First Class WOOHOO!

Alrighty then! I just finished my first class for Chandler Parks and Rec.

I think it went well.  My students (most) seem to be into it.

I will admit, I have a... unique teaching style. I am not formal, I am a bit scattered.

Which is why I created THIS page, to help back up the info and handouts in class.

At first, I thought "WOAH! I'm CRUISING through the material- I'm not going to have enough to fill up the time!"

Then, as always, I started talking.

Some good questions by the students (about half had brewed) and support from Jerry and Patty, and I was rambling on like a fool.

Next week- we brew!  Yahoooooo!

Homebrewing Competitions

OK people, let's cut to the chase

I have saved 6 bottles of every beer I have brewed since mid-March.

This equates to 35 six packs in my cellar.

These bottles take a significant amount of space in my cellar.

I like shiny things.

There are two local competitions in the next month- the ASH Oktoberfest competition, and the Salt River Competition.  The Salt River Comp is sponsored by Miller/Coors, and they not only give free entry, they also give competitors free tickets to the event!  ASH entries are $7 each. Because ASH does not have the budget of Miller/Coors.

NOW- it would be great if I could unload all my beers ;)  Alas, the rules prohibit entering more than one beer in a sub-category.  For example, I can only enter one American Pale Ale in each event.

I have a lot of American Pale Ales.

I almost think of myself as more brown beer focused, however this is not the case with the beers I have available.  Because it was spring!  Yes, I have a varied number of beers but I do brew Pale ales often, because I enjoy a hoppy low alcohol beer in 100 degree weather.

More importantly, what is the value of Homebrew Competitions?

If you listen to the community, the main value is to receive unbiased reviews and technical thoughts on your beers.  Ones unlike your friends will give you.  Because your friends like to drink beer.  And you give it to them. For free.  They like that!

IMHO, there is a long way to go to implementing this in the real world.

I have drank some beers which were absolutely FANTASTIC, with no apparent technical flaws, which scored poorly.  Not just average, but POORLY. This is troubling to me.

The National Competition is daunting.  Each center has 1000 entries.  The number of entries in each category can be overwhelming.  "Palate Fatigue" can be a significant concern.  This is when judges have sampled so many beers, your taste buds deaden. It happens.

Why do I complain... it' so stupid to do so.  There are a few people who put in MANY hours of work to make comps happen, and many more who spend days and days judging.  I have received some very valuable information regarding my homebrews.

What is the GREATEST benefit of Homebrew Comps? The more BJCP judges there are in the world, the more the beer community wins.

I suppose it's like this- whenever human beings and PARTICULARLY taste buds are involved, you are dealing with an imperfect system.

Now- I have 10 beers which need to be prepared.

Also- I give this post a 100% chance of being read by someone who will be judging my beers.

Re-using bottles

When you homebrew, and bottle, you are eternally on a hunt for bottles.

Well, let's re-state that...

If you GIVE a lot of bottles away, you are on an eternal hunt for bottles.

I have very generous friends who share their bottles with me.  Many of these friends who homebrew.

Very often, these bottles are not rinsed.  I don't know why.  Bottles which are not rinsed, quickly grow mold and bacteria.  They take less than 5 days to become essentially useless.  I mean, it can be very gross trying to get mold out, to the point where I will only do it if the bottle is special in some way (a Belgian bottle, a flip-top bottle, etc)

Sometimes, bottle conditioning will result in yeast being stuck to the bottom of a bottle.  This is normal.. Typically a quick couple of rinse and shake cycles, will remove this.

Often, the sediment can be stuck on the bottom and shake-rinsing doesn't help.  For this problem, I have come up with a new solution:

Drop 6-8 washers or nuts in the bottle, add a little water, and swirl.

The nuts will scrape the sediment off the bottom of the bottle very quickly, and BINGO!  Fixed!

It's the best way I find, because I hate using a bottle brush- bottle brushes are messy, flicking water all over the place. I'm SO glad I came up with this idea today!

The Pipeline

What is the pipeline? It's your brew schedule. It's what you need to brew, in order to maintain your... whatever.  It can be brews for your friends, projects you dream about, competition beers, and such. You have to balance your lagers, the longer fermentation beers you want to make, specific styles that require different brewing or fermentation styles.

So what's in my pipeline right now?

I've got 5 batches fermenting right now, so my fermentation cooler is full.

Actually  full-plus. I don't often use the shelf with the 3 gallon fermenters, but... Maybe I should more :)

My current pipeline which needs to be brewed:

Tim's wedding brew (ready for 10/1)
Hop Head Fred's Oxy AND Oxy Guava (tbd)
Bryan's 12 Days Xmas brew (ready for 12/1)
My 12 days Xmas brew (ready for 12/1)
Extract brew with class (9/26)
All grain for class A (10/3)
All grain for class B (10/10)
Presidential Honey Blonde (ready for election day 11/6)
Presidential Honey Porter (ready for election day 11/6)
Peanut Butter Stout (Sean's is SICK awesome)

So... Looks like I have my work cut out for me! Hooray!