Brew Masters on Discovery w/ Sam Calagione

[sportscrazed2]

they still could have given away the beer to the employees or thrown a crazy kegger

 

[schweaty]

they still could have given away the beer to the employees or thrown a crazy kegger

I know, right? Something other than flushing it down the drain! Sam is so creative when it comes to new beer ideas.....

 

[Tiber_Brew]

I know, right? Something other than flushing it down the drain! Sam is so creative when it comes to new beer ideas.....

I'm thinking Discovery network executives picked up the tab on that one. Makes for dramatic reality television, no?

It's a possibility, anyway...

TB

 

[Frodo]

Sorry to change the subject, but what is coffee malt? It was early on in the show, I think they incorporated it into the cedarified test batch. Another term for chocolate malt??

 

[schweaty]

Sorry to change the subject, but what is coffee malt? It was early on in the show, I think they incorporated it into the cedarified test batch. Another term for chocolate malt??

Apparently it's a roasted malt made by Simpsons that imparts a coffee note. It's made in the UK and I've noticed that DFH likes to use specialty malts from the UK pretty often. That and Pilsner malt.

 

[brettwasbtd]

I thought about that, and then my DIPA started doing the thinking for me. What if this whole dumping of the 120 was just staged drama like on other reality shows? I mean how perfect, right? Their most expensive beer dumped down the drain *GASP*! I mean did you see how cloudy it was when they were dumping it? I know, that could have been the yeast but it seem time elapsed to me and it was VERY cloudy the entire time. The 120 they had at the tasting panel was crystal clear. Furthermore, how can you judge a 120 at such an early stage to all the other 120's they have done. And even furthermore, why the hell would you change your tried and true recipe every year and risk the chance of not making something greater? ******* I LOVE DIPA! Excuse me while I get a refill

Ya, however they are going along with that story on Sam's blog: http://www.dogfish.com/community/blogfish/members/sam/beer-ing-with-us.htm

Im sure it is legit though, its 18% ABV, not easy to do with ale yeast, right?

 

[Sawdustguy]

I almost cried for the first time in 40 years when I saw them dumping that IPA.

 

[rico567]

They change the recipe...and that's consistent with their stated philosophy of experimentation, which has come up repeatedly in the series.

They said the beer was dumped because the remaining sugars were unfermentable. When dealing with a beer that big, I'm not sure of all the variables in play, but they also pretty much indicated that it was a function of mashing it at the wrong temperature.

 

[passedpawn]

I wondered if they considered adding additional enzymes.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I almost cried for the first time in 40 years when I saw them dumping that IPA.

I wonder what kind of regulations are involved in dumping that much beer.
Imagine having to dump the beer AND having to get government permission to do it!

 

[Bulls Beers]

How was the episode compared to the other three, or at least the last one? I'm watching it tonight.

 

[bob1852]

How was the episode compared to the other three, or at least the last one? I'm watching it tonight.

Best one yet in my opinion...

 

[rvklein]

And just think, 120 was going for $30 a bottle on ebay before that episode aired...

 

[Pappers_]

And just think, 120 was going for $30 a bottle on ebay before that episode aired...

Wow, that's crazy.

 

[D_Struct]

I felt like last night's episode was the best, yet.

I'm in agreement that it should've been the first episode, as it did a better job of establishing what the place is like on a day to day basis.

 

[BlackJackBrews]

I about tear up thinking about dumping one of my $30-$40 batches, I can't imagine flushing $500,000 down the drain...

 

[ArcaneXor]

Sorry to change the subject, but what is coffee malt? It was early on in the show, I think they incorporated it into the cedarified test batch. Another term for chocolate malt??

It's a specialty roasted malt. Simpsons makes it, as does Franco-Belges. Not a huge fan of it, personally, but might be nice to accentuate a porter or stout in small quantities (to supplement the chocolate malt).

 

[TheWeeb]

steampunk tree house, way cool; cedar surfboard brew, absolutely bang-on off centered fit; but come on, the 120m IPA DRAMA was such BS. $500,000 worth of beer down the drain? Street value, perhaps, but as we know the ingredients are no more than 10% of retail. With an annual estimated sales of $11,600,000 this means that they "lost" only 4/10ths of one percent, and yes, had to dump to keep the pipeline flowing. I agree with other posters that the increase in sales and revenue from the Discovery series (not to mention what Discovery probably paid for the rights) will mean this "loss" is nothing, only in interruption of the assembly line.

 

[joety]

I about tear up thinking about dumping one of my $30-$40 batches, I can't imagine flushing $500,000 down the drain...

I think that $500K number comes from using the retail price of $9.99/bottle. Obviously the batch did not cost the brewery that much at that point in production and distribution cycle. Still, a fair chunk of change for a small business.

 

[menschmaschine]

Geez, I wish they would have called me. I have about 4 empty cornies I could have filled up with their not-so-perfect beer and I live 3 miles from the brewery!

 

[ArcaneXor]

Yeah but @ $10.00 a bottle I think Sam said it was something like $500,000 lost? I guess that's the risk you run when brewing a lot of high gravity ales such as the 120. Still, from a business standpoint, there had to be a way to save their most expensive beer from being a complete wash.

Well, Sam suggested the blending approach, but Floris replied that he couldn't guarantee that would work. Considering they'd have to develop and brew a completely new beer to blend it with, those tanks of 120 would continue to consume bright tank space (as well as the blending beer, of course), blocking the pipeline for the other beers. Rather than disrupting their production schedule for months into the future on an uncertain proposition, they decided to cut their losses. I can understand that.
Personally, I would have added amylase or, if all else failed, alpha galactosidase; but that would require pasteurization to denature the enzymes at the right point, and I don't know if DFH is equipped to do that. Another approach could have been watering it down with gypsum-rich water and some hop extract to turn it into an effervescent regular-strength IPA, but again, that would require them using three times as many bright tanks to store the blend, a luxury that they don't have.

 

[Montanaandy]

Best one yet in my opinion...

Would have to agree. Didn't gloss over the fact that even the best can ruin a batch every now and then. I will say that I was taken aback at the projected loss - $500K. No wonder every is happy at that brewery with the profit sharing and all.

I guess that I am puzzled by the fact that if you had what the brewmasters were deeming "good beer" that you would still dump it. Why not bottle or keg it and make it available to employees? I am assuming that it made more sense from a financial standpoint to free up the tanks for another beer but I was cringing when I saw them dumping so much product (they obviously were too). Montanaandy

 

[rjhockey]

I think that $500K number comes from using the retail price of $9.99/bottle. Obviously the batch did not cost the brewery that much at that point in production and distribution cycle. Still, a fair chunk of change for a small business.

Not 100% sure that comes from the retail price. They said they dumped 400 bbl (12400 gallons), roughly 132,266 12 ounce bottles at roughly $8.50 a bottle. (Guestimate based on an average cost of a bottle retail, - a 15% markup) Brings the loss up to just over $1,000,000. If you look at a clone recipe and do the math on a 10 gal recipe vs a 12400 gal you will see that it costs roughly 35k in grain alone, after other factors including water hops labor utilities I'm willing to bet its close to 500k. Seeing as how its such a time intensive beer (I know I've tried to clone it.) I'm sure the labor is outrageous.

 

[BuddyBrews]

And just think, 120 was going for $30 a bottle on ebay before that episode aired...

wow my homebrew crushes DFH beers im gonna ebay it for 120 a bottle. lol

 

[rvklein]

Easily 500 grand. Consider that's two fermenters offline for 3 months with nothing to show for it. I wonder what the waste water bill was for dumping that

 

[Pappers_]

wow my homebrew crushes DFH beers im gonna ebay it for 120 a bottle. lol

Don't throw out your shoulder there, from all the self-back patting

 

[Beernip]

Well, Sam suggested the blending approach, but Floris replied that he couldn't guarantee that would work. Considering they'd have to develop and brew a completely new beer to blend it with, those tanks of 120 would continue to consume bright tank space (as well as the blending beer, of course), blocking the pipeline for the other beers. Rather than disrupting their production schedule for months into the future on an uncertain proposition, they decided to cut their losses. I can understand that.
Personally, I would have added amylase or, if all else failed, alpha galactosidase; but that would require pasteurization to denature the enzymes at the right point, and I don't know if DFH is equipped to do that. Another approach could have been watering it down with gypsum-rich water and some hop extract to turn it into an effervescent regular-strength IPA, but again, that would require them using three times as many bright tanks to store the blend, a luxury that they don't have.

You could have done any of these or left it alone to produce a drinkable beer but it wouldn't have been the 120 or 90 min IPA that they produce. They need to produce the same beer each time for their customers.

Frankly I would have added oak extract, kegged it and servered it at the brew pub as experimental oaked 120 ipa for cost.

 

[Jenks829]

How about when the one guy said he was going to stash his porn in the hipster tree house? I laughed for 10 minutes and missed the rest of the show because of it.

 

[metaltim]

Frankly I would have added oak extract, kegged it and servered it at the brew pub as experimental oaked 120 ipa for cost.

this is what I'm wondering. they have a brewpub that they test beers on. Admit the mistake, keg it, maybe add something like this quote says, and sell it at $1 or $2 on tap at the eatery? who would complain? they'd make much of that back.
Remember, there are no mistakes in brewing, there are only limited special releases

 

[coastwx]

I've really enjoyed the show and agree that last night's episode was a real good one. I'm a surfer, so the whole Grain to glass part of the show was cool; a neat way to join a custom surfboard outfit with a brew. The whole tree house thing was neat, although it was out of chronological order because it was shown in previous episodes. I thought it was funny at the end when they were testing the new batch in the tree house with the surfers, Sam was doing the usual shakedown of a beer that a craft beer lover would do, the other guys were trying to gulp the brew down like they were on spring break or something. Seeing all the 120 go down the drain was difficult. They did discuss a lot more details of brewing than in past shows.