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HBHoss

HBHoss

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Mariposa, CA
Our little town just had a small brewery open on Monday. I went there today and had a taste of their Pilsner and an Amber Ale. Pilz was a little cloudy and not real flavorful but the Amber Ale was nice. A little young, but tasty. Picked up a growler of the Ale and 4 glasses. Very nice people there. They are helping to host a Blues festival in May of 2009 featuring Elvin Bishop. Should be nice.
What this site does is orders the Wort from back east and then ferments it in the shop after adding their own ingredients. Is this common? I'm not familiar enough with this process to know how I might be able to take advantage of this situation. ;) Any ideas?

EDIT: After further analysis, I've found the beer here to be lacking in quality and flavor. The samples seemed okay but after taking it home and having a full glass, I realized the flavor is off. I'm going in today to talk to the guy there and share one of my Scotch Ales with him. My first thought is they are sacrificing flavor for speed. They are taking 1 week from start to finish. The initial smell is yeasty and the taste has a metallic/container type taste to it. I'm not experienced enough to know what's wrong. I'll get more info.
 
I may be wrong here, but it sounds like they are brewing with malt extract.

Regardless, get to know the brewer and free yeast will be your reward...probably.
 
that's awesome that Mariposa has a brewery! I'm spending Christmas in Coarsegold and wish good beer wasn't 45 minutes away. :(
 
GregR said:
that's awesome that Mariposa has a brewery! I'm spending Christmas in Coarsegold and wish good beer wasn't 45 minutes away. :(
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That little market in Coarsegold has a great selection of craft beers. You should check it out. After further analysis that beer from the brewery would not be worth the drive. :(
 
It's called a "turnkey brewpub system" we've b!tched about them on here a lot...More than likely the owner bought this system...

Brewing Procedures and Brewpub Equipment

tanks2.jpg


It's basically a large scale MR Beer setup...Limited recipes, no boil, hopped extract you buy from them only, & IIRC bad infection prevention....If you search using the name of the company on here, you will find some reviews of theirr beers..I THINK someone on here even confronted the owner of one of these systems.
 
Revvy said:
It's called a "turnkey brewpub system" we've b!tched about them on here a lot...More than likely the owner bought this system...

Brewing Procedures and Brewpub Equipment
Click to expand...

Our beers are very drinkable. We won 1st place 5 years in a row - a record unmatched by anyone in the industry.
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It says right on their site how awesome they are! How can that be wrong?

I would never give $50k or more to a business that only has a gmail address...
 
Revvy said:
t's basically a large scale MR Beer setup...Limited recipes, no boil, hopped extract you buy from them only, & IIRC bad infection prevention...QUOTE]

I didn't think those types of things actually existed. Ewwwww...:cross:
Click to expand...
 
eschatz said:
Revvy said:
t's basically a large scale MR Beer setup...Limited recipes, no boil, hopped extract you buy from them only, & IIRC bad infection prevention...QUOTE]

I didn't think those types of things actually existed. Ewwwww...:cross:
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Guys, where ya been? this comes up every couple of months or so...

I love this part here...

Who is Mr. Brew-It-Yourself?

In 1971, Leigh P. Beadle founded Specialty Products International. Earlier that same year, he wrote the best selling book, Brew-It-Yourself, which started the home brewing revolution in this country and led in turn to the brewpub and micro-brewing revolution in the mid-eighties. Since then, Leigh has written four additional books on brewing.

Specialty Products carefully blends the finest hops and malts at its own plant to create a complete range of extracts for the brewing industry. This greatly simplifies the brewing process and produces an assured consistency in quality.

The quality of malts Specialty Products had been producing for 28 years is considered the best in the U.S. and the world. Leigh Beadle has set the industry standard when it comes to the beers Specialty Products produces by winning the Southeastern Regional Brewing Contest 5 years in row!
Click to expand...

Funny I always thought Charlie Papazian's book started the whole homebrew revolution....:D

You can find copies of this major tomb for about 1.99 on amazon used...
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Revvy said:
It's called a "turnkey brewpub system" we've b!tched about them on here a lot...More than likely the owner bought this system...

Brewing Procedures and Brewpub Equipment

tanks2.jpg


It's basically a large scale MR Beer setup...Limited recipes, no boil, hopped extract you buy from them only, & IIRC bad infection prevention....If you search using the name of the company on here, you will find some reviews of theirr beers..I THINK someone on here even confronted the owner of one of these systems.
Click to expand...

That would explain the wort coming from back east. I guess drinkable means it's in liquid form? I suppose for BMC drinkers it's okay but for anyone else with a palette, forget it. Is there anything that can be done to improve the flavor?
 
I Kind of wonder if one could use the serving tanks as part of a system, say like plumbing over to it from the mash tun?


I sure as hell wouldn't order premade wort as it would be prone to infection if not handled right at the factory.
 
Otis The Drunk said:
I Kind of wonder if one could use the serving tanks as part of a system, say like plumbing over to it from the mash tun?


I sure as hell wouldn't order premade wort as it would be prone to infection if not handled right at the factory.
Click to expand...

The only way you'd be able to do that is if you score the system when the pub inevitably goes under, providing mr brew it yourself doesn't snag them back when the company's go under...you buy their system, like any franchise, you use their ingredients...
 
Revvy said:
The only way you'd be able to do that is if you score the system when the pub inevitably goes under, providing mr brew it yourself doesn't snag them back when the company's go under...you buy their system, like any franchise, you use their ingredients...
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Well that blows goats.

So you don't just buy the tanks outright, kind of like renting them and you buy or rent a building and your under contract to use their garbage premade, prone to infection wort.....

From what I read in other threads the resulting product isn't even good enough to convert BMC drinkers.... sad.
 
Revvy said:
The only way you'd be able to do that is if you score the system when the pub inevitably goes under, providing mr brew it yourself doesn't snag them back when the company's go under...you buy their system, like any franchise, you use their ingredients...
Click to expand...

Guess I should've researched a little more after talking to the supervisor and learning he'd never brewed beer. I'd like to see this place survive. They only have a tasting counter and sell growlers and kegs. No food or other beers. The owners brother is a Blues promoter and they're having an East meets West Blues festival in May featuring Elvin Bishop and a bunch of local area Blues bands as well as some East coast bands. They have some good ideas that would really help our struggling community. I read the link (thanks Revvy) and it didn't offer much hope. I can't help but think there must be something that can be done to improve this swill.
 
HBHoss said:
I can't help but think there must be something that can be done to improve this swill.
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By the sounds of the systems they are contractually obligated to serve that guy's garbage.

Sounds like they'd be better off just being a bar, serving quality beer that others make. The conversion to true brewpub would be expensive and complicated for an owner who knows nothing about it.

Convince them to order some good commercial kegs and maybe they'll have a chance.
 
Well take some of your beers, sit down with them, and find out if they are using a turnkey system, and whether or not they are locked into using the company's pre-made worts...and find out if they WANT to hear what you/we have to say to help them...A LOT of people go for systems like this (we've had a few people come on here) because they simply want to cash in on the microbrew trend..NOT because they want to make a quality product...That's exacty the audience that that company cashes in on, the "get rich quick" types...

If these guys are sincere and they put a lot of hard earned capital on the line, they may be willing to listen...In fact you may wanna bring (I think it's your brother?) with the winery to talk with them...he might be able to lend some insight/experience to these guys....

If they are NOT locked into using the kits from the company, MAYBE there's hope to help them...Give them this link as well....ProBrewer.com: An Online Resource Serving The Beer Industry

But the thing is, just becasue you think the beer sucks, and fellow homebrewers do...they might still pack in the people who don't know better....not everyone has such a refined palate as homebrewers and beersnobs...If that were the case, the BMC wouldn't be what it is...They may find a market for their "swill" especially with the music as a draw...Hell I would frequent a blusebar that even attempted to have something other than BMC on the menu, even if the "microbrew" were less than stellar...if they had one decent tasting beer on their menu I would drink that all night....
 
Kilgore_Trout said:
By the sounds of the systems they are contractually obligated to serve that guy's garbage.

Sounds like they'd be better off just being a bar, serving quality beer that others make. The conversion to true brewpub would be expensive and complicated for an owner who knows nothing about it.

Convince them to order some good commercial kegs and maybe they'll have a chance.
Click to expand...

What about getting a turkey fryer and boiling up some LME or DME and adding it?? Any quality control tests they could run on the generic wort they get before fermenting it? They use well water that's been passed through filters so I don't think water is an issue.
 
HBHoss said:
What about getting a turkey fryer and boiling up some LME or DME and adding it?? Any quality control tests they could run on the generic wort they get before fermenting it? They use well water that's been passed through filters so I don't think water is an issue.
Click to expand...

I don't know if adding extract or hops to the recipes would be a problem, it depends on their contract. If it's setup like a franchise then they can't really do much about the recipes, but I can't really say for sure.

The most basic thing would be sanitation. Make sure they understand how important it is, a few of those other posts mention lacto infections as a problem.
 
Those brewhouse kits are just wort that you pitch yeast onto and people have pretty good results with them. I have even heard of people adding hops etc in the secondary and turning out great beers. I think this is a good "idea" but is normally executed poorly. If the people running these companies cared even a little about brewing they would know how important sanitation is and that they should probably let the beers age for a little bit before they serve them. Even a good beer can be pretty bad when its green.
 
Revvy said:
Well take some of your beers, sit down with them, and find out if they are using a turnkey system, and whether or not they are locked into using the company's pre-made worts...and find out if they WANT to hear what you/we have to say to help them...A LOT of people go for systems like this (we've had a few people come on here) because they simply want to cash in on the microbrew trend..NOT because they want to make a quality product...That's exacty the audience that that company cashes in on, the "get rich quick" types...

If these guys are sincere and they put a lot of hard earned capital on the line, they may be willing to listen...In fact you may wanna bring (I think it's your brother?) with the winery to talk with them...he might be able to lend some insight/experience to these guys....

If they are NOT locked into using the kits from the company, MAYBE there's hope to help them...Give them this link as well....ProBrewer.com: An Online Resource Serving The Beer Industry

But the thing is, just becasue you think the beer sucks, and fellow homebrewers do...they might still pack in the people who don't know better....not everyone has such a refined palate as homebrewers and beersnobs...If that were the case, the BMC wouldn't be what it is...They may find a market for their "swill" especially with the music as a draw...Hell I would frequent a blusebar that even attempted to have something other than BMC on the menu, even if the "microbrew" were less than stellar...if they had one decent tasting beer on their menu I would drink that all night....
Click to expand...

My brother and I went there Wed. and he has a wine rack there that's stocked with his wines for them to sell so it's nice in that regard. Although the supervisor has never brewed, he does like craft beers especially IPA's. I'll take your advice and talk to him about how serious they are about producing beer that has flavor. Perhaps with some simple tweaking they can produce something more than glorified BMC.
 
Ichi-Go said:
Those brewhouse kits are just wort that you pitch yeast onto and people have pretty good results with them. I have even heard of people adding hops etc in the secondary and turning out great beers. I think this is a good "idea" but is normally executed poorly. If the people running these companies cared even a little about brewing they would know how important sanitation is and that they should probably let the beers age for a little bit before they serve them. Even a good beer can be pretty bad when its green.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's evident from the site and the products that the guy running this company is just a greedy scam artist. The only way to really fix this problem would be to start a similar company and crush him :p get to work!
 
Ichi-Go said:
Those brewhouse kits are just wort that you pitch yeast onto and people have pretty good results with them. I have even heard of people adding hops etc in the secondary and turning out great beers. I think this is a good "idea" but is normally executed poorly. If the people running these companies cared even a little about brewing they would know how important sanitation is and that they should probably let the beers age for a little bit before they serve them. Even a good beer can be pretty bad when its green.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it he did say they add hops to the ferment so they must not be locked into any contract as far as ingredients go. I told them that fermenting is at minimum a 2 week process but I didn't ask if they took hydro readings. The hops they used were local wild hops from some place up in the mountains. Not sure if they had the hops analyzed or not or how much they added. I wonder if they know about BeerSmith?
 
I would ask them some more detailed questions as far as their contractual obligations, and see just how locked in they really are... As far as local wild hops, it may or may not be just bullsh*t. I'm sure that they may be ordering hops from some online bulk supplier.
 
Otis The Drunk said:
I would ask them some more detailed questions as far as their contractual obligations, and see just how locked in they really are... As far as local wild hops, it may or may not be just bullsh*t. I'm sure that they may be ordering hops from some online bulk supplier.
Click to expand...

If I caught the story right, some local guy was cleaning up his property and came across a bunch of hop plants and harvested them. Brought the hops into the brewery and exchanged about 10lbs of the hops for the yeast slurry that the brewery dumps anyway. It seems this guy must homebrew but doesn't need all the hops. The owner liked the deal because hops prices are so high.
 
HBHoss said:
If I caught the story right, some local guy was cleaning up his property and came across a bunch of hop plants and harvested them. Brought the hops into the brewery and exchanged about 10lbs of the hops for the yeast slurry that the brewery dumps anyway. It seems this guy must homebrew but doesn't need all the hops. The owner liked the deal because hops prices are so high.
Click to expand...

Do they know anything about the hops? WHat type, what AAU's they are?
 
HBHoss said:
That little market in Coarsegold has a great selection of craft beers. You should check it out. After further analysis that beer from the brewery would not be worth the drive. :(
Click to expand...

The Coarsegold market does have a very nice selection:)off: Gold mine pizza in coarsegold also makes a damn good pie). I should have been more specific and said "good beer on tap".
 
OK.

I was just wondering, I wasn't aware of any places around that area where wild hops would grow... I lived in the LA area for a lot of years and drove truck all over the state for a lot of years...
That's not to say that there wouldn't be places in the area that do have hops growing... Infact I would be very pleased if I found a place that was growing wild hops.
 

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