Feel free to drop off a bottle at Kip’s and the best way to carbonate a beer is to bring it up to a higher temp just like Walterdanver said. Move the bottles to the warmest part of your house (at least so it’s above 70 degrees) and leave it for a couple of weeks. Then try a bottle and see how it’s doing. Once it gets to the desired carbonation level you can move it back to cellar or fridge temps.
Hello HOPSHeads. Don't forget about our monthly meeting tomorrow, January 24, 2012, at 6 pm at Pagosa Brewing Company. To keep warm, we are tasting barleywines tomorrow night so make sure you bring your drinking liver along. ;-)
HOPS – Homebrewers Of Pagosa Springs
Hello HOPS Heads,
As I was sitting on the floor in my living room, aerating a green chili beer that we had just brewed, I started to look at the carpet. I have dogs. Even with a regular vacuuming, there still manages to be pine needles, sticks and toy fragments scattered about the carpet. And then the question popped into my beer soaked brain: “Which came first, the vacuum or the carpet?” I mean really, who would be so sick in the head as to create a product like carpet without the advent of a vacuum cleaner? There is truly no other way to clean carpet effectively without a vacuuming device. Ok, on the other side, if the vacuum was invented first, who would want that noisy thing for a just hard floor? For if carpet had not yet been invented, you would now have a noisy, rolling sucker-thing to push all about the house. I’ll stick with a broom, thanks. Truly they must have been invented for each other at the same time. But by who? And now you know that I am a man willing to ask the questions others are afraid to ask... Anyway, since this has no point (like most of my Brewsletters) I will get back to the main focus – homebrew and fun fermentables.
Cheers, and happy fermenting ~
Randini the Beer Spammer
Tech Tip of the Day: I overheard a conversation where a person was trying to gain more ‘Mouthfeel’ in their beer. This is a term used to describe the total sensation of the beer in the mouth. That includes astringency, body, carbonation, warmth, etc. After thinking about it a bit I think they were talking about body. So how do you achieve more body in your beer? This is largely influenced by proteins and dextrins. Some people will talk about adding maltodextrin to a beer to achieve more body. I don't completely recommend maltodextrine but rather look at the choice of malts and your mash schedule. When all grain brewing, if you are doing a protein rest, either cut that back or eliminate it completely. If you are mashing in the 140-150 F range, raise the mash temperature to the mid 150's, say 154 to 156 F. Use more of a lighter crystal malt so the color will be about the same but more dextrines added from the malt. Oats, wheat and flaked barley also tend to add dextrines and increase body/mouthfeel. Another common one is CaraPils malts. This is what we primarily use and have had great success even with partial mash brews that include some extract. CaraPils also really help with great head retention. Higher carbonation gives the impression of lighter mouthfeel, so cut back on the carbonation. Look at water chemistry; chloride (as in salt - sodium chloride) gives a full mouthfeel -- but be careful and don't add so much as to make the beer salty. As usual, there are lots of different ways to experiment with such things. Have fun and brew on!
Quote of the Day: (Two, just for the heckuvit)
You are not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on. ~Anonymous
Reality is an illusion that occurs do to a lock of alcohol. ~Anonymous
HOPS Meetings:
- HOPS – New Business:
- Next Meeting: This coming Tuesday, the 24th is the next HOPS meeting, Pagosa Brewing Co at 6:00 PM. The YELLOW COLOR GROUP is up, so if you are in the Yellow group, make sure you have been in touch with your Color Group Leader (Jason) to find out what is in the pipeline.
- Style of the Month: Barley Wines
- FFO (First Friday Out) – The first Friday of February (the 3rd) we will meet at the Bear Creek at 6:00.
- Discussion: Some ideas we want to go over include the following:
A) Membership Dues – Time for us to squeeze some money out of you!
B) Durango Pub Crawl – we are working with the homebrew club in Durango about doing to gathering / pub crawl in March. Bring ideas on what you would like to do. Tastings? Presentation Topics? Just looking for ideas…
C) Homebrew Hoedown Plans – we need to decide if we are hosting another event. Last year we did it in June. Do we want to do it again?
D) BJCP Club Competition? Also paired in June with the Hoedown maybe?
RECAP OF PREVIOUS STUFF:
- At the last HOPS meeting we got to try some of Laura’s awesome Kahlua. Here is the recipe:
In a large, open crock pot cook on high for 3 hrs. stirring occasionally:
2 cups White Sugar
3 cups of Brown Sugar
3/4 cup of Instant Coffee (like Folgers)
6 cups of water
optional 2 Tablespoons of Hershey's Syrup
Cool and add:
2 Tablespoons of vanilla
51.2 oz 'cheap' vodka or whiskey/vodka combo
Drink, bottle or age. Enjoy!
UPCOMING LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS:
- Tuesday, January 24th – HOPS Meeting: This coming Tuesday is the HOPS Meeting (normally the fourth Tuesday of the month). We will meet at Pagosa Brewing Company at 6:00 PM. This month we will be going over some of the upcoming events and agenda items above, along with the Style of the Month. This time is the Barley Wines. For more info on these styles, check out the descriptions listed on the BJCP website here: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php
- First Friday Out, February 3rd – The first Friday of the month we like to drink beer. Ok, we like to drink beer more often than that, but we usually get together somewhere around town, and this time around we will meet at the Bear Crack. See you there 6:00!
- Durango Homebrew Gathering / Pub Crawl – Sometime in March we are planning a get together with the Homebrew Club in Durango. This will probably include a homebrew tasting at Ska, along with tours & presentations then followed by a tour of beer spots including other breweries and Lady Falc’s. More details will follow as we get them.
NEWS:
- Ska 2012 GABF Pro-Am Homebrew Competition: Here is an email from Ska regarding the homebrew competition coming up:
Greetings Homebrewers!
Happy 2012 to all! Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be holding our annual GABF Pro-Am HomebrewCompetition during American Craft Beer Week again. The dates for American Craft Beer Week are May 14-20, 2012. Registration will begin in mid-late February but just wanted to touch base with everyone so you could begin to plan ahead. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Kristen Muraro
Events Coordinator
Ska Brewing Co.
Office: 970-247-5792 Ext: 35
Cell: 970-946-0715
225 Girard St.
Durango, Colorado 81303
- Beer at 6512 Blogspot is Back! - http://beerat6512.blogspot.com/ is a beer blog based out of Durango. Our neighbors to the West have a great beer scene, along with some great writers and this is a fun place to check up on the happninz. Erich Hennig, my brew-brotha-from-anotha-motha just joined the team. Check it out – I think you will enjoy it!
- Gluten Free Homebrewing – I have had some requests on information about gluten free homebrewing. I have some information about the details on such if you are interested in locating ingredients, etc. I will bring it to the HOPS meeting on Tuesday, or email me at randy@speeddirect.com for more info (rather than replying to this email and spamming the entire universe). That’s my job! :-D
- Local Beerlover Networking Website: Check out www.brewerfest.com for a social beer lover’s networking site. It works kinda like Facebook, only without all the loser teenagers counting how many totally irrelevant “friends” they can amass proving how completely lame they are. This site is actually cool! (Yes, a big fan of Facepuke here…) Joseph from Pagosa Brewing started this one up and it has some great photos of HOPS junk, plus it is free to join! Sign in and rock out with your beer out.
Pagosa Brewing Company News / Events:
- February is Stout & Chops Month: Pagosa Brewing Co has over 13 different Stouts slated for the month of February. I have been getting bits and pieces on the lineup and I can tell you I CANT WAIT!!! And while you are at it, start growing out the beard for the Chops contest. Last year was a huge hit and they had some great prizes to give away as well. Chop it up!
FRONT RANGE & BEYOND NEWS & EVENTS:
· 2012 Rocky Mountain Microbrewing Symposium [RMMS XVII]
Friday, February 17, 2012 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Mountain Time)
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Upper Lodge
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719-255-4552
Phone: (719) 255-4552 Email Us
I can't confirm how many bottles the Dredhop requires this year but it's almost certainly two 12-oz bottles. You should be able to find out once you go through the registration process on the website.
Greetings HOPSians,
If you're interested in entering one of the largest and most prestigious homebrew competitions in the state, consider the Dredhop Homebrew Competition hosted by Hop Barley and the Alers out of Boulder, CO. Competition judging occurs in Boulder on February 25, 2012, and entries can be sent directly to competition organizers if you're interested. Entries will be accepted from Feb. 1 to Feb. 12. The Alers also need judges and stewards so feel free to register if you'd like to help or need some BJCP points.
Get full information on the competition at http://hopbarley.org/content/dredhop. You can also email me if you'd like more information about the Dredhop.
Cheers!
Jason
In Randini's spirit of Beer Spamming, I thought you all needed this email agian. No, really, I got click happy and accidentally deleted it from the HOPS website. So sorry, but here it is again...for POSTerity.
For those of you who braved the last HOPS meeting during the holiday and Apres Ski traffic, you were rewarded with a diverse tasting of Winter Ales and Seasonals. In the spirit of the season, I brought the last bottle of my first batch of Kahlua. It was a big hit, and I sent several people home with the recipe. This recipe was given to me by my dear friend Carolyn who believes a Kahlua nightcap need not brank the bank or have to be reserved for a special occasion, and has been tweaking this recipe:
In a large, open crock pot cook on high for 3 hrs. stirring occasionally:
2 cups White Sugar
3 cups of Brown Sugar
3/4 cup of Instant Coffee (like Folgers)
6 cups of water
optional 2 Tablespoons of Hershey's Syrup
Cool and add:
2 Tablespoons of vanilla
51.2 oz 'cheap' vodka or whiskey/vodka combo
Drink, bottle or age. Enjoy!
For the batch we sampled in December I used all organic ingredients (except for the booze), which I believe I bottled in October. I did not use the Hershey Syrup, but did use 1 750ml bottle of Sky Vodka and 1 750ml of Bushmill's Irish Whiskey. They really were some of the 'cheapest' liquors in the store! Experiment with your own batch, and have fun with it. I used some of my batch to make a deliciously moist chocolate Kahlua cake which was so good, we never made the icing before the cake was gone.
Wow...did I miss out!
Dave
In case you did not hear about this, there will be a wine tasting at The Pines Restaurant and bar at the Golf Club on the 19th. If you have not been there since they revamped everything, you are missing out. They have a great bar there too - we'll probably hit it up for First Thursday Out one of these months.
More details below.
Cheers ~
Randy
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Our friend Erich Hennig from Durango wrote a very nice article about barleywines and included some information about Pagosa Brewing Co.'s Nipple Mountain Nip series. Check out more at http://www.mountaingazette.com/mountain-culture/mountain-brew-notes/in-pursuit-of-the-gnar/.
Hi guys,
I have been talking with the beer manager at Star Liquors in Durango and he said he would provide us with a monthly update of beers they are bringing in as well. Let's face it, we Pagosans end up in D-town often enough that it's good to know what is going on with the beer scene on the other side of the hill! As always, let's support our locals businesses as much as possible, but when hanging with the Durangutans, pick them up something fun from Star. A current list of new arrivals follows this note.
Cheers ~
Randini(Remember, replies to this email go to the entire mailing list.)
*********************************************************Hi Home Brewers!
My name is Oliver Gamble and I am the beer manager at Star Liquors in Durango. I am honored to be given a little of your time to tell you about the great beers we have here in the store. Some of you have a monthly newsletter or an email list that my monthly emails will be forwarded to. I will try to let you know what fun, tasty or just hard to get beers we have in the store. Our inventory is constantly changing with new seasonals, one offs, or annually released bombers. I will provide a list of beers each month that I think are interesting. So without further ado...
*La Trapp has released there 8th annual Barrel Aged Quad, and are very proud of this beer coming in at $19.49 for a cork and cage .375ml. La Trapp is credited with the invention of the Quadruple style, and release a barrel aged version once a year. Every year the barrel changes. The 2010 release is 71% pre used Whiskey barrels and %28 New French Oak Medium Toast. The whiskey and new oak notes come out nicely in the latest addition to this annual release. *Oskar Blues right here in Colorado released there annual Ten Fidy, an Imperial Stout that pours like its name. Thick, heavy and heavenly for the HUGE stout drinker and comes in a a hearty 10.5% ABV. This 12oz can is meant to be drunk soon. It is sold in a 12oz single can for $3.99 or a four pack for $13.49. Pour it in a glass to truly enjoy this opaque stout masterpiece. *We recently hooked up with a Denver distributor that specializes in Eastern Block countries and are now carrying all the Baltika's #3-#9 as well as their Zhiguljovskoje Lager. These are all in 1 pint bottles for $2.49
and cover all the regional styles. Fun beers to get under the tasting belt for a great price. *Boulevard Brewing in Kansas city Missouri has released their Barrel Aged Bourbon Barrel Quad with Cherries, in the Smokestack series. This once a year release is very limited and the only 2 cases to come to the area landed right here at Star Liquors. This is a .750ml Cork and Cage for $11.99. The BBQ (for short) is an American style Quad that has whiskey notes held up by a robust bitterness, complex malt and a nice tartness added from the cherries. A great beer to drink now or throw in the cellar for aging and development. *Drie Fonteinen is considered one the two finest Geuze producers in the world. We carry the Oude Geuze which is a blend of 1, 2 , and 3 year barrel aged Geuze's. A labor of love, this beer is Funky and Sour, barnyard flavors indicative of brettanomyces and citrus sour notes dominate this brew. Age to bring out even more of the barnyard and sour qualities in this advanced beer. Not for the faint of heart, this beer will really challenge even the most experienced pallet. This selection is available in both .375ml for $10.99 or .750ml for $18.49. *Odell's Saboteur is another .750ml cork and cage in their bomber series coming in at $12.49. Saboteur is a Brett. Barrel Brown, sour and funky with oak barrel, chocolate, vanilla, and earthiness round out this once a year release. A nice take on the popular sours that many breweries are experimenting with. Russian River out of California is a leader in American Sours, we get limited amounts of these beers. We also get a limited amount of their front line beers.
* Damnation is a Golden Ale in a .375ml cork and cage for $5.99, done in the style of a Belgian golden. It has extraordinary aromas of banana and pear with mouth filling flavors of sweet malt and earthy hops. The lingering finish is dry and slightly bitter but very very smooth. * Redemption is a Blonde Ale again in a .375ml cork and cage for $5.99, Belgian spice, bread, lemon zest and banana round out this nice example of and American produced blonde ale. * Supplication is a Sour aged in Pinot Noir barrels with cherries for 12-15 months, this gem is $12.49 for a .375ml cork and cage. This beer lends itself to aging and will develop more sour and funky notes with time. Star Liquors has the best beer selection in the area with over 250 European and American selections as well as beers from many other parts of the world. We aspire to be the most competitively priced liquor store in the area with a well educated staff. Questions or comments are always welcome, and getting new beers to our little corner of heaven is a priority for me. Thanks for your time and I look forward to sharing more of our great beers with you next month. Cheers!
Oliver Gamble