Funny things you've overheard about beer

[NickTheGreat]

Forgot about a phone call that same day:

Guy: "Hey I had a concern with a Pilsner I'm brewing. It's been in the carboy for two weeks, and the airlock is only bubbling every couple of seconds."

Me: "What temperature are you fermenting at?"

Guy: "Well it's been around 65-70F the whole time. Also I'm using the Wyeast Northwest Ale Yeast."

Hmm.....alrighty! I did let him know to just take gravity readings for a few days and if it doesn't change it's good to go.

I'm confused how the airlock is bubbling every few seconds after 2 weeks!

 

[masonsjax]

Temperature swings, CO2 coming out of solution, yeast working on the last little bits of sugar, ... Could be a number of things, which is why everyone says not to trust the airlock, but to look for hydrometer stability before packaging.

 

[DLR1987]

temperature swings, co2 coming out of solution, yeast working on the last little bits of sugar, ... Could be a number of things, which is why everyone says not to trust the airlock, but to look for hydrometer stability before packaging.

+1

 

[tennesseean_87]

I label mine Pilsen Ale. But now I have an STC-1000! Real Pilsener, here I come!

 

[Keith66]

Lager-flavored ales (if there is such a thing) can be made with WLP060. Someone in this thread talked about a maibock they made with it. I tried it on a Marzen and a Maibock at about 66F and they aren't half bad. But they are indeed ales.

 

[GrogNerd]

Lager-flavored ales (if there is such a thing) can be made with WLP060. Someone in this thread talked about a maibock they made with it. I tried it on a Marzen and a Maibock at about 66F and they aren't half bad. But they are indeed ales.

that was my maibock. entered it into club comp and no one, including BJCP judges, figured out it was an ale.

 

[unionrdr]

My Hopped & Confused ales have all used WL029 kolsh yeast. Gives good lager-like flavors between 64-69F with lager or pilsner hops & grains/extracts.
I even made a dark "hybrid lager",if you will,with a cooper's Heritage lager can & some grains per a recipe from ohcrap on here. Def was well liked,even by some BMC drinkers that tried it. So it's as much what you make it out of as the yeast you use to get lager-like qualities. When the weather cools down,I wanna make'em again,but with some German grains. I washed a few jars of the WL029 yeast for starters to use in'em as well.
It was kinda cool to see 3 of the four lawncare guys like my hybrid lagers after finishing the job at hand. The head guy though didn't care for them as much,asking if I had any of those bud lites with the lime in it left? Oh well...3 outta 4 ain't bad...

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

A few weeks ago I asked my wife to pick up some beer to be used with brats later that evening. I told her she could get just about anything from our grocery store's limited selection and it would work, just don't get anything too hoppy.
Thankfully she returned with a 6 pack of Kona "Fire-Rock" Pale ale. She apologized, saying she looked for and couldn't find any IPAs and hoped the Fire Rock wasn't too hoppy.
Brats were good though

 

[PRE66_6TART]

A few weeks ago I asked my wife to pick up some beer to be used with brats later that evening. I told her she could get just about anything from our grocery store's limited selection and it would work, just don't get anything too hoppy. Thankfully she returned with a 6 pack of Kona "Fire-Rock" Pale ale. She apologized, saying she looked for and couldn't find any IPAs and hoped the Fire Rock wasn't too hoppy. Brats were good though

A few weeks ago I asked my wife to pick up a case of Hibernation while she was in Denver, as I was having a hard time finding it up here in the mountains. I repeated the name two or three times so she wouldn't forget. She came back with a case of Isolation. Fortunately I like Isolation as well (they're both good winter seasonals), and I found my Hibernation a few days later, so everything turned out alright.

 

[IamAPenguin12]

Haha, Well I do vividly recall me on my 21st Bday in Vegas drunkingly waving a Mickey's 40 oz around shouting aloud with my friends "this is how beer should taste like!" haha I look back at that and laugh >_<

 

[MaxStout]

Haha, Well I do vividly recall me on my 21st Bday in Vegas drunkingly waving a Mickey's 40 oz around shouting aloud with my friends "this is how beer should taste like!" haha I look back at that and laugh >_<

Holy crap, that brings back some unsettling memories from my youth. That was often the centerpiece of my low-dough weekend benders. Mickey's in the big-mouth barrels. Back in the day, Schmidt came in a brown glass version of that, as well. Yikes.

 

[unionrdr]

We used to drink those after deer hunting in the swamps around Wooster,OH.

 

[skitamofo]

Ah Mickey's... the beer where the little puzzles on the cap get easier the more you drink.

 

[Keith66]

"40 or Bigmouth?... 40 or Bigmouth?... hmmm... Hey, I wonder why they put a bigger opening on this anyway???... [gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp]"

 

[bleme]

Back in college, my friends and I would often stay up late in the school's computer lab playing MUDD's. We always had a Big Gulp of Mountain Dew by our side. One St. Patricks Day, we decided to celebrate by filling up our Big Gulp cups with Mickey's - the most Irish beer that 7-11 carried. The lab monitor just saw us sipping yellow fizzy liquid. Nothing strange about that...

 

[fuzzy2133]

My brother yesterday at lunch after I got a La Rossa tried a sip and ordered one for himself:

Whats a dark lager, Is that like a stout or porter? What is it that you make? This is really good.

I had no choice but to give him the basic short version between Ale and Lager fermentation. He was already lost over the fact not all lagers are light in color.

 

[troy2000]

Haha, Well I do vividly recall me on my 21st Bday in Vegas drunkingly waving a Mickey's 40 oz around shouting aloud with my friends "this is how beer should taste like!" haha I look back at that and laugh >_<

Ah well... at least you can taste a Mickey's - which is more than I can say for some of the stuff out there.

 

[jaylakejr]

Guy at work tasted my oaked imperial stout, said its too strong for him. Fair enough, I know that style is not for everyone.
A few weeks later, he is explaining to me that if I make a better quality beer I do not need oak.... all the best beer and wine in the world don't use oak.
Asked him what he thought the barrels do, he said that is for only the poor quality beer and wine made today. In the "old days" all the wine and beer made had to sit in barrels and the quality was very bad.
I couldn't even come back with anything... my mind was slightly blown. A guy who claims to know so much about wine is outrageously ignorant about oak aging.

 

[fuzzy2133]

Guy at work tasted my oaked imperial stout, said its too strong for him. Fair enough, I know that style is not for everyone.
A few weeks later, he is explaining to me that if I make a better quality beer I do not need oak.... all the best beer and wine in the world don't use oak.
Asked him what he thought the barrels do, he said that is for only the poor quality beer and wine made today. In the "old days" all the wine and beer made had to sit in barrels and the quality was very bad.
I couldn't even come back with anything... my mind was slightly blown. A guy who claims to know so much about wine is outrageously ignorant about oak aging.

The next question is, so why is Opus One and Silver Oak so expensive if oak is for low quality wine?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

And if that were true why would breweries/wineries advertise that they mask bad flavors with oak?

 

[Keith66]

My brother is the winemaker at Newton Vineyard, also for Chandon's still wine division, both owned by LVMH (Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy), and located in Napa Valley. They use Imported French oak barrels at roughly $1000-$1500 a pop, and some American oak at about $800-$1000. I wonder if he knows his wine is cheap. I'll have to let him know. (He makes some awesome homebrew too! Way better than mine. The boy knows how to ferment!)

Come to think of it, I bet those wineries put all their barrels in underground wine caves because they can't afford big above-ground stainless steel or fiberglass tanks.

 

[ianw58]

And if that were true why would breweries/wineries advertise that they mask bad flavors with oak?

Not sure I follow your arguement. Do you have an example or two, please?

 

[amfukuda]

My brother is the winemaker at Newton Vineyard, also for Chandon's still wine division, both owned by LVMH (Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy), and located in Napa Valley. They use Imported French oak barrels at roughly $1000-$1500 a pop, and some American oak at about $800-$1000. I wonder if he knows his wine is cheap. I'll have to let him know. (He makes some awesome homebrew too! Way better than mine. The boy knows how to ferment!)

Come to think of it, I bet those wineries put all their barrels in underground wine caves because they can't afford big above-ground stainless steel or fiberglass tanks.

Every one knows the best wine is aged in metal oil drums

 

[BigSumpin]

A guy who claims to know so much about wine

Tells ya' all you need to know.

 

[troy2000]

Not sure I follow your arguement. Do you have an example or two, please?

Translation: If the only reason for using oak is to mask bad flavors, as the guy he was quoting earlier claimed, why would breweries and wineries advertise that their products are aged in oak?

I speak Jive, too.

 

[MaxStout]

Every one knows the best wine is aged in metal oil drums

Nah, the best wines have neutral grain spirits added, for that extra kick.

 

[GigiAllin]

I mentioned to someone today that I make my own beer and was asked "So you got a bucket of homemade Budweiser at your place?" Then while trying to explain (as simply as possible) how it is done... "Yeast?! Beer has bread in it? Is all beer made of bread?" I had the sneaking suspicion that trying to explain the science of yeast and its role in both leavened bread and alcohol production would be in vain. I just went with it, now there's someone out there who thinks bread is a major ingredient in beer. I'm sorry.

 

[troy2000]

My retired ex-boss is back on the premises, as a contract project manager. And he's set up shop in the control room...

When he found out this morning that I've been homebrewing, he started telling me how much he likes craft beers, and saying he'd like to try some of mine. Being a skeptical sort, I was kind of noncommittal. So he came back to the subject this afternoon, again telling me how much he's learned to appreciate craft beers, and doesn't even drink BMC anymore.

I asked him what he's been drinking lately, and he told me every time he goes to Laughlin or Lake Havasu City, he drops into Barley Brothers. He went into rhapsodies over their Tripppleberry Wheat beer (yep, that's how it's spelled; I looked it up). Apparently it has blueberries, raspberries and cranberries in it. He said, "it comes in 32 oz servings. And man, I can go through two of them like I'm drinking soda pop."

OK, I was starting to get a handle on what his tastes are. And after I asked him what he thought of Newcastle Brown Ale and he said, "well, that's a little heavy and strong-tasting for me," I knew all I needed to know.

He hit me up again later about wanting to try some of my homebrew. But the only thing I have ready right now is a saison that I used too many hops in... I don't mind it, but if I gave him one I seriously doubt he'd even finish it. And I bet I wouldn't get my bottle back, either.

 

[prohl84]

I mentioned to someone today that I make my own beer and was asked "So you got a bucket of homemade Budweiser at your place?" Then while trying to explain (as simply as possible) how it is done... "Yeast?! Beer has bread in it? Is all beer made of bread?" I had the sneaking suspicion that trying to explain the science of yeast and its role in both leavened bread and alcohol production would be in vain. I just went with it, now there's someone out there who thinks bread is a major ingredient in beer. I'm sorry.

I thought all bread had beer in it... you learn something every day.

 

[flars]

Nah, the best wines have neutral grain spirits added, for that extra kick.

Ahhh Mad Dog. Nice