Funny things you've overheard about beer

http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2013/01/measured-mash-temperature-effects.html

Kai's data is linked at the bottom, as is Greg Doss from Wyeast. I can't seem to find the thread I'm thinking about though. I'm too busy to look right now.

masonsjax said:

Well actually...
Mash temp is not much of a factor anymore with the modern highly modified grains. There's a thread about it here somewhere. Someone documented some tests they ran, maybe it was Kai? With certain malts it didn't much matter what temp you use, it always comes out the same.

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masonsjax said:

http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2013/01/measured-mash-temperature-effects.html

Kai's data is linked at the bottom, as is Greg Doss from Wyeast. I can't seem to find the thread I'm thinking about though. I'm too busy to look right now.

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according to the link you posted there is a difference though... a 9% difference between 150 and 160.

OG 1.050 - 85% ADT - 1.007 FG - 5.6% ABV
OG 1.050 - 77% ADT - 1.011 FG - 4.9% ABV (77 because 76 is between 1.011 and 1.012)

OG 1.070 - 85% ADT - 1.010 FG - 7.9% ABV
OG 1.070 - 76% ADT - 1.016 FG - 7.1% ABV

OG 1.090 - 85% ADT - 1.013 FG - 10.1% ABV
OG 1.090 - 76% ADT - 1.020 FG - 9.2% ABV

that's a pretty significant difference in my book.

Yeah there's a lot more data available and it seems the sensitivity is nearly zero with certain grains from certain vendors. When I get a chance I'll look for the thread where all the discussion took place.

I don't know if we're still doing "Funny Things...", but how about the title of the book, "Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England", featured in the latest Homebrewtalk article. So, ale and beer are two different things, huh?

Minky said:

I don't know if we're still doing "Funny Things...", but how about the title of the book, "Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England", featured in the latest Homebrewtalk article. So, ale and beer are two different things, huh?

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I read the article and thought that they differentiated between ale (no hops) and later beer (hopped). It's in the article unless my memory is failing.

Did a quick wiki and yep

Historically the terms beer and ale respectively referred to drinks brewed with and without hops.

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Iseneye said:

I read the article and thought that they differentiated between ale (no hops) and later beer (hopped). It's in the article unless my memory is failing.



Did a quick wiki and yep

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Unless it's a reference to "real ale". England has this weird thing with cask conditioning.

While visiting my brother last weekend in a little redneck town in East Texas, we went to the the store to go buy beer. We were trying to decide what to get, when an old guy, obviously already drunk, ambled over to us and said "they sure do have a lot of choices here... but I know what I'm getting." He smiled and held up a pack of Keystone Ice. Then, "What I'd really like is some Miller Gen-Yoo-Ine Draft. Yessir, that right there's the good stuff. But I can't afford that no more." Then he stumbled off with his pisswater, crying, probably.

Poor guy. I almost wanted to buy him some.

But before I get too all high-and-mighty, we left with a 30-pack of Miller Lite.

It's definitely referring to real ales, including that CAMRA stuff with cask ales. Any hops in it & it's " beer". I think that's inaccurate, but that's what they claim. So by that line of reasoning, they have no lagers...just "ale" & " beer"?

So I looked up keggles on Google and only came up with kegel information.

hunter_la5 said:

While visiting my brother last weekend in a little redneck town in East Texas, we went to the the store to go buy beer. We were trying to decide what to get, when an old guy, obviously already drunk, ambled over to us and said "they sure do have a lot of choices here... but I know what I'm getting." He smiled and held up a pack of Keystone Ice. Then, "What I'd really like is some Miller Gen-Yoo-Ine Draft. Yessir, that right there's the good stuff. But I can't afford that no more." Then he stumbled off with his pisswater, crying, probably.

Poor guy. I almost wanted to buy him some.

But before I get too all high-and-mighty, we left with a 30-pack of Miller Lite.

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That was one of the better recent posts!

BBQB said:

That was one of the better recent posts!

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Shhh, you'll inflate his ego. There's barely room for the rest of us as it is.

"That's pretty good stuff! How'd you get the recipe for Stroh's?!" My burnout uncle, who makes Tommy Chong look like a MENSA genius, actually said this about my 2nd batch of beer ever, which was brewed from one can of Cooper's Lager hopped liquid extract with a pound of Munton's extra light DME. Don't get me wrong, Stroh's is OK, but I never actually set out to recreate it at home. :smack:

I had an acquaintence try one of my Helluva IPAs - he's more of a liquor/spirits guy - and he took a first sip, looked surprised, then took another one. He said "I didn't expect it to taste like Guinness at first, but that's pretty good!"

I just nodded my head and was happy he liked it.

slym2none said:

I had an acquaintence try one of my Helluva IPAs - he's more of a liquor/spirits guy - and he took a first sip, looked surprised, then took another one. He said "I didn't expect it to taste like Guinness at first, but that's pretty good!"

I just nodded my head and was happy he liked it.

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Why is Guinness the baseline for all of craft beer? I mean, I love the chit, but there's really only a couple of styles that even bear comparison.

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1977Brewer said:

Why is Guinness the baseline for all of craft beer? I mean, I love the chit, but there's really only a couple of styles that even bear comparison.

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My guess is he meant it was strong (it was a 7.5% ABV brew) even though Guinness isn't that heavy. It's amazing what some people's thought processes are.

Friend on Untappd raving about a new beer he tried with "...added Saison hops!".

I need to get my hands on some of those!

unionrdr said:

It's definitely referring to real ales, including that CAMRA stuff with cask ales. Any hops in it & it's " beer". I think that's inaccurate, but that's what they claim. So by that line of reasoning, they have no lagers...just "ale" & " beer"?

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Wow ,, how do you come up with this stuff..Now that is downright funny... CAMRA says nothing at all about hops or no hops..

From CAMRA website..

Ales, which includes bitters, milds, stouts, porters, barley wines, golden ales and old ales, use top-fermenting yeast. The yeast forms a thick head on the top of the fermenting vessel and the process is shorter, more vigorous and carried out at higher temperatures than lager. This is the traditional method of brewing British beer.

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All of these ales have hops in them....Also notice that it calls the ales, beer.

There are a huge range of different beer styles, each with different qualities, tastes and strengths, but each falls into one of two main categories; ale or lager. The key difference between ales and lagers is the type of fermentation.

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Again not mention of hops or no hops being the difference...And they do recognize ales and lagers, both of which are reffered to as beers....

Here is the CAMRA website. http://www.camra.org.uk/about-real-ale

I got comments that my nitro oatmeal stout "tastes exactly like Guinness!!" last week. Well I get what they mean, it's about the same color, and has some roastiness, but it's really not very close if you ask me. Close enough I guess

Jeeze, it was a friggin' stout.

When you have someone tell you your award winning ESB reminds them of Guinness - that would be interesting...

Cheers!

beergolf said:

Wow ,, how do you come up with this stuff..Now that is downright funny... CAMRA says nothing at all about hops or no hops..

From CAMRA website..



All of these ales have hops in them....Also notice that it calls the ales, beer.




Again not mention of hops or no hops being the difference...And they do recognize ales and lagers, both of which are reffered to as beers....

Here is the CAMRA website. http://www.camra.org.uk/about-real-ale

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Well, according to this site, my memory is in error so far as 18th & 19th centuries are concerned; http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/beerale.htm But there was a point where cask ales had no hops in them, but weren't gruits either. Anyway, under 18th century classifications, it says ales were lightly hopped compared to beers at that point.

unionrdr said:

Well, according to this site, my memory is in error so far as 18th & 19th centuries are concerned; http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/beerale.htm But there was a point where cask ales had no hops in them, but weren't gruits either. Anyway, under 18th century classifications, it says ales were lightly hopped compared to beers at that point.

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Hops certainly didn't use to be as big of a deal as they are now. From what I've heard the most popular beers in the US use to be ginger beer until after the first world war when GIs had a taste of German beers.

How true that is I don't know, since Germans have been in the United States for hundreds of years, logic would tell me German style beer would have been very popular.

I haven't really read anything about American ginger beers. But in Cleveland, for example, they had a couple companies that also brewed " stock Ales", besides lagers & pilsners that tons of companies brewed in Cleveland, besides other cities as we expanded westward. But the beers did have more color/flavor & hops compared to now. Even Kenny King;s original recipe isn't exactly like the one I remember. It had red pepper, cardamom/coriander & a bit of cumin in it. It tasted nearly completely different from today's so-called original recipe. So it is with the beer, Thinned & cheapened to increase profits.
They had more hops, but not like the newer varieties of today. Nugget, cluster & other similar, older varieties.

cyanmonkey said:

Hops certainly didn't use to be as big of a deal as they are now. From what I've heard the most popular beers in the US use to be ginger beer until after the first world war when GIs had a taste of German beers.

How true that is I don't know, since Germans have been in the United States for hundreds of years, logic would tell me German style beer would have been very popular.

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HUH,


Hops were not used in the quantities that they are today but were a big part of brewing. For example the Yuengling brewery was started in 1829 and Budweiser was something like 1876. There were hundreds of breweries making beer using hops. British beers were imported to the US also.

1844 - Jacob Best starts a brewery in Milwaukee which later becomes the Pabst Brewing Co.

1849 - August Krug forms a brewery in Milwaukee which evolves into the Schlitz Brewery.

1852 - George Schneider starts a brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. This brewery is the seed of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

1856 - The Benedictine Society of Saint Vincent's Abbey opens a commercial brewery in their Monastery near Latrobe, Pa.

1860 - More than 1,269 breweries produce over one million barrels of beer for a population of 31 million. New York and Pennsylvania account for 85 percent of production.

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All breweries that use hops in their recipes. All over a hundred years before WWII. Over a thousand breweries making beer. Ginger beer may have been somewhat popular but nothing compared to the regular beer that was brewed

beergolf said:

HUH,





Hops were not used in the quantities that they are today but were a big part of brewing. For example the Yuengling brewery was started in 1829 and Budweiser was something like 1876. There were hundreds of breweries making beer using hops. British beers were imported to the US also.

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Then who knows wtf dude was talking about. It was from an episode of Jamil Show with someone that wrote a book on herbal beers.

As for Wikipedia, though :

Brewed ginger beer originated in Yorkshire in England in the mid-18th century[2] and became popular throughout Britain, the United States, Ireland, and Canada, reaching a peak of popularity in the early 20th century.[3]

So at least part of what he said could be accurate.

I doubt it. Do you really think that over a million barrels of ginger beer was sold?

Herbal beers were a niche market then,just as they are now. But defintiely not more popular than regualr beer before WWII.

Commence with the funny. This is bumming me out.

beergolf said:

I doubt it. Do you really think that over a million barrels of ginger beer was sold?

Herbal beers were a niche market then,just as they are now. But defintiely not more popular than regualr beer before WWII.

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I don't know. Wasn't there and am not knowledgeable in the subject. I'm not arguing either way. I'm sure you're right.

Was reading the book Brew Like A Monk during some down time at work. Norwegians are very funny that they're always looking to seem interested in your life even if they don't understand it. After I helped them understand what the title meant, one of the ladies asked, "Oh, do you like beer?"

I started explaining that I brew at home, to which I was interrupted with, "Oh yeah my grandma she used to brew some things at home. She used to brew one thing with just hops and honey. And then she would always say, 'Just add a little bit yeast to it, but just a little.'" As if the yeast was the alcohol and she didn't want to add too much or else there would be too much alcohol.

joshesmusica said:

Was reading the book Brew Like A Monk during some down time at work. Norwegians are very funny that they're always looking to seem interested in your life even if they don't understand it. After I helped them understand what the title meant, one of the ladies asked, "Oh, do you like beer?"

I started explaining that I brew at home, to which I was interrupted with, "Oh yeah my grandma she used to brew some things at home. She used to brew one thing with just hops and honey. And then she would always say, 'Just add a little bit yeast to it, but just a little.'" As if the yeast was the alcohol and she didn't want to add too much or else there would be too much alcohol.

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Lol, so THATS the secret to low ABV beers! Got to try that one.... ;-)

"No, no, it only TASTES like its a Barley wine! I only add a little bit of yeast, so it should be around 3%...."

WilliamSlayer said:

Lol, so THATS the secret to low ABV beers! Got to try that one.... ;-)

"No, no, it only TASTES like its a Barley wine! I only add a little bit of yeast, so it should be around 3%...."

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I mean, yeah I guess in theory it could be a way to do it... Shock the hell out of the yeast so they stop working pretty quickly. But then I suppose you'd be left with lots of off flavors as well.

joshesmusica said:

I mean, yeah I guess in theory it could be a way to do it... Shock the hell out of the yeast so they stop working pretty quickly. But then I suppose you'd be left with lots of off flavors as well.

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That's that genuine homebrew taste!

Out on a stag with my colleagues. 1 St beer discussion of the afternoon, " yeah I only drink IPAs or ales now."
Could have overlooked it if he wasn't drinking a bud.

It's been too long since I've posted any bits of my read through of Home Brewing Without Failures, a hilariously outdated homebrewing guide from 1965. My father used it for recipes but I couldn't get many clear memories about how these horrible recipes actually turned out, but he recalls making his stout dark by using lots of molasses instead of using the ungodly amounts of black patent malt that the recipes call for.

Anyway, let's hit Chapter 6: Mock Beers.

This the chapter in which the author decides to just go all the way and throw out the little bit of malt that he's been using to flavor his sugar hooch.

He says to not use baker's yeast and implies that in the bad old days when people were even worse at brewing than this book's author they did that all the time. He also says to use beer yeast, not "expensive" wine yeast. Did wine yeast use to cost more than beer yeast?

OK, on to the recipes!

First we have "spruce beer." It's a two gallon batch with "spruce essence," a pound of sugar and a pound of light DME with some citric acid or lemon juice for some reason. Strangely, unlike with the beer recipes, there is no call for salt, despite him saying earlier that salt is an important yeast nutrient.

Next is nettle beer that calls for a gallon of stinging nettle tops for a 2 gallon batch of "beer." Eek!

Then there's "hop beer" which is just a bit of hops and a whole lot of sugar.

Then there's treacle beer which calls for 2 oz hops, 1 pound black treacle, 1 pound white sugar and 7/8 oz citric acid for a 2 gallon recipe. The amount of citric acid calls for in each of these recipes bounces around randomly for no apparent reason.

Also you're supposed to boil the hops in a quart vessel before straining them and adding the hop tea to the sugars, which'll skill hop utilization. Let's try to calculate out this recipe:

Original Gravity: 1.041 Final Gravity: 1.009 ABV: 4.14% IBU: 3.49 SRM: 18.74

Note: do not boil your hops in a quart vessel.

For the next one Bran Ale is made with 12 oz of bran and a lot of sugar.

Baby awake now gotta run, but the next bit is him complaining about older and stranger homebrewing styles than his own and makes for an interesting window into history.

Thomas Jefferson would have been thrilled with his advanced brewing techniques.

Nettle beer would be great for allergy season. One dose and you're good for the whole year.

This post doesn't belong here, but...
I was at a magic/comedy act last week in a room full of colleagues, and somehow got selected to go up on stage to have magic done on me. The grand finale was when I sat down and he offered to get me a drink for my trouble. He asks what I want, then he makes it appear out of nowhere, and it is the very drink I ordered! Of course it's a scam (magic isn't real, you know), and he has already told me to order a... wait for it... bud light! I did it, but it hurt. (Beer snob I suppose.)

The guy was funny, and I didn't want to mess with his show. I do wonder what he would have done if I ordered something else. I'm sure he had a backup plan.

Then I got to have 30 conversations with people about how he knew I would order bud light.

When exactly did he tell you to order it?

While I was on stage, during other tricks.

Singletrack said:

This post doesn't belong here, but...
I was at a magic/comedy act last week in a room full of colleagues, and somehow got selected to go up on stage to have magic done on me. The grand finale was when I sat down and he offered to get me a drink for my trouble. He asks what I want, then he makes it appear out of nowhere, and it is the very drink I ordered! Of course it's a scam (magic isn't real, you know), and he has already told me to order a... wait for it... bud light! I did it, but it hurt. (Beer snob I suppose.)

The guy was funny, and I didn't want to mess with his show. I do wonder what he would have done if I ordered something else. I'm sure he had a backup plan.

Then I got to have 30 conversations with people about how he knew I would order bud light.

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The exact same thing happened with me, except mine was Budweiser. Was it Mac King? And did he also "steal" your watch?