Reinheitsgebot. Its mandate allowed only three ingredients to be used in the process of making beer: water, barley and hops. Yeast at the time wasn't known. Later in 1603 wheat was admitted into the law to consume the over production of the crop in Bavaria.

The modern version of Germany's laws on the ingredients of beers were drawn up from a mixture of economic and public health motives as city and state governments were formed in the late medieval period. This applied to all German brewers making beer for consumption in their own country. Once yeast was discovered as a main ingredient in the making of beer, the law required that four basic ingredients be admitted in the process of making beer: malted barley, hops, water and yeast. In any given region there were and still are many alternate grains containing starches that are abundant and need to be consumed which are less expensive than malted barley that can be used in the brewing process. Corn, wheat, oats, and rye to name a few. Until the late 1980's Germany was the only country in the world to strictly enforce against using anything but the four basic ingredients. Now that Germany is a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), Reinheitsgebot is an option.

Differentiate ale and lager yeast in fermentation characteristics and taste of beer.

Ale yeast is top fermenting (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) that is best used in temperatures between 55-70 degrees F (13-21 C). Some strains of ale yeast will flocculate at the top of the beer during the first few days of fermentation before settling to the bottom of the fermenter. They form colonies, which are supported by the surface tension of the wort and create a very thick, rich head. They ferment glucose, fructose, mannose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, xylulose, and maltotriose, and partially ferment the trisaccharide raffinose. They split off and ferment the fructose molecule from raffinose, leaving the disaccharide melibose. Ales are typified by a rich, full-bodied profile with a fruity nose and taste. Each strain has unique characteristics, which can be enhanced or minimized depending on formulation and fermentation temperatures and variations in the pH.

Humour

Some Guinness was spilled on the bar room floor as the pub was closed for the night. Out from his hole crept a wee brown mouse and stood in the pale moonlight. He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor and back on his haunches he sat. And all night long you could hear him roar "Bring on the God damn cat!!!"

After the Great Britain Beer Festival, in London, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, "Hey Senor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona." The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him. The guy from Budweiser says, "I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser." The bartender gives him one. The guy from Coors says, "I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors." He gets it. The guy from Guinness sits down and says, "Give me a Coke." The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask "Why aren't you drinking a Guinness?" and the Guinness president replies, "Well, I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I.

Q: How many Irishman does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two. One to hold the bulb, and one to drink until the room starts spinning.

View from the Top

Well it’s about time I actually wrote something and let Gunther have a break. It’s good to report that the club is on a roll again. Firstly, membership is on the upswing. We had 3 new members at last months meeting. The membership was on good behaviour and managed to encourage them to join the gang. Of course it didn't hurt that last months tastings were a number of commercial Belgian style ales. The tastings were lead by 3 of our BJCP candidate judges, with some (considerable) assistance from the floor by our loveable and affable mouthpiece, Martin Langshaw. You candidates are soon going to have to be more assertive with the likes of Martin so you should get your licks in now!

A most excellent piece of good news is that MCAB has once again awarded us as Canada’s host site. MCAB was very late in making the announcement this year so we are a wee bit behind. But with the capable talents of our Competition gang, lead by the multitalented Glen Hannah I am sure we will pull it off in style. Part of the reason for the delay was that MCAB had a big decision to make this year. They have decided to grant a number of clubs with long term successful records of hosting the MCAB qualifier automatic continuing status to host the competition. This will save these established competitions the hassle of having to reapply every year and will establish a regular schedule of events. I am pleased to say that the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild ABC competition was one of those chosen for continuing status. This is a great honour and we owe much to the hard work of all the guild members but most especially to Kevin Zaychuk who was our Competition Chair over the last few years, Neil Herbst who managed the entries and acted as head judge, and to Jim Whittome who designed and maintains our web page. We also owe thanks to Ken Nyback whose vision it was to capture the MCAB competition in the first place.

Because we will now be hosting an annual event the executive gave some consideration to holding a brewing conference along with the competition. It’s just on the table and would not be this year but next. It would be nice because next year will be the 5th year that we have hosted the MCAB event. We will kick around some ideas at the meeting.

Speaking of competitions – that season is fast approaching. Starting in this issue we will be publishing all the Canadian competitions with as much entry information as is available. We will of course be printing the results as they come in. And don’t forget our monthly mini-competitions. We have had the privilege of tasting some truly fine brews at these events. Febrewary (gotcha Gunther) is Brown Ales including Northern Brown, Southern, Mild, and American. This is an AHA sponsored club competition so the winner will need to ship 3 bottles to somewhere in the USA Bring at least 2-3 bottles of beer or a keg to the meeting.

Also don’t forget that the Guild is helping to defray shipping costs to several out of town competitions. So please take advantage of this great opportunity to represent the EHG in significant regional and national level competitions. You don’t have to be an expert all grain brewer to be competing in these events. Far from it – they are a great learning experience no matter what level you are at. Regina sent in a whole bunch of extract entries into GCHC last year and did swimmingly well. We should too. Get Brewing!

And just to get you inspired to create those awesome award winning brews – the fresh leaf hops are in. They will be available at Febrewary’s meeting.

Finally, just to inspire everyone to get brewing and to sort of level the playing field in a really fun way, we have created a new game, actually it’s an in-club minicompetition. I’ve called it BURRP and it will be held at the May meeting. Details are inside. It is truly a ridiculous event, but you will have the opportunity to learn a bit about malt and a chance to compete in a fun, low-key brewing event.

See you at the Febrewary meeting. As always,come thirsty!

And here it is from the horse’s mouth

Greetings all:
First, an apology... I've been completely under water for a number of weeks with various business and family matters, and so I've been more than a bit derelict in responding to e-mails, not to mention tending to MCAB stuff.

As far as MCAB QE's for 2003 (and the years beyond)... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Accordingly, unless the organizers of the individual competitions decline, the following will be the MCAB Qualifying Events ("QE's")for MCAB 6:
Boston Homebrew Competition
Kansas City Bier Meisters Competition
Regale and Dredhop
World Cup of Beer
Bluebonnet Brew Off
Drunk Monk Challenge
Sunshire Challenge
Spirit of Free Beer
BUZZ-Off
Aurora Brewing Challenge
Dixie Cup
Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition
Heart of the Valley Competition

Further, while the MCAB reserves the right to make additions or subtractions to this list in the future, the first twelve of these competitions will be "presumptive" MCAB QE's in all future years (meaning, unless the MCAB decides to terminate a competition as a QE, it will remain a QE in all future years). The Heart of the Valley Competition and Novembeerfest will similarly be considered "presumptive" QE's but we will stick with our prior practice of alternating them... meaning the Heart of the Valley competition is a QE in odd numbered years (2003, 2005, 2007, etc.) and Novembeerfest is a QE in even numbered years (2002, 2004, 2006, etc.).

Meanwhile, if you've not done so, check out the MCAB website (http://hbd.org/mcab) for details on MCAB 5, coming up in a couple of weeks in the Northern Virginia area. Looks like another killer beer geek weekend in the making! (Now if I can just get a certain case to settle so I can be there too...)

As always, lemme know if you have any questions, etc.

Louis K. Bonham

Brewing Under Really Ridiculous Parameters! (BURRP!)

With due respect to BURP – Brewers United for Real Potables – the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild introduces BURRP! an in-house competition to see who can brew the best beer given a limited quantity of a single type of malt.

Not many years ago we were lucky to have a single source of good two row malt, a couple of lovibonds of crystal (often with nothing more than “crystal malt” on the label), and a few types of dark malt. Good Munich was virtually unknown. Now we are easily pushing a dozen 2 rows, tons of crystal types and all sorts of darks in multiple permutations of lovibond and character. Creative brewing now comes in choosing combinations of malts that are readily pulled off the shelf.

But you know, there were some really exciting brews created when we had limited resources. And historically, crystal malt was not invented until near the end of the 19th century. What did brewers do before they could buy 75 L Hugh Bards Crystal, or 15 L Weyerman Carahell, or 120 L Beaston Brown? They made there own. And that’s what BURRP is all about. Creating great and/or at least interesting homebrew with limited ingredients. So limited in fact that you are going to start off with one type of malt – Westcan 2 row. And you’re only gonna get 10 lbs - total, that’s it, no more.

Your mission, should you decide to accept this ridiculous challenge, is to take that 10 pounds of base malt, and we mean base, and attempt to create something wonderful with it. Try to make your own Munich, your own Crystal, your own black or brown or smoked. Or if your’re a bit lazy, you can just take the malt and use it as it is – maybe for an old style Helles or IPA. Do whatever you want, brew big brew small. But you only got 10 lbs.

How do you start? Well at the Feb meeting we will have handouts from a recent issue of Zymurgy telling you how to make crystal, munich and smoked malts from 2 row. Take it from there. Trust me, if you’ve never tried toasting 2 row to make Munich you are in for a flavour sensation beyond all expectations.

EXTRACT BREWERS – You’re in the game too, but the rules are a wee bit different for you. Instead of 10 lbs of 2 row you will start with 5 lbs of DME and 5 lbs of 2 row

Rules of the game:

1. Sign up at the Feb and March meetings. You can enter as many brews as you want. Team work is encouraged.
2. Go down to Harvest Brewing to get your malts – even if you have the malts at home. To ensure that we all start at as close to the same point as possible we have arranged for Harvest Brewing to supply the 2 row. From our list of names, Brian will package the malt in 10lb and 5 lb bags. It will cost you a buck a pound. Extract brewers, you can get the rest of your DME from where ever – as long as you only use pale DME. Please be honest and respect these basic rules – get all your 2 row from Harvest. Use only a maximum of 10 lbs (you can use less, but then why not just make more beer?).
3. Make up your own grain bill, create your own malts and brew to your hearts content. Go for any style you want. Classics are encouraged, but you’re not limited to going for them. Hops, yeasts and whatever else is up to you as long as it is not fermentable grain product.
4. Keep some notes on what you did – particularly in how you created the malts.
5. Bring at least 4 bottles of the results to the May meeting – more is better, this should be a real hoot. We don’t care how you package your brew – even kegs are fine, heh, heh! We will hold a mini competition judged by our BJCP judges. Classes will be light ale, dark ale, light lager, dark lager and "I don’t know what it is but I can drink it! – shortened to "just brew" Except for "just brew," ID the concoction to as close to a style as you can get it. Blondes and ambers go into pales, browns and blacks into dark.
6. Awards will be given to various as yet undefined catagories of best BURRP! beer. You’ll get a bonus if over half your hop bill is from homegrown hops (we’ll trust you, depending on who you are that is)
7. Interesting brews will be published in the June newsletter – so re. point 4, keep some notes. Tell us what you tried to make and what you think you wound up with.
8. If you’ve got a real interesting beer, we encourage you to enter it in the ABC the following month.
9. This is a real, traditional, RELAX, DON’T WORRY, HAVE A HOMEBREW event. Don’t get too anal with it – have some fun!

To help extract brewers who might want to take this as the opportunity to try all-grain, Neil and I will donate a Saturday to helping you brew. We will bring all equipment to Alley Kat. You bring your recipe, all your ingredients and a fermenter. We will help you do a single infusion mash and get the wort into your fermenter. You have to get your wort home after it’s made – no fermenting at Alley Kat. To be fair, we will not advise you on how to create the recipe. Sign up at the meeting and Neil and I will arrange a Saturday to do the brews. We will do AM and PM runs with 2-3 people at a time.

Upcoming Out of Town Competitions

Werthogs Homebrew Competition
Where: Lethbridge
Entries Due: March 1st; judging March 8 th
Ship to: Prairie Vintners and Brewers
231-13 street North
Lethbridge, Alberta

No other information available at this time.
Email Veryl Todd: toddvi@pop.telusplanet.net

A relatively new competition hosted by a small but enthusiastic club. Hopefully we will get information soon so we can ship some beers to them.

March in Montreal – CABA sponsored
Where: Montreal
Entries Due: March 15. Judging: by end of March
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA except meads and cider. 2 bottles per entry. Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Fees: $6.00 CABA members, $9.00 non members. Fifth and additional $5.00 CABA members.
Website: http://www.realbeer.com/caba
Ship to: Brasserie Le Chaudron
5710 Garnier,
Montreal, Quebec
H2G 2Z7
Phone: 1-514-276-0744

This is the first year MIM has gone for the full BJCP/AHA styles and 2 bottle entry. I encourage you to support this longstanding eastern competition. It’s a great pretest for GCHC and ABC. The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

Great Canadian Homebrew Competition – CABA sponsored – AHA qualifier
Where: Toronto
Entries Due: 19 April
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads and cider. 2 bottles per entry. Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Fees: unknown but usually $6.00 CABA members, $9.00 non members. Fifth and additional $5.00 CABA members. If you win and proceed to AHA there is an additional small charge levied by AHA for competing. (In turn AHA defers all 1st round fees to CABA – good deal for all Canadians)
Website: http://www.realbeer.com/caba
Ship to:

I highly encourage all members to compete in this national level competition. This is THE competition for clubs to gain points for the AHA brew club of the year. It is very important to the international stature of our competition for us to score high in the AHA standings. For a number of years we were the best club at this competition and ranked as the number one club in Canada. But last year Regina took it by storm – in part because only 2 EHG members competed instead of our usual 7-11. Time to recapture the crown boys. Get brewing for this one. It’s a great pretest for Regina and ABC. Top 3 beers in each class go on to compete in AHA annual national competition in May. The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

ALES Annual Open Homebrew Competition
Where: Regina
Entries due: in early May.
2 bottles per entry (I’m pretty sure). Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads.
Fees: unknown at this time.

I can’t say enough good things about this most excellent brew club. These guys have worked hard and now host the second largest competition in Canada, with ours being the only larger one. Last year they had 133 entries and they are looking to break the magic 150 and move up 1 level in competition rank to get more judging points. The ALES have given ABC just fantastic support over the last number of years and I highly encourage Edmonton to return the favour. It would be awesome if we helped them break the 150 level. Besides, they need some friendly competition on their home turf It is interesting that Regina encourages lots of kit beer entries and attributes much of their success to encouraging non-all-grain brewers to compete. Apparently many of their wins in GCHC were not from grain brewers. So get brewing extract men – we need you!
The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

Marquis de Suds
Where: Calgary
Entries Due: May
No other information available at this time.
Usually have 6-8 mixed styles groups with 3 bottles per entry.

More information on these and other competitions will be posted every month. If you have some solid information on these competitions please email me directly with the data. Email Roxy Hastings at: roxanne@netcom.ca

Wanted – A Few Good Beers – or even not so good

The BJCP exam is almost upon us and the candidates are gearing up for a writing and a tasting session. They’ve all come along marvelously, they’re all worthy of the title beer judge. Now we need your help for that final push. We’ve consumed considerable supply of homebrew over the past few months and therein lies the problem. We need some brew for the boys to judge for they’re exam. Frankly they’ve consumed much of my stock and I am most reluctant to have them judge a beer that they’re already had a good go at.

How can you help? Well if you have 3 bottles of brew that you can donate to a worthy cause we would like to use it for the exam. The beer can be wonderful, good or very poor. It doesn’t matter. Obvious faults are most welcome. You don’t have to know the fault – Neil and I will determine that before the exam. We would like to know, however, what style you think it is. In return you will receive no less than 8 judges opinions on your beer, including at least two from already ranking judges. That should give you lots of feedback and give you a good head start on the upcoming competition season.

Please bring any and all beers to the February meeting and pass them on to either Neil or Roxy. Thanks much.

Gold in AHA Club only Competition

A good way to kick off the new competition season. Roxy got a 1st in the club only competition for English Pale Ale. That’s a few good points for our standings in the AHA rankings.

There were 51 entries in the AHA Club only competition for English Pale Ales and Bitters.

The following are the winners:

1st Place
4C Strong Bitter
Roxanne Hastings
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Edmonton Homebrewers Guild…

Leo Vitt
Rochester MN

IMPORTANT MEETING of Competition Exec Members

The next executive meeting of the Guild will be devoted almost entirely to getting the ABC-MCAB competition up and running. Due to the late response from MCAB we are a bit behind this year. We need to get most of the competition details done by the end of February. It is vital that the competition be on our WEB page ASAP.

If you are a member of the Competition Committee in any way it is important that you make every effort to attend the Feb exec meeting. All regular exec members should also be there. Kevin, if you can make it that would be excellent. Come prepared to brainstorm and report on progress to date.

The meeting is on Wednesday, February 5 at Neil Herbst’s residence 9524 –144 St. It starts at 7:30

Differentiate ale and lager yeast in fermentation characteristics and taste of beer.

Ale yeast is top fermenting (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) that is best used in temperatures between 55-70 degrees F (13-21 C). Some strains of ale yeast will flocculate at the top of the beer during the first few days of fermentation before settling to the bottom of the fermenter. They form colonies which are supported by the surface tension of the wort and create a very thick, rich head. They ferment glucose, fructose, mannose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, xylulose, and maltotriose, and partially ferment the trisaccharide raffinose. They split off and ferment the fructose molecule from raffinose, leaving the disaccharide melibose. Ales are typified by a rich, full-bodied profile with a fruity nose and taste. Each strain has unique characteristics, which can be enhanced or minimized depending on formulation and fermentation temperatures and variations in the pH.

Lager yeast is bottom fermenting (Saccharomyces Uvarum or Carlsbergensis) that is best used in temperatures between 32-50 degrees F (0-10 C). All yeast strains will flocculate and then settle to the bottom of the fermenter. Fermentation may take 3 weeks and last up to many months. The word "lager" in German means "storage". Bottom fermenting lager yeasts, which don't have as great an ability to cling together, form smaller colonies that make a thinner, less tenuous head and that sediment out on the bottom of the fermenter. They ferment all the sugars that the top fermenting yeasts do except they fully ferment raffinose. There are two distinct subdivisions of bottom fermenting yeast. The Frohberg type (F.U., dusty or powdery yeasts) ferment very strongly, and attenuation is very rapid. The Saaz type (S.U. or break yeasts) settle out of the ferment more satisfactorily than do the Frohberg type. Consequently, they are weak fermenters and reduce the exract very slowly. The taste will vary a great deal on the condition of the yeast and the temperature the beer was fermented at. Lager beers are typically lighter and dryer than ales with a crisp finish. Lager yeasts generally produce significant amounts of sulfur during cooler fermentation, that dissipates during aging which is an important profile in great pilsner beers.

Different yeast strains span the spectrum over these two classifications, producing different characteristics in beer including flavour, head, clarity, and body. The yeasts that ferment the quickest and most completely do not necessarily produce the best beer. Yeast strains are selected for the character of their fermentation, their ability to form colonies, and their ability to ferment without producing side effects such as flavour and aroma impairing esters, and their viability rather than their ability to ferment the wort rapidly.

Explain what happens during the mashing process. Discuss 3 different mashing techniques, their recommended usage and advantages and disadvantages of each.

The mashing process begins when crushed malted grains (grist) are added to heated water, or vice versa. Several things happen during the mash, the most important of which are due to enzymatic processes. The primary thing that concerns a brewer during mashing is the continued breakdown of the grain starches into simpler sugars (continued from the malting process). Additionally, pH changes occur, proteins are broken down, and some browning or darkening of the extract (the final product from the mash) can occur. There are traditionally four different ways of mashing including: infusion mashing, step mashing, decoction mashing, and double mashing. Of these, only the first three are usually used by home brewers; the last one is used by larger breweries, which also use large amount of adjuncts (un-malted grains) in their recipes.

The enzymatic processes that convert available starches to fermentable and unfermentable sugars are controlled by regulating the temperature and pH of the mash. Temperatures in the range of 52-62C promote activity by the enzyme beta-amylase. Beta-amylase breaks down starches by removing single glucose molecules from the ends of the long starch chains. When the temperature of the mash rests in the range 65-67C, activity by the enzyme alpha-amylase is encouraged. Alpha-amylase acts on starch chains by breaking them between the endpoints. The two enzymes work well together at temperatures between 63-70C. The starch converting enzymes are collectively known as diastatic enzymes, and work best when the mash pH is 5.2-5.8. Too far outside these specified temperature and acidity ranges and the enzymes c ease to function, which is why a "mash-out" is performed by some brewers. Raising the temperature above 77C effectively denatures the enzymes, stopping their activity.

At even cooler mash temperatures, 30-53C, the mash pH can be lowered due to the activation of phytase enzymes. These break down phytin into phytic acid. This "acid-rest" is sometimes required when using under-modified malts or to adjust the mash pH in preparation for diastatic enzymatic processes. In most cases however, chemical reactions when mixing grist and water will lower pH to a workable level and so the acid-rest is rarely required or used.

Proteins in the grains need to be broken down to provide nutrients for yeast and other desirable qualities in the finished beer (like head-retention). Proteolytic enzymes work at these proteins breaking them down when the mash temperature is in the range 50-60C. The preferred pH for optimum proteolytic enzymatic processing is 4.2-5.3. A mash pH of approximately 5.2 is probably ideal for both diastatic and proteolytic enzyme activity. This is where the brewer aims to have the mash after the acid rest or dough-in (if no acid rest is used), which happily enough is the usual acidity level achieved upon mixing of grist and water.

Browning reactions can occur with certain methods of mashing. In decoction mashing where a portion of the mash is removed and heated to boiling in a separate kettle, darker extract will be noticed. Additionally any process which involves direct heat added to the mash or a portion of it, will produce some browning (as in stepped-infusion mashing using heated mash vessels), though in most cases this is probably negligible. The easiest mashing method is the infusion mash. The brewer simply adds grist to heated water so that the final mash temperature falls in the desired range. This method is most useful for recipes using well-modified malts or any traditional British style of beer. It has the advantage of needing a minimum amount of equipment; only one mash tun, kettle, and hot liquor tank are needed. This method does not allow for as much control over the enzymatic processes and so limits the variety of beers that can be made.

The next type of mashing to be discussed goes by many names: step-mashing, step-infusion mashing, multi-step mashing, etc. It is similar to the infusion mashing in that the grist and water are mixed to start, but after a rest period (there can be more than one rest temperature used) the mash temperature is increased by means of direct application of heat or addition of heated water. This method of mashing is better suited for less modified malts and allows the brewer more control over the extract produced since the various enzymatic processes can be effectively turned off or on as required. The downside to this method is that it may require more equipment, a heated mashing vessel as well as more time.

The last method of mashing is the decoction mash. The mash process here consists of something similar to the step-mashing, but instead of direct heat or added hot water, a portion of the mash itself is removed and brought to a boil in a separate vessel, then returned to the main mash. In this way all of the various temperature rests can be achieved. This is most suitable for recipes using under-modified malts and most German beer styles. It takes a much longer time to do a decoction mash, as well as more equipment, however it usually results in higher extraction rates than when using infusion or step-mashing.

Describe and differentiate 4 distinctly different German bottom fermented styles. Give commercial examples.

The 4 distinctly different German bottom fermented styles (lagers) are the following:
Pale lagers; Pilsner, Dortmunder export, and Municher helles;
Amber lagers; Oktoberfest/Marzen, and Vienna lager;
Dark lagers; Munich Dunkel, and Schwarzbier
Bocks; Traditional bock, Helles bock/Maibock, Doppelbock, and Eisbock

The pale lagers all use Pilsener malt as the base malt (and perhaps the only malt in the entire grain bill) and therefore are made using a decoction mash. The Maillard reactions from boiling samples of mash induce a deeper gold colour in the beer than one would see in the American styles of pale lager. The way to differentiate German Pils, Dortmunder Export, and Municher Helles, is the malt/hop balance. The Pilsner, of course, has a hop dominant aroma and flavor. Unlike its Bohemian cousin, the German Pils uses the flowery noble German hops rather than the spicy Saaz (pronounced “zots”) hop. Classic examples of this style are Bitburger, Kulmbacher Moenchshof Pils, Jever Pils, Holsten Pils, and Paulaner Premium Lager. Dortmunder export has an even balance between noble German or Czech hops and pilsner malt. These trademark of these beers is that neither hop nor malt stands out in aroma or flavor. This beer is evenly balanced right down to the lingering after-taste. Examples of Dortmunder Export are DAB Export, Dortmunder Union Export, Kronen Export,and Saratoga Lager. Unlike the first two lagers, Municher Helles focuses on the pilsner malt aroma and flavor. There is just enough hop flavor to balance out the malt sweetness. Hacker Pschorr Munich Edelhell and Spaten Premium Lager are classic examples of this style.

The amber lagers include the Oktoberfest and the Vienna lager. The Oktoberfest is a style of lager first brewed in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Theresa. The wedding party went down in history as one of the greatest shakers in German history – it lasted sixteen days – and so it has become a yearly tradition to keep the party alive. The reason the brewers invented a new style for this wedding was because the royals set the most difficult wedding date possible for brewing, September 15. In those days there were no refrigerators, and the brewing of lager beers required cold storage. Therefore, no good beer could be brewed between March and October. In fact, the law forbade summer brewing, so the brewers had to brew the beer in March (sometimes it is called ‘Marzen’ after the month it’s brewed). This beer had to withstand storage from the end of March to September 15, therefore they had to make it high in alcohol. The Oktoberfest and the Vienna Lager were both invented around the same time by Anton Dreher and are made with a balance that favors a toasty Vienna malt aroma and flavor. However, the Vienna lager is more subdued. The Oktoberfest also favors the toasty Vienna malt aroma and flavor over the German hops, but it is more intense than the Vienna and slightly higher in alcohol. Commercial examples of Oktoberfest are Spaten Ur-Maerzen, Ayinger Oktoberfest-Maerzen, Paulaner Oktoberfest, Wuerzburger Oktoberfest, Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest, and our local Alley Kat Ein Prosit. Examples of Vienna lagers include Negra Modelo, Portland Lager, 150 Jahre, Augsburger Red, Leinenkugel Red, and Alley Kat’s Buffalo beer.

The dark lagers are both made using Munich and Pilsner malts, are dark in colour, and have a balance that strongly smells and tastes of malt. The Munich Dunkel is an intense Munich malt experience with a wonderful full body and creamy head. The Schwarzbier (black beer) looks like a stout, but is extremely clean in flavor with no esters or diacetyl. Roasted malts and Munich malt dominate the aroma and flavor. Commercial examples of Munich Dunkel are Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel, Hacker-Pschorr Alt Munich Dark, Paulaner Alt Muenchner Dunkel, Tabernash Munich Dark, and Weeping Radish Dunkel. Some Schwarzbiers are Kulmbacher Moenchschof Kloster Schwarz-Bier, and Ur-Koestritzer Schwarzbier.

The bocks include the styles Traditional, Hellesbock/Maibock, Doppelbock, and Eisbock. These lagers are known for their higher than average alcohol content (6.0 – 7.5% for ordinary bocks). The traditional bock is amber to brown in colour with a strong sensation of Munich and Vienna malts. Commercial examples include Aass Bock, Hacker-Pschorr Dunkeler Bock, Dunkel Ritter Bock, and Einbecker Ur-Bock. Helles is the German word for pale, and therefore the Hellesbock, as the name suggests, is, golden amber in colour, with a rich pale malt flavor just balanced by continental German hops. Commercial examples are Ayinger Maibock, Spaten Premium Bock, Pschorr Maerzenbock, Wuerzburger Maibock, Hacker-Pschorr Maibock, Augustiner Hellerbock, Fieders Bock Im Stein, and Forschungs St. Jacobus Bock. The word "doppel" means double and thus the Doppelbock has about double the strength of an ordinary bock, 7.5 – 12.0 % abv. A big beer like this is bound to have some plum-like esters in its aroma and flavor, but a well made doppelbock is clean, smoot, and warming. It is a difficult beer to produce indeed. These beers are dark in colour due to the Maillard reactions during decoction mashing and posess some roasty and toasted malt flavor. Commercial examples are Paulaner Salvator, Ayinger Celebrator, Spaten Optimator, Tucher Bajuvator, Augustiner Maximator, EKU Kulminator "28", Loewenbraeu Triumphator, Hacker-Pschorr Animator, and Old Dominion Dominator. The bock with the highest alcohol content is the Eisbock (ice bock) which is produced by freezing the water in the beer and removing the alcohol rich liquid. The resulting alcohol content is 8.6-14.4% abv. This beer is technically illegal for home- brewers to make because it falls under the same type of beverage as distilled spirits, due to the separation of alcohol from water. The freezing also creates a smoothness not evident in other higher alcohol beers. A commercial example is Niagara Eisbock.

Home Brewery For Sale, $500

Two Tier Sankey Keg System, propane burner-heated.
-Hot Liquor Back has sight line, temperature probe and valve.
-Mash Tun has SS Perforated Plate false bottom.
-Kettle has SS Perforated Plate false bottom for hop and trub separation.
-Stands for vessels
-Magnetically-coupled centrifugal pump
-Counter-flow wort cooler
-Two 50lb propane cylinders (recently tested)
-Flash immersion heated RIMS heater included (system can operate using both RIMS and/or direct heat)
-Grist container on wheels
-"Valley Mill" grist mill
-Two 10gal plastic carboys, valves installed
-Vinyl covers for brewing vessels
-Digital thermometer
-Digital pH meter
-Hand-crafted wooden paddles
-Bottle capper and caps
-Various adjuncts
-Yeast propagator with aeration stone and compressor
-Books including "Classic Beers at
Home"(Pratz), "Brewers'
Handbook"(Noonan), "Handbook of
Homebrewing"(Miller)

Contact: Blackie Blackburn
(250) 554 1631
#19, 1105 Quail Drive
Kamloops, BC
V2B 8R4

By the way, that’s Jason Meyer’s granddad’s brewery. Many of you will remember Jason as a former EHG president. Actually, Blackie has been a member of the EHG by remote for many years. Ray, tell us is this one even more elaborate than Jason’s? For 500 bucks this is a steal. If I had a truck, I’d be on my way to Kamloops.

View from the Top

Boy, talk about an awesome meeting in Feb. Fantastic turnout, four new members and some truly excellent brown ales for the AHA club only competition.

We had an excellent turnout in Feb with lots of enthusiasm for the beers being tasted. The judging team had their work cut out for them as no less than 8 brown ales showed up to be judged. Sadly, when the dregs had settled, only one beer could go on. I say sadly because there were many tasty brews to be tried – they all could have been winners. That being said, Greg Wondga’s American Brown Ale floated to the top of the pack and is being shipped on to the club only event.

I was really pleasantly surprised at the interest shown in the BURRP competition. No less than 12 brewers signed up to give ridiculous brewing a go. If you lost your nerve at the last meeting you can still sign up in March. Brian at Harvest has the bags of two row ready to go.IMPORTANT. For those who signed up for the Saturday brew at Alley Kat, we had to change the date to 15 March instead of 22 March. I’m really looking forward to May when we get to taste these imaginative concoctions. Remember also, that there is an experimental category in the MCAB events – so even if these don’t hit a perfect style you should be able to enter these brews in that category at the ABC.

Speaking of the ABC, I hope you’ve been firing up your brewpots for our local homegrown national level competition. Jim Whittome’s been working on the web page and hopefully this years ABC page will be up by the time you read this. Keep checking at the page for new competition updates.

TASTINGS

The March meeting is featuring European Lagers: Pale, Amber and Dark. It’s a non-AHA. event but don’t let that stop you from bring any of these wonderful beers to share with your buddies.

KUDO’s

Congratulations to Harry Wagner who took a gold medal with his American Pale Ale in the MCAB Finals in Chicago. This is an extremely competitive class to win in. Nothing like beating the Yanks on their own turf with one of their indigenous beers. Way to go Harry. I hope you have enough of that beer set aside to compete in the ABC again this year.

BJCP EXAM

It’s all over for the boys who survived to write the BJCP exam. 5 Edmontonians and 2 Calgarians wrote the exam on 22 Feb. We’re certainly going to mint some new judges from this group. Thanks to Harry Wagner and Martin Langshaw who served as tasting proctors for the exam. And thanks to Neil who hosted all sessions at Alley Kat.

Bring those bottles…

I just got this last minute email from our competition guru, Glen Hannah:

I was speaking to Kevin earlier tonight and he wanted to suggest to anyone interested in submitting entries to the upcoming 4th Annual Lethbridge Werthogs Homebrew Competition in Lethbridge that there's still time left and he has made arrangements with Veryl Todd the organizer. Just show up around 20 minutes early to the March 3rd club meeting (6:40pm) with 3 bottles of your entry or entries. We'll wrap up everyone's entries into one package and Kevin will run it over to Greyhound and it should get into Veryl's hands the next day. If we can get good representation from our club at their competition then we should receive a lot of Werthog entries at our Aurora Brewing Challenge in June. I'll bring extra entry forms and rules for anyone who needs them.

Upcoming Out of Town Competitions

Werthogs 4th Annual Homebrew Competition

Where: Lethbridge
Entries Due: March 1st; judging March 8th
Ship to: Prairie Vintners and Brewers
231-13 street North
Lethbridge, Alberta
5-6 mixed classes. 3 bottles/entry.
Email Veryl Todd: veryl.todd@lethbridgecollege.ab.ca
A relatively new competition hosted by a small but enthusiastic club. Contact Veryl personally to get information. Let’s try and support these guys..

March in Montreal – CABA sponsored

Where: Montreal
Entries Due: March 15. Judging: by end of March
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA except meads and cider. 2 bottles per entry. Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Fees: $6.00 CABA members, $9.00 non members. Fifth and additional $5.00 CABA members.
Website: http://www.realbeer.com/caba
Ship to: Brasserie Le Chaudron
5710 Garnier,
Montreal, Quebec
H2G 2Z7
Phone: 1-514-276-0744
This is the first year MIM has gone for the full BJCP/AHA styles and 2 bottle entry. I encourage you to support this longstanding eastern competition. It’s a great pretest for GCHC and ABC. The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

Great Canadian Homebrew Competition – CABA sponsored – AHA qualifier

Where: Toronto
Entries Due: 19 April
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads and cider. 2 bottles per entry. Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Fees: unknown but usually $6.00 CABA members, $9.00 non members. Fifth and additional $5.00 CABA members. If you win and proceed to AHA there is an additional small charge levied by AHA for competing. (In turn AHA defers all 1st round fees to CABA – good deal for all Canadians)
Website: http://www.realbeer.com/caba
Ship to:

I highly encourage all members to compete in this national level competition. This is THE competition for clubs to gain points for the AHA brew club of the year. It is very important to the international stature of our competition for us to score high in the AHA standings. For a number of years we were the best club at this competition and ranked as the number one club in Canada. But last year Regina took it by storm – in part because only 2 EHG members competed instead of our usual 7-11. Time to recapture the crown boys. Get brewing for this one. It’s a great pretest for Regina and ABC. Top 3 beers in each class go on to compete in AHA annual national competition in May. The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

ALES Annual Open Homebrew Competition

Where: Regina
Entries due: in early May.
2 bottles per entry (I’m pretty sure). Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads.
Fees: unknown at this time.
I can’t say enough good things about this most excellent brew club. These guys have worked hard and now host the second largest competition in Canada, with ours being the only larger one. Last year they had 133 entries and they are looking to break the magic 150 and move up 1 level in competition rank to get more judging points. The ALES have given ABC just fantastic support over the last number of years and I highly encourage Edmonton to return the favour. It would be awesome if we helped them break the 150 level. Besides, they need some friendly competition on their home turf It is interesting that Regina encourages lots of kit beer entries and attributes much of their success to encouraging non-all-grain brewers to compete. Apparently many of their wins in GCHC were not from grain brewers. So get brewing extract men – we need you!
The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

Marquis de Suds

Where: Calgary
Entries Due: June 18th
Judging: June 21
No other information available at this time. The plan right now is to have 6-8 mixed styles groups with 3 bottles per entry. Special this year in honor of the solstice; the “Best Lawnmower Beer” award for the most thirst quenching, session beer of the comp.
Email: timoborn@shaw.ca
This competition is being revised by one of our BJCP participants, Tim Oborn. Tim is really pumped to make this event happen. Let’s make sure we send a whole bunch of beers to Calgary to help get this competition rejuvinated. I here Regina is planning to compete heavily. Let’s end the competition season with another victory for Edmonton and Alberta! Tim will be coming up to Edmonton to judge at the ABC – I bet we can ship our entries back with him. Tim says he’ll be looking for judges from Edmonton to help out; it’ll be a good chance for our judges to get some more competition points this year.
More information on these and other competitions will be posted every month. If you have some solid information on these competitions please email me directly with the data.

Hop Farmers, where are you?

We recently received the following correspondence.
Anybody out there who has a few rhizomes to spare?

Hello.
I stumbled across the Edmonton homebrewer's Guild web site in my search for a local source for hops rhizomes. I have found a couple of US nurseries providing hops rhizomes, but it seems there may be trouble trying to get rhizomes into Canada. I work in Edmonton, and live on an acreage near Tofield. I have been an avid homebrewer for over 10 years, and am seriously interested in starting up my own private hop yard (garden). I am not a member of the EHG, but I was hoping that you may have some members with their own hop gardens who would be able and willing to share some rhizome cuttings.
I am primarily interested in Cascade, Hallertauer, and Tettnanger; though I am pretty open minded to other varieties. Can you help?
Regards,
Einar Holtet

British court rules for Czech 'Bud'

Status quo reigns: 'Budweiser' and 'Bud' brands names still shared Feb 18, 2003 - Anheuser-Busch has lost its latest legal effort to prevent Czech rival Budejovicky Budvar from using "Budweiser Budvar" and "Bud" in the United Kingdom, although the decision won't affect A-B's operations there.

A ruling on Monday by the House of Lords, the country's highest civil court, ends legal action by A-B to revoke these two trademarks owned by Budejovicky Budvar.

In the mid-1990s, A-B asked the U.K. Patent Office to revoke Budvar's trademark registration of these two names, alleging that the Czech brewer had allowed the trademark to lapse due to non-use. Although the Patent Office decided that no lapse occurred, A-B has been appealing this decision.

Earlier decisions in the British courts already had required A-B, the world's largest brewer, to share "Budweiser" and "Bud" brand names with Budvar. A-B owns a brewery in the United Kingdom, which is the company's second-largest market.

A-B started using the Budweiser name in 1876, which is 19 years before the Czech brewery opened. But the Czechs maintain "Budweiser" refers to 'Budweis,' the original name of the city where Budvar is located, and that the name commonly referred to beer brewed in that area hundreds of years before Anheuser-Busch started brewing Budweiser.

Priest brews in washing machine

German adheres to Reinheitsgebot - no soapy taste

Feb 4, 2003 - A German priest has found a way to brew beer in his washing machine. Michael Fey, of Duisburg, built a computer interface into the machine to let it run an automatic brewing program.

The process includes turning and heating, but not spinning, according to a report in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"A priest without alcohol, that's the wrong combination," he said. "Jesus didn't say, take this healthy camomile tea, he offered wine."

Fey brews 30 liter every six weeks, the legal limit for homebrewing in Germany. He has pictures (like the one to the right).

He said he was inspired by the tradition of monks who brewed beer in a cauldron over a fire. To imitate the technique, he opted for a toploader washing machine. Before he started brewing, he ran it about 20 times to remove any soap residue.

The priest brews in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, the German beer purity law that dictates only water, malt, hops (and now yeast) shall be used in making beer.

French tax threatens Belgian brewers

Duty on high alcohol Trappist beers adds $1.60 per 750ml bottle

Jan 22, 2003 - The Belgian government has rallied behind its brewers, who are threatened with lower sales because of a tax on higher alcohol beers imposed by by French officials.

"The French are playing tricks on us," said Father Omar, a monk who brews the popular Chimay Trappist ale. "But, of course, we still love them."

The French government instituted the steep tax on beers with over 8.5% of alcohol content beginning Jan. 1. The higher tax has reduced sales in Belgian brewers' prime export market and jeopardized the future of several microbreweries.

"I see nothing good coming from this kind of trade war," said Belgian Foreign Trade Minister Annemie Neyts, arguing France was trying to curb the growth of Belgian specialty beers on its market at the expense of local beverages. "Too bad they have gone down this road." The Belgian government has approached the European Union to check if the tax complies with EU fair trading rules.

France said the tax plan of adding two euros ($2.10) in taxes per liter of strong beer is an attempt to counter alcoholism, but Neyts sees it as protectionist since France itself does not produce beer as potent. "Why does the measure only apply to strong beer and not on wine which has a much higher alcohol content and consumption?" she asked. "It is a piece of French logic which will need some explaining."

The Belgian say some microbrewers surviving on narrow profit margins could be pushed into bankruptcy. More than two dozen brewers across Belgium are directly affected by the tax plan. "For the small brewers, it is a catastrophe," said Father Omer.

The tax could cost Chimay, the biggest exporter of the strong beer, about 125,000 euros ($130,000) a month — with far-reaching effects. To be labeled Trappist a) beer needs to be brewed at the abbey, b) production must be overseen by monks, and c) a majority of all profits go to good causes. Father Omer said Chimay's profits go to projects as scattered as India, Congo and the poor in Belgium's southern Hainault province, where the abbey is based.

Any Holiday Plans yet?

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• Click here for additional information on entertainment and fun – includes photos!
• Click here to see photos of inside the ship

Experience breathtaking views and natural wonders of Alaska –

• Visit Skagway, the heart of the Gold Rush Country
• see the spectacular Misty Fjords and land on a glacier
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Find out more at
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/brewcruise/index.html

Brick's Stubby Battle Goes to Court

Waterloo-based Brick Brewing's battle with Brewer's Retail over their use of stubby bottles goes to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice today. Brick is looking for an injunction to force Brewer's Retail to continue to supply it with industry standard bottles. The beer distributor and retailer is owned jointly by Molson, Labatt and Sleeman, and has threatened to stop supplying Brick with regular bottles unless Brick stops using older 'stubbies' for some of its products.

Bodensatz reported in April of last year on how Brick's move to stubby bottles has sparked a huge streak of nostalgia in the country, which two months later was quite visible on the bottom line One again we find it disturbing and disgusting the amount of control the 3 major breweries in this province have over smaller breweries. These sorts of strong-arm tactics should not be allowed.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH TO GO BARE KNUCKLE AGAINST GUINNESS

Pugilistically Named New Product Still in Development

By Hillary Chura
BOSTON (AdAge.com) -- Anheuser-Busch Cos. is exploring the launch of a niche beer carrying the brand
name Bare Knuckle.

Expected to be a stout, Bare Knuckle would go head to head against Guinness, the Irish institution marketed by rival Diageo.

Downplay St. Louis roots

Advertising would likely downplay the brew's St. Louis roots, according to one knowledgeable person, since beer aficionados tend to shun the world's largest brewer in favor of specialty beers.

Plans are not finalized, though the beer is believed to be close to test, with advertising by Rodgers Townsend, St. Louis. An Anheuser-Busch spokesman declined to comment, and the agency did not return calls. Anheuser-Busch in October registered for trademarks on "Bare Knuckle," "Bare Knuckle Light" and "Bare Knuckle Draft."
The company has long been interested in the high-end and has tried -- albeit unsuccessfully -- to strike deals with imports such as Heineken. One distributor, who said he had not heard of Bare Knuckle, welcomed the idea since Anheuser-Busch markets no stout.

Related Stories:

THE IRISH BEER AMERICANS LOVE TO HATE

Can BBDO's New Guinness Work Turn That Around?

Weizenbier conquers New York

Germany's favorite summer beverage has crossed the Atlantic and is popping up on tables all over New York City. "Weizenbier" has become the latest fad there, even though New Yorkers don't seem to know how to drink it.

A Bavarian brewmaster would most certainly take offense.

The famous "Kristallweizen", a clear wheat ale, being drunk out of a wine glass with ice cubes! But that's what's happening in New York City. As each sip is taken, the waitress pours a refill over the melting ice.

In Germany, the tall, slender Weizenbier glass is a symbol of the nation's beer culture. Most importantly, it holds the entire half liter (17 ounces) content of a bottle. Germans sometimes like to pop a wedge of lemon in their wheat beer glasses, turning the most refreshing beer of all into something absolutely essential for summer.

But New Yorkers don't seem to mind the watered-down version with ice cubes.

"I love the stuff and drink it in the summertime. It's sweet and crisp," says one drinker interviewed by DW-Radio. Another compares it to potato chips: "You can't just have one."

And there is one more benefit to the cloudy drink, he adds. "It doesn't give you a hangover" - surprising, when you consider the 5.5 percent alcohol content.

Cloudy and delicious

Traditionally, beer is made with malted barley. But wheat beer substitutes the barley with a substantial proportion of wheat. This makes it lighter, both in color and taste.

If the label says "Hefeweizen", the bottle contains unfiltered wheat beer. This means the yeast ("Hefe") is still in the bottle, which turns the beer cloudy and makes for a more intense, almost spicy flavor. Kristallweizen, on the other hand, has been filtered prior to bottling and has a more delicate taste.

Not only are the special wheat beer glasses a tradition, pouring Hefeweizen is an art in itself. The glass needs to be rinsed out with cold water, then held over the mouth of the bottle. Both are then turned upside down.

As the beer gushes out, the bottle should be lifted up slowly. When it's nearly empty, it should be withdrawn completely and swung around in one hand to capture the last grains of yeast, which are then poured in vigorously to cloud the beer (in the case of non-filtered varieties).

Germany: a new trend?

After Belgian beer was all the rage in the hip city, Germany's wheaty brew creations seem to be the next "in" drink in New York. According to the New York City Beer Guide online, no less than 28 bars and restaurants serve German Weizenbier on tap. And a near countless number offer their customers several other popular German brews.

Most of these pubs are popping up in the new hot district of the East Village. These bars are a far cry from the traditional German Hofbräuhaus environment with their rustical interior, folk music, and hearty sausage platters. They're more in line with the new Berlin scene: modern, cool and definitely the meeting place for trend-conscious city dwellers.

One of the more popular New York German beer bars is Zum Schneider, which Celebrator Beer News magazine referred to in July as the "new hotspot for hip urbanites" looking for a change from their normal martinis. The owner's wheat beer is reputed to be the best in town, and the lines of young beer fans waiting to enter Schneider's place begin forming early in the evening.

In true German beer drinking tradition, Georg Schneider insists on serving his guests wheat beer in the authentic conical Weizen glasses. The question is, will this too catch on in the city of trends, or will New Yorkers prefer sipping the German suds from their elegant wine glasses.

Prarie Drought Could Drive Up Beer Prices

While farmers on Canada's praries are experiencing the worse extended drought on record, beer drinkers must come to terms with the very real possibility that this could drive up beer prices. Malted barley has already climbed from 175 a tonne in June, to it's current level of 207.

One past president of the Western Barley Grower's Association is even concerned that the drought may affect the quality of beer. Farmers may be able to make more money selling the quality barley as feed to desperate livestock owners, leaving lower-quality grain for brewing.

Drunken bear tricked into giving up booze after villagers tire of his 'singing'

A beer-loving bear has been tricked into going on the wagon after locals in a Bosnian village grew tired of his drunken 'singing'.

The bear, named Mrki by the villagers of Dobratic, got a taste for beer after finding half-drunk cans left over by the locals.

But villagers decided to trick him into drinking non- alcoholic beer after they tired of him spending his nights 'singing' in a nearby meadow.

Tadija Sugic, who owns a coffee shop in the village, said: "It got to the stage of him drinking up to 20 cans of beer a day and getting drunk.

"We tried to give him soft drinks like cola and orange, but he just didn't like them so we decided to trick him with non-alcoholic beer - and it's worked a treat. He loves it."

The two-year-old bear has lived in the meadow close to the village since an early age after hunters killed his mother.

Since then the villagers have fed him and Sugic said: "He is so tame that you can sit down and enjoy a beer with him without fear that he will turn aggressive."

View from the Top

Once again I am caught with too little time and too much to say. So I will focus on two upcoming events that are very important for club members to participate in. First the Great Canadian Homebrew Competition (GCHC) in Toronto and secondly, the Regina Ales Competition.

GCHC

This is an important event for a number of reason, foremost being that it provides entry for the top 3 beers in each class to move on to the American Homebrewers Association annual national competition. This is also the event that allows us to gain the most points in the AHA’s national ranking of top clubs in North America. Until last year we were the number one club in Canada and have always been in the top 10. Last year Regina took the title of best club in Canada and came in the top five. This year we have a chance to regain that title, given that I have already scored a significant number of points by winning the British Bitter Best Club competition. With a bit of effort we should do well this year. As you are undoubtably aware the Guild is subsidizing the shipping of your entries to this competition. In order to make this happen you need to bring your entries (2 bottles for each entry ,completed entry form, and entry fees) to the April meeting. We will be packaging the beers for a group shipping at the meeting. Bring a wine box if you have one – it will really help. The details for this competition are included in this newsletter. Please go for it and compete. Show you’re proud to represent Edmonton in this national level competition. You don’t have to be a seasoned expert. Regina won the competition last year based largely on novice brewers submitting extract brews.

Regina Ales

Once again our sister club in Regina is hosting a competition that strongly encourages all levels of competitors. The ALES go out of their way to encourage brewers to enter their competition as an educational experience. They charge $5.00 per entry for first 5 entries, any entry above that is no charge – so it’s very inexpensive to send multiple entries. You can enter as many times as you want within a subclass. They actually encourage you to enter a single beer in many subclasses so that you can get multiple opinions on what style your beer is. It should be no surprise, therefore that in the past few years this has become Canada’s second Largest competition – our’s being the largest.

Regina has always given fantastic support to our competition – we would not be number one without them. I encourage you to reciprocate their generosity and send them some beers. We really hope Regina is able to break the 200 mark this year. I do not have a workable version of Regina’s entry form. But it can be downloaded at www.alesclub.com I will have Gunther email the version to all members on our list when I am able to get a working copy.

Let’s meet at Alley Kat at 11:00 AM on Saturday April 19 to package up the beers. I will take them to Pak Mail for shipping. If you can’t make that date, drop your entries off at Alley Kat sometime before the 19th. I would like to send at least 40 entries to Regina. To help reach that goal, I will commit myself to sending at least 8 entries. Again, shipping will be subsidized by the Guild.

Kudos

Once again Edmonton struck for metal in a regional competition. At the Lethbridge Werthogs annual competition Bruce Sample took a silver medal in Light Ales and I took a silver in Light Lagers. Gold in Light Ales went to long distance member Tim Oborn, who wrote the BJCP exam with us. I understand that Greg Wondga had a hand in brewing that entry. This was a combined class competition where you not only had to win in your style but also against all beers in the class. So it was a true mark of excellent brewing to medal in this one. Showing their typical strong support for regional competitions, Regina sent in between 20-30% of the entries and took well over 50% of the medals.

Bits and Pieces

1. For the first time in our history, the executive decided to not completely stop club meetings during the summer. While there will be no meeting in July, there will be one in August. It will be a casual outdoor BBQ and we hope to hold it on the evening of Friday the 8th. It will be held in the backyard of Roxy Hastings. The house has a big covered back deck and a big sunny yard. The beer style for the evening will be American Pale Ale. We hope this helps maintain our momentum and gets our members in swing for the September AGM.
2. We are taking July off but we want to compete as many times as possible in the AHA club only competition. Therefore, we have decided that the EHG member who ranks highest (I wanted to say, who takes gold ) in the European Pale Lager category of the ABC will represent the club in the AHA club only competition. That competition is being held in early August.

BURRP

Just a reminder that at May’s meeting we will be tasting the results of the BURRP brews. We have about 15 members participating. It’ll be a real interesting event. Already I know there is an amazing variety of beers being produced from the simple starting point of 10 lbs of pale malt. Neil and I introduced three new members to the joy of all-grain brewing helping create a Belgian Ale, Munich Dunkel and a British Pale Ale.

Great Glory at March in Montreal

Two Albertans shone at the March in Montreal competition. Our very own Roxy scored a first place with a Dunkelweizen (watch out, Günther), second place with British Bitter and Munich Helles and third place with his Saison. Veryl Todd form Lethbridge won a first with his Octoberfest. Congratulations to both.

Calling all beer enthusiasts !!

Let's go to Original Joes, where all the cool kats go to quaff their favourite malt beverages!

Matt and Barry of Originals Joes have extended an invitation to all guild members to drop by for a superior dining and drinking experience.

Original Joes dining menu offers a wide choice of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees plus the best desserts and coffees. First time visitors can't go wrong with "Joe's double dog", a charbroiled European all beef wiener with onions, Roma tomatoes and special sauce. Yum!

Original Joes also has an excellent variety of beverages to please all. Choose from red and white wines, cocktails and an excellent selection of beers on tap including your favourite Alley Kat beer. Burp!

For those who have not visited Original Joes, they are located at 12520-102 Ave, phone 452-3034 if you need more information. Visit their website at www.originaljoes.ca.

Please introduce yourself to Matt or Barry, they're the busy guys behind the bar. Tell them "The Guild" sent you.

What, you're still reading this ? Put down this newsletter and get yourself down to Original Joes, you're in for a good time. Don't forget to bring your friends.

Upcoming Out of Town Competitions

Great Canadian Homebrew Competition – CABA sponsored – AHA qualifier

Where: Toronto
Entries Due: 19 April
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads and cider. 2 bottles per entry. Standard rules of 1 entry per subclass
Fees: $6.00 CABA members, $9.00 non members. Fifth and additional $5.00 CABA members. If you win and proceed to AHA there is an additional small charge levied by AHA for competing. (In turn AHA defers all 1st round fees to CABA – good deal for all Canadians)
Website: http://www.realbeer.com/caba
Ship to: Magnotta Brewery
271 Chrislea Road
Vaughan, Ontario,
L4L 8N6

I highly encourage all members to compete in this national level competition. This is THE competition for clubs to gain points for the AHA brew club of the year. It is very important to the international stature of our competition for us to score high in the AHA standings. For a number of years we were the best club at this competition and ranked as the number one club in Canada. But last year Regina took it by storm – in part because only 2 EHG members competed instead of our usual 7-11. Time to recapture the crown boys. Get brewing for this one. It’s a great pretest for Regina and ABC. Top 3 beers in each class go on to compete in AHA annual national competition in May. The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

ALES Annual Open Homebrew Competition

Where: Regina
Entries due: in early May. 2 bottles per entry. No limit to entries per subclass.
Styles: Full BJCP/AHA including meads.
Fees: $5.00/ entry for first five entries; 6th and more – NO CHARGE!
Send to:
The Bushwakker Brewpub
2206 Dewdney Avenue
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4R 1H3
Contact:
Kelly Deis 1- 306-761-1942
kbdeis@accesscomm.ca
I can’t say enough good things about this most excellent
brew club. These guys have worked hard and now host
the second largest competition in Canada, with ours
being the only larger one. Last year they had 133 entries
and they are looking to break the magic 150 and move
up 1 level in competition rank to get more judging
points. The ALES have given ABC just fantastic support
over the last number of years and I highly encourage
Edmonton to return the favour. It would be awesome if
we helped them break the 150 level. Besides, they need
some friendly competition on their home turf
It is interesting that Regina encourages lots of kit beer
entries and attributes much of their success to
encouraging non-all-grain brewers to compete.
Apparently many of their wins in GCHC were not from
grain brewers. So get brewing extract men – we need
you!
The EHG will subsidize the cost of a group shipping of beers to this event.

Marquis de Suds

Where: Calgary
Entries Due: June 18th
Judging: June 21
No other information available at this time. The plan right now is to have 6-8 mixed styles groups with 3 bottles per entry. Special this year in honor of the solstice; the “Best Lawnmower Beer” award for the most thirst quenching, session beer of the comp.
Email: timoborn@shaw.ca

This competition is being revised by one of our BJCP participants, Tim Oborn. Tim is really pumped to make this event happen. Let’s make sure we send a whole bunch of beers to Calgary to help get this competition rejuvinated. I here Regina is planning to compete heavily. Let’s end the competition season with another victory for Edmonton and Alberta! Tim will be coming up to Edmonton to judge at the ABC – I bet we can ship our entries back with him. Tim says he’ll be looking for judges from Edmonton to help out; it’ll be a good chance for our judges to get some more competition points this year.

More information on these and other competitions will be posted every month. If you have some solid information on these competitions please email me directly with the data. Entry forms for all these competitions are attached to this newsletter.

It's the chips, stupid

There's a game on TV, so you grab a beer and a bag of chips and you settle in. The chips leave you a little thirsty, so you grab another beer. After a while, you notice that the chips are almost gone and it's not even halftime. You jump in the car at the break, go and pick up a Burger King Whopper and a bag of fries and return for the second half. Of course, you have to drink another beer.

OK, it's not "just the chips," but the calories in three beers (450 for "average" beers) don't add up to the calories in a Whopper (650), or an 8-ounce bag of potato chips (1,200), or a large order of fries (500) at a fast food restaurant.

As noted elsewhere, if you drink one 12-ounce bottle of beer every day and don't otherwise alter your diet or your exercise regime then you can expect to gain about 15 pounds over the course of a year. Something has to give. We sure don't advocate giving up eating, but it seldom hurts to get more excercise or to think about what you are eating.

Meanwhile, here are the calorie counts for food and drink you might consider discretionary:

• A five-ounce glass of wine 125 calories (that's average, and like beer may vary quite a bit).
• One ounce of distilled spirits, 90 proof, 75 calories.
• Bloody Mary (1.5 ounces vodka), 130 calories.
• Pina colada (8 ounces), 465 calories.
• Long Island iced tea (8 ounces), 225 calories.
• Martini (3 ounces), 190 calories.
• Margarita (8 ounces), 300 calories.
• Mint Julep (10 ounces), 210 calories.
• Pretzel sticks, 1 ounce, 115 calories.
• Plain salted peanuts, 1 ounce, 160 calories.
• Air-popped popcorn, 1 cup, 31 calories.
• Oil-popped with butter, 1 cup, 115 calories.
• Milk chocolate bar, 1.5 ounces, 225 calories.
• Peanut M&Ms, 1 package, 250 calories.
• Snickers, 1 bar, 280 calories.
• Cashew nuts, 3.5 ounces, 575 calories.
• Large taco, 575 calories.
• Onion rings, 8, 175 calories.
• Milk shake, 360 calories.
• A banana split, 550 calories.

When to say when

Although some customers complain, the Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington, Vt., limits customers to two pints of beer an hour, knowing full well alcohol has a cumulative effect.

The fact is, alcohol affects individuals differently. Your blood alcohol level will be influenced by your age, gender, physical condition, amount of food consumed and any drugs or medication. The altitude where you are drinking makes a difference, as does the strength of the beer.

Those factors all complicate the ongoing debate about how much you can drink before it is unsafe to drive. However, in most states, if your blood- alcohol limit is above .08% then it is not legal for you to drive, and legal is legal. We present these charts with that in mind.

We also return our thoughts to the Vermont Pub & Brewery. In it's pub area there is a Ben Franklin saying, "All things in moderation," etched beautfiully in glass. That is worth remembering wherever you drink. These charts offer approximate blood alcohol percentages that would be expected for men and women of about these weights and for various amounts consumed. Remember, in most states .08% is the number to remember. One drink is considered 1.25 ounces of 80 proof spirits, one 12- ounce serving of "regular" (5% abv) beer or 5 ounces of table wine. Also, subtract .01% for each 40 minutes of drinking.

Men
Drinks	Body Weight in Pounds
	100	120	140	160	180	200	220	240
1	.04	.03	.03	.02	.02	.02	.02	.02
2	.08	.06	.05	.05	.04	.04	.03	.03
3	.11	.09	.08	.07	.06	.06	.05	.05
4	.15	.12	.11	.09	.08	.08	.07	.06
5	.19	.16	.13	.12	.11	.09	.09	.08
6	.23	.19	.16	.14	.13	.11	.10	.09
7	.26	.22	.19	.16	.15	.13	.12	11
8	.30	.25	.21	.19	.17	.15	.14	.13
9	.34	.28	.24	.21	.19	.17	.15	.14
10	.38	.31	.27	.23	.21	.19	.17	.16

Women
Drinks	Body Weight in Pounds
	90	100	120	140	160	180	200	220	240
1	.05	.05	.04	.03	.03	.03	.02	.02	.02
2	.10	.09	.08	.07	.06	.05	.05	.04	.04
3	.15	.14	.11	.10	.09	.08	.07	.06	.06
4	.20	.18	.15	.13	.11	.10	.09	.08	.08
5	.25	.23	.19	.16	.14	.13	.11	.10	.09
6	.30	.27	.23	.19	.17	.15	.14	.12	.11
7	.35	.32	.27	.23	.20	.18	.16	.14	.13
8	.40	.36	.30	.26	.23	.20	.18	.17	.15
9	.45	.41	.34	.29	.26	.23	.20	.19	.17
10	.51	.45	.38	.32	.28	.25	.23	.21	.19

India Pale Ale Revival

Objective: To receive a traditional style India Pale Ale similar to the style being brewed and shipped to India DURING THE LATE 18TH century. The brewing process, the recipe, and the environment of which the ale will age will all be similar to the process used by English brewers during this time period.

Announcement: IPA's are popular in the Northwest as a lot of our palates yearn for that hop profile only found in these bitter ales. Brewer's know the history of this ale and recreate their own derivations using modern processes, ingredients and conditioning practices. IPA was founded on the basis of brewing an ale that could last the long voyage from England to India and still arrive fresh, 4 months later.

A Brief History: In the mid to late 18th century English brewers saw a huge market potential in the East Indies for distribution of their fine ales to the English troops and an increasing number of English civilians. In the first few attempts these darker style ales would arrive in India musty and sour due to the long sea voyage. A wine merchant by the name of Kenton came up with the idea of uncorking these ales, allowing them to go flat and then re-corking them right before shipping. This process added a sort of second carbonation briskness to the ale from being shook up in the hulls of the ships. Two problems still existed at this point. The first problem was the beer still had little to no shelf life after the voyage, and second the dark ales of England were not so desirable in the heat of India.

Along came an idea from George Hodgson a brewer at the Bow Brewery in East London. Hodgson took hi popular English pale ale, increased the alcohol content and the hop profile, dry hopped the heck out of it and added more sugar than usual to the wood casks before shipping. These factors acting together would allow the beer to maintain its quality during the 4 month voyage from England to India and was drink ably preferred in the Indian heat.

Intent: The Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub is launching a traditional IPA reenactment. This specially brewed IPA will begin in our brew house and be conditioned in oak barrels much like the barrels used to store the beer during its rigorous 3-4 month voyage from England to India. The Raccoon Den will feature storyboards and maps of the 4 month voyage form start to finish. Every month the "Hinny" ship will reach a port of call where one of the 4 oak barrels will be tapped to taste the beer at different points of its voyage.

On June 15th, after the 4month voyage to India, the final barrel will be tapped and inspected by the official tasters whose evaluations could deny the beer entry into India. If accepted, the beer will then reach the masses in India for consumption.

Taken with permission from an e-mail by Ron Gansberg, head brewer and "Chief Imagineer" of Raccoon Lodge Brewery

View from the Top

What can I say but that we are rapidly approaching the end of our regular brewing season and with that competition fever is upon us. Guild members anted up to the call and have entered about 24 beers in each of the Canadian Nationals in Toronto and the Saskatchewan regionals in Regina. I was especially glad to see some first time entries and entries from people who have entered but a few competitions before. That speaks well for the future of the club. Combined with a revitalized interest amongst some of our long term and more competitive members I can see the fortunes of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild are once again on the rise.

Of course the most important competition is our own EHG-Aurora Brewing Challenge/MCAB qualifier to be held of June 3-5. This is Canada’s biggest competition and draws entries from not only Alberta but across the nation and into the U.S. That being said, don’t let the size of the competition scare you off. Yes there is a lot of quality brew but the quality of the judging is also outstanding. This is your best chance to really learn about your brewing skills and how to improve them. The comments you receive are absolutely the best way to learn about brewing. Remember, virtually all of the best brewers in the Guild are those who have competed at the big competitions. They’ve learned to take to positive criticism and advice the have received from the competitions to truly hone their skills at the craft of amateur brewing. Few of us started off at the top of the pack, but many of us are there now — because we had the courage to compete.

GO FOR IT!

You can bring/send your beers to Alley Kat during the last week of May. Of course the easiest time to bring them will be for the June meeting. We also encourage you to bring beers to the May and June meetings that you have questions about. There will be many judges at these meetings who will help you decide on what class to enter. Of course a really good option, and a great way to learn about beers styles, is to enter the beer into more than one category or subcategory. We highly encourage you to consider this option, especially if you are relatively new to the art of brewing. Further, in the spirit of helping you learn about your brews, this year we have decided to take multiple entries in the same category. If you have two ESBs enter them both and let the judges pick the best one.

Glen Hannah has done a fantastic job of organizing the competition. Looks real smooth right now. Of course we will need judges and stewards to help make it a success. Get a hold of Glen at the next meeting and sign up. Stewards are critical to a great competition and a great way to get introduced to this most exciting event in amateur brewing. So if you can’t judge and you’ve never helped out before, this is an excellent chance to get involved with the Guild. Glen can also be reached at glhannah@telusplanet.net
Entry information can be found on our website www.ehg.ca

BURRP

Remember May is BURRP month where we all get to taste those really ridiculous beers that you concocted over the last few months with just 10 lbs of 2 row. Bring your beers no matter how good or how bad they turned out to be. We will have 2 panels of BJCP judges and judge candidates go through a formal evaluation and talk about the beers. But we will also want to here from the brewers. Bring your recipes and tell us what in the world you were up to and how you tried to do it! Try to name a style if you can, but just homebrew is also acceptable.

ABC 2003 update

Our competition isn’t too far away so I thought I’d update everyone with the progress of activities and accomplishments leading up to this year’s Aurora Brewing Challenge coming up on June 6th, 7th and 8th. First of all, a big thank you to Jim Whittome for designing and building a very informative and interactive website complete with links to the application form and brochure designed by Neil Herbst and Roxy Hastings. I think all your questions can be answered in the brochure. Neil and Roxy have compressed a ton of information in such a compact amount of space. Bruce Sample has lined up a caterer to take care of us on the Saturday. With all the sampling and judging that will be going on we’ll definitely be hungry! He has also gathered some awesome prizes from his industrial contacts. Stay tuned! Kevin Zaychuk has ordered the medals with no snags that will be ready well before the competition according to the supplier. Richard Bruins has been working diligently to retain past sponsors and has recruited some new ones (see brochure) so please support our sponsors. Harry Wagner and our newsletter editor Günther Tragesar have been contacting brewing clubs and associations promoting the event. As with any volunteer hosted event we can always use more. Areas you could help out in include: judging, stewarding, equipment setup and take down, data entry... There will be a sign up form at the May 3rd club meeting for all those interested. Finally, I can’t thank our Directors and volunteers enough for the work they have done. Everything is coming together to make the ABC 2003 the best one yet. I’m sure everyone is almost finished brewing their entries. Try to send in as many as you can and oh, by the way, don’t forget the cutoff date which is Monday, June 2nd the same night as the June club meeting. If you can’t volunteer for the event or will not be submitting entries don’t be a stranger – come on out to the BBQ / Best of Show wrap up party on Sunday the 8th starting around noon.

Okanagan Fest-of-Ale

Penticton, BC, April 4-5, 2003

Edmonton Home Brewer’s Guild members Bruce & Dory Sample and Glen & Linda Hannah jetted the WestJet 08:10 am flight direct to Kelowna on Friday morning to take in two days of sampling some crafted ales from Western Canada’s finest microbreweries.

A warm welcome was given to three American microbreweries that were on hand representing Washington State. Eighteen breweries served up their namely brews like “Grampa Clem’s Brown Ale” and “Back Hand of God Stout” that were well received both days. The convention hall was literally sold out, if that could ever happen! It took me over an hour to find my wife! Friday night ended at 9 pm but many carried on elsewhere. Our crew managed to weather the storm well that night and were able to carry on the following day.

Blood shot eyes and hangovers were abundant on the Saturday morning when the festival reopened at noon. Linda and I and a friend of ours didn’t plan on returning back for noon – it just happened that way. Bruce and Dory toured some wineries and met us later in the afternoon. The American microbrews all ran out of supply early Saturday afternoon. A strange liquor law exists and at the time of this writing I’m not sure if it’s provincial or federal legislation but a brewery cannot enter into Canada with more than three kegs of beer to donate otherwise duties and other tariffs are imposed.

Popular beers included: Alpine Munich Marzen, Alpine Bavarian Dunkel from Alpine Brewing (US); Barley Mill Pale Ale, Cayuse Wheat Ale from Barley Mill Brewpub; Black Bear Ale, Hemp Cream Ale, Kamloops Honey Lager from Bear Brewing; Scotch Ale, India Pale Ale, Blonde Pale Ale from Boundary Bay Brewing Co. (US); Newcastle Brown, Extra Special Pale Ale, 1516 Bavarian Lager from OK Spring; Skaha Bluff’s Light Blonde Ale, Giant’s Head Gold Canadian Ale, Naramatta Nut Brown Ale, Indian Rock IPA from Cannery Brewing Co.; Kick in the Pants Ale, Red Branch Irish Ale, Back Hand of God Stout from Crannog Ales; Cypress Honey Lager, Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale, Killarney Stout from Granville Island Brewing Co; Salt Spring Golden Ale; Mayne Sale Ale, Pender Island Porter from Gulf Island Brewery, Wild Honey Authentic Ale, Paddywack India Pale Ale, Old Brewery Pale Ale from Nelson Brewing Co.; Chilliwack Blonde, Old Yale Pale Ale, Sergeant’s IPA from Old Yale Brewing Co.; Canterbury Dark Mild, Natureland Organic Lager from Pacific Western Brewing Co.; India Pale Ale, Maple Cream Ale, Expresso Stout from Phillips Brewing; Mullen’s Special Blonde Ale, Ridge Traditional Vienna Marzen, Ridge Old English Bitter Ale from Ridge Brewing Co.; Shaftebury Cream Ale, Shaftebury Honey Pale Ale, Summer Solstice Ale from Shaftebury Brewing Co. (OK Spring); Coyote Ale, Black Widow Dark Ale, Killer Bee Dark Honey Ale from Tin Whistle Brewing Co.; La Maudite, La Terrible, La Fin du Monde from Unibroue Inc. and Boulder Creek Golden Bock, Bushwaker, Grampa Clem’s Brown Ale from Winthrop Brewing Co. (US).

Because this was an ale fest, ales were pretty well the entire menu. The usual ales were available to try: pale’s, blonde’s, IPA’s, nut brown’s, wheat’s and honey brown’s. There were exceptions and kudos to them for bringing variety: Alpine Brewing – Munich Marzen & Bavarian Dunkel, Ridge Brewing – Vienna Marzen, and Winthrop with their Golden Bock among others.

Bruce and I were looking for more obscure beers and we found some. Phillips Brewing out of Victoria and Granville Island from Vancouver were serving Maple Cream Ale. I know this style has been around but I had never tried one before. Pale in colour, hint of maple flavour with a dry, crisp finish. Reminds me of the days when I was a kid going to sugaring off parties. Not the beer but the maple syrup of course! Unibroue had generated a lot of interest with La Maudite, La Terrible and La Fin du Monde. But perhaps the most interesting beer I tried was ‘Kick in the Pants Ale’, a cask conditioned ale dry hopped with Goldings brewed by Crannog Ales in Sorrento, BC, about an hour and a half drive from Kamloops in the Shuswap region of the province. They also have a potato stout that I didn’t get to try. Brian the brewer will take anything that grows from his farm and try to create a beer from it. Their story is rather unique. Currently they are Canada’s only certified organic farmhouse microbrewery. The brewery sits on a ten-acre farm with the brewery providing feed for the livestock and the farm providing the hops (Goldings, Fuggles, Nuggett, Willamette, Bullion, Mt. Hood, Centennial and Cascade) for the brewery. Their malts come from Armstrong, BC an hour away from the farm. I guess you can say their ingredients come from the same bioregion (is that right Kevin) and quality control is easily monitored.

The festival was a great experience. I discovered different brews and learned about some new breweries I had never heard of before. Looking forward to the Great Canadian Beer Festival in Victoria next year.

Upside down carboys

As we browse the homebrew magazine ads and mail order sites, many of us wonder if a conical fermenter or unitank should part of our home brewery. There are several advantages to unitanks. Near the end of the primary fermentation cycle, the trub can be dumped without the need to rack the beer into another vessel (carboy for most of us). As active fermentation slows down, the yeast can be harvested for the next batch of beer and at the end of fermentation, the finished beer can be drained right into bottles or kegs without additional siphoning.

However, while there are several advantages to unitanks, the price of a unitank, even small ones can be more that many of us can afford without being sure this is the best way for us to brew beer. Even the low-end high-grade plastic unitanks are close to $150 CAD/$100 US with stainless steel starting at five times as much.

So what can one do to try out a unitank without breaking the grain bank? Fortunately, for about the price of a kit, the Fermentap valve kit will let you convert a standard 5 or 6.5 US gallon carboy into a "poor person's" unitank. While not as effective as even a small plastic unitank, it's a good introduction to fermenting beer like the commercial brewers.

The Fermentap valve kit consists of a valve assembly that fits on the end of a carboy with the addition of a racking cane to serve as a vent tube. After the wort is pitched with yeast, and the valve assembly is fitted, the carboy is flipped upside down and placed in a stand. Tubing is run from the racking cane vent tube into a bucket as a blow-off/airlock.

Once fermentation starts, every couple of days, one dumps trub that settles into the neck of the carboy. Even though I haven't tried it, the manufacturer claims one can harvest yeast in the same process.

After fermentation, the green beer is drained through the valve into a priming bucket or right into a keg for those who do forced carbonation. With the use of Primetabs (priming sugar in tablet form), one can even skip the priming bucket and run the beer right into the bottle.

While this sounds like a great setup, there are some challenges to using Fermentap. For one, a unitank has a 60 degree angle that allows the trub and yeast to settle down to the bottom. However, most carboy necks have a much shallower angle. With the shallow angle, yeast tends to stick on the sides and requires one to "swirl" the carboy around. Not the most easy and safe task.

Dumping trub on a regular every other day basis is also critical. I got trapped out of town for an extra couple of days and it was a challenge to get the plug out of the valve to have trub flowing again. It's not a "pitch" and leave alone setup like a standard carboy fermentation setup

I also found one needs to adjust a recipe batch to be ½ to 1 gallon less than the typical recipe for a 5-gallon batch. There needs to be a good 2 inches of headspace when the carboy is flipped upside down to avoid clogging the vent tube. For a 5 US gallon carboy, it really means 4 ½ US gallon batch. To make a full 5 US gallon batch requires a 6-6.5 US gallon carboy. Fortunately, there are several tools available for quickly adjusting batch sizes including ProMash and the Beer Tools web site (http://www.beertools.com).

Finally, setting up the assembly can be a challenge. It's not easy to flip upside down into the stand, a full 5 US gallon carboy at about 8 lbs per gallon. It really takes two people to safely setup a full 6/6.5 US gallon carboy.

It's also best to set up on a sturdy table or bench and not move it, so it's definitely an effort to lift a full carboy.

While not perfect, I've had some fun with the Fermentap valve kit. As I live in a small apartment, the kit allowed me to try out a unitank setup with existing equipment and not lose space storing even a small plastic unitank. My next project is to setup the valve kit with an 11-liter carboy (the taller 8.5 inch diameter one, not the 10 inch diameter 2.5 US gallon half height) for doing "half batches" of 2 to 2.5 gallons.

The Fermentap valve kit sells for about $23 US including a stand that can serve as a carboy drying stand. Unfortunately, Fermentap does not have direct sales and by their web site, no Canadian distributors. Several US mail order homebrew suppliers sell the kit and ship to Canada. Beer, Beer, More Beer (http://www.morebeer.com) is located just down the street from the manufacturer in Concord,CA just outside of San Francisco.

6th Annual CAMRA Beer Festival – Calgary

We received the following correspondence from our good friend Mike Tessier in Clagary:

The beer club that I am a member of, Camra, is having it's 6th big festival on May 3rd at Bottlescrew Bill's. Most of you have attended before and those of you who haven't it is always a great time. I have worked the brewers hard to make some great stuff for the festival.
Some of Alberta's best brewers make special festival only cask conditioned beers for the event ( 11 in all) and tickets are almost free at five bucks. That includes your entrance a glass you can keep and your first beer. The event runs from noon until the beer runs out or 8pm which ever comes first. Hope you all can make it is always fun.
Hope we can all enjoy a sunny day together.
Mike and Bo

I know, this is very short notice but, maybe, some of you were going to be I Calgary anyway... now you know what you can do for your personal enrichment.

View from the Top

Ok boys and girls. This is it. I’ve just come back from Regina where I had
the chance to participate both as a judge and a competitor at an awesome
and huge regional competition (story below). ALEs has positioned their competition to be a feeder to our ABC/MCAB qualifier and now it is up to us to pull off the big one. Glen has done a fantastic job of organizing his team of competition volunteers, the competition has been advertised across North America, we have the support of brew clubs across western Canada and indeed the nation. Now all we need is you.

Over the years we have built the ABC/MCAB qualifier to be Canada’s number one quality competition. We’ve built the volume, the judging standards, the professionalism and last and most important we’ve helped educate all competitors who entered by providing the best feedback possible. Everyone who enters is a winner because whether you get the gold or not – the most important thing is you get quality feedback on your efforts. That’s the main reason you should be competing in the ABC.

Don’t worry about beating Harry Wagner or me on your first go. If you do, that’s great. Harry and I will love you for it. Remember, Harry and I didn’t start off getting gold, but we were winners from the get go. Why? Because we competed - both against those who were getting gold but more importantly, against ourselves. We entered, we studied the comments, we compared those comments against our beers and the next time we brewed we went on to build better beers. Over time we became good and then eventually we became some of the best. That’s what all competition is about – being the best at what you do for yourself.

This year the ABC tradition of excellence continues. The only question is – are you going to become part of it?

ALEs – A Model Regional Competition for Canada

Hosting their regional competition under the theme of “Learning and Training” the Regina Ales this year pulled off brewing history. Even though they are not officially sanctioned by CABA, and are not a direct gateway onto higher levels of competition, these people managed to attract over 250 entries from across Canada. This easily put them into being the largest homebrew competition in Canadian history. With the rise of Regina, combined with the traditional strength of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild, western Canada now clearly is the powerhouse of homebrewing in the Nation. Things will only get better for us out here in the west. Both Regina and Edmonton are seriously interested in helping other western clubs – Regina’s theme for this years’ competition could easily be taken as the motto of both clubs. Regina, you did western Canada proud!

Three judges from Edmonton went to help out – myself, Geoff Kuziw (national in all but official recognition) and new judge Kevin Zaychuk. It was an excellent judging experience for all of us. Unlike Edmonton, which because of its gateway status to MCAB seems to attract less novice brewers and therefore has a tighter and higher range, Regina is wide open. Their program highly encourages novice brewers and multiple entries. Therefore quality ranges from bad to awesome. For a judge, especially for someone near the beginning of their judging career who still has a lot to learn, there could be no better competition to judge than this one. You got to deal with the whole range. On top of that, Regina treated us like royalty. Billeting was excellent and the club ran a tab as the competition was hosted at Bushwakker’s, I highly recommend all judges to go to Regina at least once in their judging careers. I know I’ll be back.

Despite a doubling of entries from last year, the ALEs kept their cool and processed all the entries very smoothly. Thanks in part to software donated by the EHG, but in large part to American import and computer guru, Robert who seemed to run a tight ship in the backroom. The ALEs did a good job of pairing novice and experienced judges. Like us judging is done by consensus but they do a 3-point spread. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the judges from Edmonton and the ALEs were able to come to agreement. There was good give and take, attitude was minimal and judging was efficient. Which was good because boy some of the flights were just huge!

I had told the ALEs before I arrived to either pair me with a novice (for education) or give me a big flight (for efficiency). They kindly started me off with both! My first flight was 19 stouts! Have you ever had to get through 19 stouts in a row? On top of that I was put with a novice named Tim Lowen. That was scary. It was even scarier because our first 4 beers scored 24, 23, 26, and 25. Oh Shit. You see, Regina pours their beers one at a time, unlike the whole flight approach we take. I had no idea of the range of quality I was facing. Was I being an arrogant prick and Tim being a newbie no-nothing? The only good thing was that we were both scoring the same and had the same general perception. Then we hit a 36 and a 37. Whew! Confidence was restored and we were off. Tim and I continued to score tight and about 2 hours later we were done and I mean done as in also toasted. ALEs wanted us to carry right on with dark Euro Lagers but I said no way was I going to do more dark malt. So the ALEs demonstrated their flexibility and we were rewarded with IPAs. Because we had taken so long to do the stouts I was paired with Tim again. And we continued to make a great team.

Saturday for me was a real treat because not only did I get to meet a long-term competition rival, but also I got to judge with him and what a set of flights we got. Gary Falkenstein and I wound up spending Saturday morning judging Old Ales, Scotch Ales, Barley Wines and Imperial Stouts. Life is tough but someone’s gotta do it. Again scoring was tight, perceptions parallel and speed on the mark. An awesome experience with an awesome judge.

Since, for some reason I could not do best of show, I wound up doing meads. Kevin Zaychuk was also mysteriously not selected for BOS, but Geoff Kuziw was awarded the honour of representing Alberta on the panel. Kevin and Gary Falkenstein judged the traditional meads and David Neilly and myself did fruits. They had to split it into two because they had over 20 entries in meads! I tasted some of the best berry meads in my life (and the most mouth wash like mead also, but that’s another story). We could tell that the top two berry meads were by the same guy as they had a distinct house flavour. But those were the rules and the best two won. The worst was also by the same guy – but he claimed that he just loved that mead. Go figure. (Sorry about that Russ!).

The competition ended in traditional homebrewer fashion with judges and friends doing their very best to demolish all the also rans. Several hours later I wound up at Russ Temple’s, along with my host Kelly Deis, where we proceeded to put a dint into Russ’s collection of American imports. Sometime that evening Russ’s very gracious wife drove Kelly and I back to his place.

So that’s it folks. An excellent competition. Well run, efficient teamwork, great comradery. What more can you say? To my mind this competition beats competing in the Great Canadian Homebrew competition any day. It’s gonna become my main out of Edmonton competition, I highly recommend making it yours. And if you’re a judge – it would be hard to beat the experience of judging in Regina. Go for it.

Oh, and Edmonton did very well at this competition – especially considering the huge number of entries we were up against. We came away with two best of shows and 10 additional medals.

Results:

Greg Wondga - 1st Brown Ale - American Brown
Greg Wondga - 2nd Spice Ale - Weddyn Ale
Kevin Zaychuk - 1st - American Pale Ales (this was a BURRP beer!)
Bruce Sample - 2nd - Fruit Beer - Christmas Stout
Roxy Hastings - 1st - German Wheats - Weizenbok
Roxy Hastings - 1st - Belgian Ales - Saison
Roxy Hastings - 2nd - English Bitters -ESB
Roxy Hastings - 2nd - Lambics - Lambic
Roxy Hastings - 3rd - European Pilsner - German Pils
Roxy Hastings - 3rd - Brown Ale - Southern Brown
Greg Wondga - 2nd BOS - American Brown (see - I told him those damn Americans didn't have a clue how good that beer was)
Roxy Hastings - 3rd BOS - Weizenbock
mebrew is also acceptable.

BURRP!

Well, the first annual BURRP! competition was pulled off with much fanfare, arm-twisting and imbibing. When the yeast had settled out, and Geoff Kuziw’s elbow had mended, we had three clear winners: Joe Simons - Best Brew (Munich Dunkel/N. Brown), Kevin Zaychuk - Closest to Style (American Pale Ale), and Richard Bruins - Most Outrageous Attempt (Steam or California Common Beer). Bob Boufford was awarded a consolation- Best Brew? (Best Bitter) both for giving it a good shot but also because he managed to brew not one, but two brews from his measly 10 lbs. of two row. Joe had obviously paid careful attention to how he made his malts because the beer had excellent, soft mouthfeel and a rich dark malt character.

It was great to see new members picking up awards in this wacky event – this bodes well for the continued spirit of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild. There is already talk of at least one BURRP two for next year. Brian at Harvest Brew was happy to support the event. If any of you guys have any beers left over from this it would be a nice touch to drop off a bottle to Brian.

Remember, we are looking for all these BURP beers to be entered into our ABC competition this month. All these beers can go in at least two times. Once into Experimental and secondly into the style or styles you think it best matches.

Oh, and just to prove that this was indeed a realistic possibility and that BURRP was not just a completely off the wall competition, Kevin went ahead and entered his beer in Regina. There it won 1st place in American Pale Ales against stiff competition. Look out Harry!

The Unlikely Beer Adventures of an Albertan in Hamilton

Marooned in Hamilton!! Yes, it was by personal choice – to do the requisite course work for my Masters degree at McMaster University – but last September it still felt like being shipwrecked. Aside from being far away from family and friends, I knew I had to endure 8 months without brewing, which meant 8 months without good beer. To say I was feeling a bit sorry for myself would not be overstating the case.

Hamilton is known for its steel, its pollution and its mediocre football club. And not for good quality beer. The only local brewery offers up low-cost discount beers that rip off major labels. A Molson Export clone called, appropriately, Steeler. Or a Corona knock-off (as if anyone would want to duplicate Corona) labeled Brava. The prospects were sad, indeed.

But how wrong I was proven to be.

Within a few days of my arrival, I stumbled upon two of the best pubs I have ever stumbled out of. And both within a 10 minute walk of my temporary home. The two bars could not have been more dissimilar, but taken as a pair, they construct what may be close to the perfect commercial beer experience.

The first is right downtown with the pedestrian name of “Chester’s Beers of the World”. Its claim is a 24 page beer list spanning 35 countries. More than 200 beers all guaranteed to be in stock. From the normal Guiness and Grolsch and Beck’s to the downright bizarre Trinidadian Stout or Keo Pilsener from Cyprus. If you have the inclination (or the money) you can purchase an $85 2- litre bottle of Burgerbrau Plisner. Or maybe a Double Enghein for $30.

The stock of Belgian beers is impressive, with a list of 46 from that wonderful country alone. I had my first taste of a St. Bernardus Tripel in Chester’s.

Of course, most of the offerings are standard premium exports, which are sadly the best sellers in this upscale lounge. Businesspeople in town for a couple of days and prepared to pay a little more for a Stella Artois or Smithwick’s dominate this place.

But for this avid brewer and beer lover, the unquestioned highlight was Thomas Hardy’s Ale. The owner tells me he has two flats of this now defunct, restricted quantity barley wine in his cellar. I allowed myself to enjoy a bottle of the 1993 vintage from this complex and rarified beer as my celebration upon completing the last of my assignments (and was even allowed to return to Edmonton with a second, unopened bottle).

But for the beer lover, the real place to go is “Augusta’s Winking Judge” a few blocks south (on Augusta street, hence the moniker). Set in a transformed turn of the century house, it is an unassuming and decidedly unpretentious pub. It is the kind of place where a new visitor quickly falls into conversation with the regulars, or finds themselves drawn into a round of beer-filled cards with fellow revelers (something which happened to me more than once).

Sounds pleasant enough, but what makes this an exceptional pub is the beer on offer. It presently has 24 taps, and not a Molson or Labatt product to be found. The only beers you find in this pub are Ontario or Quebec microbreweries, with the occasional bootlegged keg of American craft brew (such as Arrogant Bastard Ale).

And the icing on this sweet cake? Three real aile taps serving traditional cask-fermented traditional ales. Without saying, these ailes are pulled into your pint glass in the time-honoured fashion, with temperatures and conditions met perfectly. Never such a sweet nectar will any of us taste in our land of Canadian and Blue.

Less carbonated than normal ales, served warmer with little regard for clarity and crispness, real ailes remind one of the best parts of homebrew. The complexities of the ale come through strongly, aided by the residuals of esters and yeast not filtered away. The fact I was able to enjoy a pint or three in a pub with beer-knowledgeable made my brewing equipment (and the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild) seem not quite so far away.

The samplings on offer rotate regularly, so suggestions may not prove helpful. But for what it is worth, my favourites were the Sergeant Major’s IPA (said to be the bitterest beer in Canada) Church Key and Maclean’s ESB (real aile version).

This rare and wonderous beer house is the child of two former homebrewers, Bill Rae and Albert Churchill, who were tired of the fizzy pale fare offered in Hamilton’s working class pubs and bars. Their creature of love and beer devotion has succeeded due to a small and committed crew of regulars, pining for a fine pint, plus the healthy addition of homebrewers turned temporary students looking for solace. I certainly found it there.

And lucky for me, solace was to be found minutes away from my place of study and work.

While Edmontonians rarely make their way to Hamilton, if chance and fate find you there, I recommend you allot a significant portion of your itinerary to spending a share of hours at Augusta’s Winking Judge.

Equipment for sale

I have the following items that I would prefer to sell to someone interested in brewing. I am located in Edmonton.
1- 1 Pepsi fountain pop machine 5 head complete with 5 stainless steel tanks and CO2 bottle & regulator and all fittings. Was working when disassembled.
2- 14 dozen green & clear plastic 500ml bottles.
3- 1 54 litre green demi- john in plastic carry case.

Please have interested parties contact me.

Did you Know?

In their efforts to regulate beer quality, the ancient Babylonians, who were among history's earliest brewers, decreed that any commercial beermaker who sold unfit beer would be drowned in his/her own libation.

An 18- year study by the National Institute on Aging found that 50- plus men who consumed a drink a day during middle age scored significantly better on cognitive tests later in life than did non-drinkers.

On October 17 of 1814, a rupture in a brewery tank containing 3,500 barrels of beer caused a flood of fatal proportions in the London parish of St. Giles. The wave of beer swept victims off their feet, dashed them against walls, and buried them under debris. Two houses were demolished in the sea of beer suddenly loosed upon town, and nine people lost their lives in the flood of suds.

George Washington had his own brewhouse on the grounds of Mount Vernon.

After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armor or even shirts. In fact, "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

View from the Top of the Tun

As we wrap up this past brewing season, a new and exciting season of homebrewing is about to begin for members of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild. I think we are headed for one of the best years ever. New members have breathed life into the club and older members are shaking off the cobwebs and becoming active. We've done extremely well in competition this past year and given the depth of commitment, I see we will only do better. We already have a number of people volunteering to lead the club through a new year including the always- challenging newsletter. We have two people who are interested in writing columns and articles on a regular basis. If you are interested in an executive position or can volunteer to help in any way with the club, we look forward to hearing from you.

New BJCP Judges

The results are official! We added new judges to the roster from the BJCP exam that was written in February 2003. Newly recognized judges are: Jim Whittome, Greg Wondga, Kevin Zaychuk, Sean Cormican and Tim Oborn (from Calgary). Congratulations to our new judges.

Western Canada Homebrewers Club Confederation

In the last few months there has been significant movement to create a confederation of western of beer clubs. My travels to Regina and Calgary show great support for the concept. In fact the confederation already exists it just hasn't been formalized. To kick-start this association we are proposing to host a brewing conference in Edmonton to coincide with our ABC/MCAB competition. We have informal but strong commitment from Regina, Saskatoon, and Calgary to help make this happen. Winnipeg members have asked to be included and I am sure Lethbridge will join in. It'll be an exciting year for brewing in western Canada and I hope many members will step to the plate to help make it happen.

August Meeting and BBQ

A "finish off the past year, get ready for the upcoming season" meeting and BBQ is set for August. We will meet on Friday August 8th starting about 6:00 PM. If the weather is fine and dry we will meet at my place: 10932-130th Street. If rainy and foul it'll be at Alley Kat Brewing. We'll let you know the venue. Either way it'll be a potluck BBQ-type meeting. Bring a dish and some brews to share with other members. Rumor has it Bob will be bringing his Porterhouse Rack of Lambic. It will be a good time to relax, chat and think ahead to next season. We look forward to seeing you there.

Marquis De Suds 19th Annual Homebrew Competition

The results from Calgary are in. EHG did very well and it was great to see new members get medals. Three judges from Edmonton traveled to Calgary: Roxy Hastings, Sean Cormican and Greg Wondga.

Roxy Hastings

English and Scottish

1st

American Ales

1st

Brown Ales

1st

European Wheats

1st

Specialty

1st

Heavy Ales and IPA

4th

Porters and Stouts

4th

Brown Ale

3rd BOS

Lawnmower Beer (best beer for a hot day award) - IPA

2nd

Frank Kuzemski

Heavy Ales & IPA

1st

American lagers

2nd

European Wheats

3rd

Belgian Ales

4th

German Ales

5th

Kevin Zaychuk

American Ales

2nd (Was this a BURRP beer?!)

Glen Hanna

Brown Ale

4th

Bob Boufford

Specialty - Lambic

4th

Calgary hosted a well-run show - small but at 110 entries they had about as many as the Canadian Nationals! Tim Oborn, who recently got his BJCP rank when he trained with us, tightly organized it. Given that Regina had 250 entries, then one month later we had 238, and then two weeks later Calgary pulls in 110 - well that just shows what amazing support and spirit there is for homebrewing in western Canada. The west truly leads the nation when it comes to homebrewing.

AHA Nationals (from beers that won in the Canadian Nationals in Toronto)

Roxy Hastings

Brown Ales - Mild

1st

Belgian Ales - Saison

3rd

Greg Wondga

Specialty - Curried IPA

2nd

Special congratulations to Greg who got a medal in his very first AHA competition, quite an accomplishment. And to Roxy, who after 10 years of competing finally got a gold for a brown ale. This beer had won a silver medal last year. The Best Club results have not yet been announced. It will be close this year between Edmonton and Regina for best Canadian club.

Meeting Nights will continue with Theme Nights!

For this upcoming season, the Guild is continuing the Theme Night started last year to refocus the club's brewing energies as well as provide an opportunity for members that are taking the Beer Judging Certification Program to judge some beers. So check out what's scheduled and plan your brews accordingly. On the months marked with AHA, the beer deemed the best of the night, will go forward to an AHA event. Your involvement would be hugely appreciated and everyone will benefit!

We currently have the following styles scheduled with other styles to be determined by the Guild Executives. The list will be updated in an upcoming issue of The Worthouse News.

September	Specialty, Experimental and Historical (BJCP Class 24) - AHA
October	Kolsch and Alt - AHA
November	Barley Wine and Strong Ales - AHA (Note: Only Barley Wines will qualify for AHA entry.)
December	To be determined
January	To be determined
February	To be determined
March	Mead - AHA
April	Extract - all classes and styles - AHA
May	BURRP! 2

For the September Theme of Specialty, Experimental and Historical styles, any left over beers from the first BURRP! Contest qualifies as "experimental" giving you and the club an opportunity for more glory at a higher level of competition!

Guidelines for Theme Night "Mini-competitions"

1. Enter as many beers within the style as you like - no restrictions on the number of entries.
2. You need at least 3 to 4 bottles of each entry for the club tastings, evaluation and judging. For AHA events you will need an additional 3 bottles of beer if your beer is selected to go on to the upcoming AHA event. Please try to bring these extra bottles with you on the night of the competition.
3. Keg entries are fine as long as you can submit bottled versions or can produce counter-pressured bottles from the keg.
4. In the event that a winner cannot produce the 3 bottles for the upcoming AHA event, the second place entrant will go on the AHA event.
5. Please sign up in advance of the monthly session, not on the night of the competition. Bonus points will be awarded to brewers who sign up before the night's session.
6. We will start pouring beer at 7:30 on the night of the competition. You must have your beers ready to go by 7:30, as late entries will not be accepted. Doors open at 7:00. Please come early.
7. Points awarded as follows.
   

   First place

   3 points

   Second place

   2 points

   Third Place

   1 point

   Advanced signup

   1 point

8. A panel of 2 BJCP judges and 2 apprentice judges will judge the beers.
9. After the beers have been formally judged the panel will lead the other members through a tasting session, discussing the qualities of all the entries.
10. Brewers should be prepared to discuss their beers at the end of the tasting session to provide feedback to the judges and to help everyone learn brewing techniques. Bring your recipes to the event.
11. Entrants will receive the score sheets from the judging panel.
12. Winning recipes will be published an upcoming issue of The Worthouse News.
13. The Vice President, assisted by the President, will supervise, delegate and otherwise conduct the tasting sessions.
14. EHG will pay shipping and entry fees for the winning beer to compete in AHA club competitions.

Homebrewing courses at Devonian Botanic Gardens

Guild members, Neil Herbst and Roxy Hastings will be teaching "Brew Better Beer" at the Devonian Botanic Gardens starting this October It's a hands-on course aimed at the extract brewer. Course includes brewing two extract beers, recipe formulation, hops, malts, yeasts and common faults. The course runs for six Wednesday evenings starting October 8th. In addition, Roxy will be teaching a one-day course called "Making Marvelous Meads" on Sunday, November 9th. Details for both courses will be available in the September newsletter.

Grinding away: Malt Mills

With the recent BURRP! contest last spring, some of the members have been introduced to the joy of all grain brewing. Of course that means more new tools (toys?). So off to that wonderful homebrewer's resource, the Internet, for a survey of mills to grind malt

In searching the Web, two mills are available within Canada while the other mills are available from various places in the US. Most of the US suppliers will ship to Canada even though there are the additional shipping costs, Customs duties and the currency exchange rate.

Roller Mills

Roller mills have one to three knurled or serrated rollers ranging from 5 cm (2 inches) to 20 cm (8 inches) wide. Rollers are either fixed with a preset gap or adjustable for different grains. Hoppers, cranks and motor attachments may be included with the mill or as optional extras. In general, a lower price gives you a basic mill and the need for you to provide the hoppers and mounting plates.

Canada

Valley Mill

$150 CAD

USA

More Beer/Fermentap Mill

$99 to $139 USD

CrankandStein

$50 to 185 USD

JSP MaltMill

$105 to $150 USD

Phil Mills

$85 to $145 USD

St. Patrick Mill

$170 USD

HuskBuster (kit)

$75 USD

Plate Mills

Plate "Corona" mills have two burred plates, one fixed and the other rotating. Most mills usually include a hopper and crank. Grind is not as consistent as roller mills and the mill is also more difficult to adjust.

Corona/PorkertCorn/Grain Mills

@$60 CAD

What you choose for a mill will depend on a variety of factors including spare pocket change. Generally, roller mills are preferred over plate mills. However, the plate mill is acceptable for the occasional all grain brewer or the extract brewer who wants to add a kilogram (few pounds) of grain for a partial mash.