How Stuff Works - Discovery Channel programs beer making episode Dec 18

I thought it was a pretty good show. Seen worse. I can't help but chuckle every time I hear hops are from the Cannabis Family.

I thought it was good also based on the fact that it was edited for the general public. Papazian wasn't on for more that 30 seconds it seemed.

The narrator sounds like he belongs in the next Clerks movie. I hate when that happens.

Bobby...up until now I have respected you greatly. I admit that I have only become a KS fan in the last few years but...are you attacking a KS movie?!!!

No, in fact Mallrats is one of my guilty pleasures. I just don't think any of the typical KS actors would make very good narrators for non-fiction.

histo320 said:

I missed it...to busy brewing beer!!!!!

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No excuse. I brewed up 10 gallons whilst viewing.

Ridge Runner said:

I thought it was a pretty good show.

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Me too. I'm not sure I learned much and it won't really change my technique, but it sure made me thirsty and it really made me wish I was brewing.

devaspawn said:

Bobby...up until now I have respected you greatly. I admit that I have only become a KS fan in the last few years but...are you attacking a KS movie?!!!

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I have two words for you:

Jersey Girl

'nuff said.



Sorry, putting us back on topic, I think I have the quote for the show:

"If we can catch up to it, run it over, and scrape it off the pavement we'll throw it in the kettle." - Sam Caligioni

I thought the show was ok. Looks like Bud had a big roll in it, they were probably mentioned/showed the most. Need to find some of the Theobroma .

DragonTail said:

I thought the show was ok. Looks like Bud had a big roll in it, they were probably mentioned/showed the most. Need to find some of the Theobroma .

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I actually was pleased with how little they talked about bud (although I missed the first 10 minutes). I thought they spent a good amount of time with craft breweries like Dogfish and SN.

DragonTail said:

I thought the show was ok. Looks like Bud had a big roll in it, they were probably mentioned/showed the most. Need to find some of the Theobroma .

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Yeah, if you noticed, there were several "American Ale" commercials.

Has anybody figured out the Theobroma recipe yet?

Looks like:

Corn
Aztec Cocoa Beans
Cocoa Powder
Big Chili Peppers

Though, the bearded professor was talking about "smelling the barley"...

Did I hear them say Sierra Nevada brews 750 barrels a year? If they did it's obviously wrong. I try not to criticize these shows too much, most are sub-par but any press is good press I guess. But seeing the open fermenters (i think at Sierra) was very impressive. Makes me want to get brave and try that at home :cross:

My wife and I watched the show and we really enjoyed it. It was cool to watch the dogfishhead stuff since we were there recently. I tried talking her into opening a bottle of theobroma we bought down there but she woudn't go for it. She wants to save it. I enjoyed a homebrewed nutbrown instead. I DVR'd it so I can watch again.

dontman said:

This show was responsible for me getting back into homebrewing back when it first aired. I've got it set on my DVR for midnight.

Until then I am watching the football game. Do you mean to tell me that there are no NFL fans out there? ( I am referring to the fact that everyone said that nothing good is on tv tonight.)

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First i believe this is the first airing of this episode though there have been several similar shows on before.

Second our stupid cable company doesn't carry the NFL Network so no thursday night football. And I'm going to have to hit the sports bar to watch the Steelers beat the Titans Sunday.

Maybe I can sneak into the neighbors yard and cut down those large trees so i can get DirecTV

Craig

Was a good watch

I am surprised no body has comment on the "Big Piggy siphon stopper" technique. They could at least showed him dipping his piggy in StarSan first.



Funny also how little Boston Beer was in there. Looks like they took commercial clips and flashed them like those psycho-sunconcious suggestion bits.

Props to Pilsenser Urquel, the guy talked the english language it had been passed through a meat grinder but dang seeing that beer made me thirsty.

Was interesting seeing all those Brew-Magics too. I donlt think I saw a single B3 at all. More Beer is slacking it seems.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I am surprised no body has comment on the "Big Piggy siphon stopper" technique. They could at least showed him dipping his piggy in StarSan first.

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I guess it could have been worse. They could have showed him sucking on the siphon hose to get the flow going.... :cross:

But, ya...Overall, it was a good watch!

GilaMinumBeer said:

I am surprised no body has comment on the "Big Piggy siphon stopper" technique.

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Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Didn't that guy have a bunch of awards?
I'm not planning on borrowing that technique anytime soon.

HOOTER said:

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Didn't that guy have a bunch of awards?
I'm not planning on borrowing that technique anytime soon.

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I dunno, it might have been the winning ingredient. At least he didn;t scratch at anything first.

Oh yeah. Who else came a little when they showed all that grain in the malting beds at Pilsener Urquell. I know I felt a little funny after.IIRC, he said there was enough malt there for 75 MILLION barreles. Let me see, 32 times 75, add three zeros divide by 5 move the decimal, equals a frickin crap load of homebrew.

I found it surprising that Bud uses hops. I was under the impression that they use hop extract oil.

devaspawn said:

I found it surprising that Bud uses hops. I was under the impression that they use hop extract oil.

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Miller uses hop oil. That's how they get away with clear bottles.

My favorite part was definitely the Pilsner Urquell sequences. The scene where the brewmaster walks into the brewery tunnels with a candle and mug, then fills it at the top of the old wooden fermenter was awesome.

It was ok, didn't expect it to be too detailed for the general puplic. Did I see them compare a glass of beer to a shot of alcohol? I can drink me some beers but do 8 shots of any alcohol and I wouldn't make it up the stairs to bed and if I did I wouldn't come down until 2pm the next afternoon. I'd head toward the stairs and not be able to stop and go right out the window. Is that true? My guess is only if you compare a strong beer to a weak shot.

devaspawn said:

I found it surprising that Bud uses hops. I was under the impression that they use hop extract oil.

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I can recall, MANY years ago, touring the brewery in St. Louis.

One thing that sticks in my mind is the huge room full of mountains of green hops. The smell was so strong, it made me sick to my stomach.

I wonder how it would affect me now?

Ridge Runner said:

Miller uses hop oil. That's how they get away with clear bottles.

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A hop oil with isomerized alpha acids wouldn't work so they use a beta acid only extract. Using aged whole hops would probably work as well, since they alpha acids dissipate and the beta acids remain.

devaspawn said:

I found it surprising that Bud uses hops. I was under the impression that they use hop extract oil.

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According to BLAM one of the trappistes (I think Chimay) uses extract in jelly form.

I want some hop jelly for my toast.

jgln said:

It was ok, didn't expect it to be too detailed for the general puplic. Did I see them compare a glass of beer to a shot of alcohol? I can drink me some beers but do 8 shots of any alcohol and I wouldn't make it up the stairs to bed and if I did I wouldn't come down until 2pm the next afternoon. I'd head toward the stairs and not be able to stop and go right out the window. Is that true? My guess is only if you compare a strong beer to a weak shot.

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They were simply illustrating that the Ethyl alcohol content of a 12 ounce 5%, IIRC, beer is equal to that of a .5 Ounce shot of distilled spirits.

Then went further to illustrate that the stomach absorbs 20% where the intestines absorb the other 80%.

jgln said:

It was ok, didn't expect it to be too detailed for the general puplic. Did I see them compare a glass of beer to a shot of alcohol? I can drink me some beers but do 8 shots of any alcohol and I wouldn't make it up the stairs to bed and if I did I wouldn't come down until 2pm the next afternoon. I'd head toward the stairs and not be able to stop and go right out the window. Is that true? My guess is only if you compare a strong beer to a weak shot.

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I noticed that too. That one guy said an average beer was 13 percent alcohol which was equivalent to that shot of "pure alcohol". I called BS on him (SWMBO heard it).

Cpt_Kirks said:

Yeah, if you noticed, there were several "American Ale" commercials.

Has anybody figured out the Theobroma recipe yet?

Looks like:

Corn
Aztec Cocoa Beans
Cocoa Powder
Big Chili Peppers

Though, the bearded professor was talking about "smelling the barley"...

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+1.... that would be something I would like to try and make a batch of

MikeRLynch said:

I have two words for you:

Jersey Girl

'nuff said.



Sorry, putting us back on topic, I think I have the quote for the show:

"If we can catch up to it, run it over, and scrape it off the pavement we'll throw it in the kettle." - Sam Caligioni

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Game. Set. Match! Victory to Mike.

Woot!

10 characters

-TH- said:

I noticed that too. That one guy said an average beer was 13 percent alcohol which was equivalent to that shot of "pure alcohol". I called BS on him (SWMBO heard it).

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Yeah I caught that one. I was thinking to myself "There sure aren't many 13 percent alcohol beers out there". They said right at the first of the program that most beers are between 3 - 5 percent alcohol. In that example, I would have thought a 3 to 1 ratio between a 12 oz. beer (or two 16 oz pints like they showed) and a shot of grain alcohol would have been a better comparison.

I actually did not catch them saying "13%" so I didn't bristle at the comparison. But the reality is that a standard 12 oz 5% beer is roughly equivalent to 1/2 oz of 180 proof alcohol which is equivalent to 1 oz 90 proof - or your average off - the - shelf distilled spirits.

The whole point of the comparison is that drink for drink beer roughly equals wine roughly equals rum and coke, etc. This comparison generally falls apart because mixed drinks almost certainly have at least 1 1/2 oz of booze and not just 1 oz and probably more. I know when I tended bar you had to be a real schmuck for me to pour you less than 2 - 2 1/2 oz in your drink.

dontman said:

I know when I tended bar you had to be a real schmuck for me to pour you less than 2 - 2 1/2 oz in your drink.

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To you then.

It *really* depends on where you go, I've seen bartenders serve a shot that's been watered down.... some people suck.

any idea where those of us who missed the show can see it? I tried Discovery Channel's website but it wasn't there.

They have Jan 02, 6:00 pm as a repeat for "HowStuffWorks: Beer"

Setting Tivo now...

i was about to go to sleep when i caught a pre-commercial snippet. they showed a fridge with a MALTOSE EXPRESS sticker, so i stuck around for that bit.

i remember towards the end of summer they were talking about moving the store down the street? does anyone know if this ever ended up happening? i just got back from school and i'm all out of ingredients :\

flyangler18 said:

I'd love to try Theobroma.

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It is pretty good... Had some when we were at the pub in Maryland and I found a bottle when I got home... It is sitting in my fridge as we speak....:rockin:

The narrator is irritating. I'm listening on head phones and he punctuates 80% of all phrases that end with a consonsant with an annoying grunty exhale sound. Like he's cranked the DJ voice control to 11.

Here is a transcription of one sentence in the hops section:

Combined - huhh
these give hops their bitter flavor - huhh
when tossed into a steaming brewkettle and boiled - huhh.

fratermus said:

The narrator is irritating. I'm listening on head phones and he punctuates 80% of all phrases that end with a consonant with an annoying grunty exhale sound. Like he's cranked the DJ voice control to 11.

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That is my only negative critique of the show. I HATED that guy's manner of speaking!

Sure, I got a grin out of the 12% alcohol quote by the scientist dude, but otherwise, the content was well organized and quite interesting. Glad I tuned in!