Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

What Hops Shortage?

On February 29, 2008

I just got back from one of my local homebrew shops (LHBS) and was in for a surprise. I walked in somewhat sullen and asked; “What is your hop situation?” They told me they still had about everything and plenty of it. That was happy enough news to me, then I asked what the policy was for purchasing. An even bigger surprise was that they had no restrictions AND no requisite malt purchase either!!!

Holy Cow! One of my other local shops requires that you purchase 7lbs of malt and then you can buy 3oz of hops.

Anyhow, I picked up 1 oz of Challenger (10%Alpha) and I picked up 1oz of Liberty (4.5% Alpha). I’ll be using these in an upcoming Southern English Brown Ale (recipe to follow). I also picked up 2lbs of Victory Malt to be split among a couple upcoming brews. (I also took a good long sniff of the Amarillo hops, nice stuff) They even had some Phoenix hops that I haven’t heard about before. (I’ll have to get John to do a review on those)

For any of you local folks the shop I am referencing is The Modern Brewer on Mass Ave. in Cambridge. Real nice guys at the shop today to so thanks again to them.

Now maybe they are doing well in the hops because they don’t do mail order, so it’s all walk in stuff. But that’s fine, especially for us that are close. Be sure to thank them for their help and support. And don’t run over there and buy up all the hops. Let’s work together here and just buy the hops we need. I could have gone in and purchase a load of hops, but I don’t think that’s right.

That’s it from me for now, I’ll hopefully brew something up this weekend.

Site Updates

By John Krochune

On February 29, 2008

In General

Hi there,

Mike’s got a brew session going on this weekend.

He recently updated the photos page. Take a look.

I added a few links to our blogroll. Check them out.

We also joined this social network about beer: Democracy’s Drink

Brew On!

Honey Malt

By John Krochune

On February 21, 2008

In Malts

Here’s my profile for Honey Malt. This malt is made by the Gambrinus Malting Corporation and it’s their name for a unique, highly kilned German malt called brumalt. Some non-North American versions of this malt (Gambrinus Malting is based in Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada) are Weissheimer Bruhmalz and Weyermann Melanoidin.

It looks a lot like caramel malt but it’s processed in a way so that there is no roasty/astringency (that is sometimes associated with caramel malt’s flavor profile). The process involves restricting the oxygen flow during the sprouting process and this develops sugars and rich malt flavors that makes the malt taste the way it does.

Flavor: Intense malt sweetness with hint of a honey like flavor. Lacks caramel malt’s sharp bite.

Color: 20-30 °L

Body: It gives your beer a smooth, honey-like texture.

Use: Most sources said “specialty beers” which to me means “pushing the envelope” beers. More typical suggested styles included: Brown ales, summer-style pale ales, and belgians.

2008 Extreme Beer Fest

By John Krochune

On February 19, 2008

In Festivals

Mike and I attended the Extreme Beer Fest presented by BeerAdvocate on February 16 (that’s last Saturday for those of you keeping score at home). It was and is a tremendous time. There are many takeaways in experiencing the results of brewers pushing the limits of beer. High alcohol content is just one part of the “extremeness” of what was offered at the fest. Odd ingredients and brewing methods were also on hand, and certainly gave tasters a lot to wrap their palates around.

Beyond all the beers, there was a cool speaker panel session that we sat in on where brewers like Jim Koch from Sam Adams and Matt Cohen from Magic Hat spoke and answered questions from the crowd.

There were many great beers to discuss here on our site. We videotaped our sampling of the Three Floyds Brewing Company’s Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout. Here is the video of our experience:

We had to wait in line for 10 minutes (or so…I think it was longer) to actually get a sample. They opened the tap for the Dark Lord at 4PM…the fest started at 1PM…last call was at 4:15PM…you do the math.

A lot of fest attendees were out of luck since the keg ran out before everyone got a sample. After we tried the Dark Lord, Mike’s wife and I walked across the hall to try Sixpoint Craft Ales’ Sixpoint Bolshoi…which we liked better. 🙂

Glacier Hops

By John Krochune

On February 14, 2008

In Hops

Here’s another profile of a brewing ingredient: Glacier Hops. Although it’s fun to research and write about hops, the worldwide shortage puts a damper on my excitement. Once you learn more about these hops, you want to go out, buy it, and brew with it. It’s the buying part that may be the hardest piece of that process.

Origin: America – Looks like it was released in 2000 from Washington State University

Aroma: From the sources I read, the aroma is the hops strong point. The descriptors of “Pleasant” and “Good” were used a lot. Some citrus mixed with some Goldings candy-like qualities. Maybe hints of pear or apricot.

Alpha Acid: 5.5%

Typical Usage: Aroma but it has a nice balanced bitterness due to its low cohumulone content. Not too sharp. Not too dull. Just right.

Beer Styles: I am thinking a nice American Pale Ale or ESB. Easy drinking but flavorful.

Note: I used this hop variety in my American Pale Ale recipe.

Here are my tasting notes for the APA I made with Glacier hops.

While you are here, check out other popular Brew Dudes hop profiles:

Ahtanum Hops

Simcoe Hops

Santiam Hops