Random Beer Thoughts

[Gonzoillini1]

That sounds terrible and I don't even know why. Out of curiosity, what does that do to the end product?

5.2 PH Stabilizer is a buffering product designed to get the PH of your mash water to stay consistent at 5.2. I've used it in every batch of all grain beer I've ever brewed, and I've found it greatly assists with my water supply (I'm one of the very few folks in Chicagoland whose municipal water supply comes from a town well drawing off an aquifer opposed to treating Lake Michigan water).

Nothing wrong with it at all, and no different than brewers using lactic acid / acidulated malt to modify the ph of their wort as well. Very common stuff.

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/5two-Tech1.pdf

 

[arren]

5.2 PH Stabilizer is a buffering product designed to get the PH of your mash water to stay consistent at 5.2. I've used it in every batch of all grain beer I've ever brewed, and I've found it greatly assists with my water supply (I'm one of the very few folks in Chicagoland whose municipal water supply comes from a town well drawing off an aquifer opposed to treating Lake Michigan water).

Nothing wrong with it at all, and no different than brewers using lactic acid / acidulated malt to modify the ph of their wort as well. Very common stuff.

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/5two-Tech1.pdf

...so, another example of someone just making something common sound worse than it actually is?

 

[boogercrack]

When's this article coming out?

 

[ASak10]

Interesting...will actually buy it then i guess.

Don't bother. Split one wit my wife, who loves IPAs, and she took a sip and said it sucked. I couldn't disagree. Just very meh.

that's the one i was drinking last night. first time i'd seen a beer made with those hops.

bit of a letdown from whatever hop they were using last year, which i thought was excellent.

Sadly it really was a let down.

 

[sacrelicio]

I'd say this is 75% of all newly opened breweries in this country are homebrewers that just aren't ready to brew on a commercial scale. Many don't even adjust their water. Out of the ones that do, a lot just put 5.2 stabilizer in it. They start brewing, realize their beer won't sell, then they have to hire a real brewer.

Granted I'm sort of generalizing, but three breweries in my area that have opened in the past two years have had to hire pro brewers with experience to take over.

We got that here, especially in the last few years. College homebrew buddies who want to live the dream, do it all, etc. or a corporate dropout who wants something more fun...and the beer is muddled and flawed. I mean I get wanting to give it a shot but come on, pros are pros for a reason.

 

[sacrelicio]

Who gives a ****?

A general beer talk thread on a beer discussion website named Talk Beer...

 

[tosh1]

Don't bother. Split one wit my wife, who loves IPAs, and she took a sip and said it sucked. I couldn't disagree. Just very meh.



Sadly it really was a let down.

I had to back track to see what I was talking about. We talking bombers or 12oz? It is a no on a bomber, and a maybe on a 12oz.

 

[archagon]

I was excited to finally find a 6-pack of Lagunitas Sucks that was only a month old, but the flavor turned out to be disappointing. Last I tried this beer, it had wonderful grapefruit notes and a pronounced hoppiness; now, there's barely any fruitiness or hoppiness at all and a bit of a medicinal, boozy aftertaste to boot. Not even close to the Sucks I fell in love with several years ago.

Did I get the date wrong? The bottle says "268 5 1 / 8049 2049". There's no way that's a year old, right? The medicinal notes in particular are very reminiscent of a bottle of Hoptimum I let sit in my fridge for several months too long.

At least I got my hands on some Born Yesterday to ease the pain.

 

[spicecowboy]

Previous record smashed...

 

[sacrelicio]

I was excited to finally find a 6-pack of Lagunitas Sucks that was only a month old, but the flavor turned out to be disappointing. Last I tried this beer, it had wonderful grapefruit notes and a pronounced hoppiness; now, there's barely any fruitiness or hoppiness at all and a bit of a medicinal, boozy aftertaste to boot. Not even close to the Sucks I fell in love with several years ago.

Did I get the date wrong? The bottle says "268 5 1 / 8049 2049". There's no way that's a year old, right? The medicinal notes in particular are very reminiscent of a bottle of Hoptimum I let sit in my fridge for several months too long.

At least I got my hands on some Born Yesterday to ease the pain.

I had some recently, don't remember exactly how fresh, but it was solidly malty and a little medicinal.

 

[archagon]

It's possible that my palate has changed enough in the intervening years to create this percieved difference... but I definitely, 100% remember the grapefruitiness.

 

[JulianB1]

I was excited to finally find a 6-pack of Lagunitas Sucks that was only a month old, but the flavor turned out to be disappointing. Last I tried this beer, it had wonderful grapefruit notes and a pronounced hoppiness; now, there's barely any fruitiness or hoppiness at all and a bit of a medicinal, boozy aftertaste to boot. Not even close to the Sucks I fell in love with several years ago.

Did I get the date wrong? The bottle says "268 5 1 / 8049 2049". There's no way that's a year old, right? The medicinal notes in particular are very reminiscent of a bottle of Hoptimum I let sit in my fridge for several months too long.

At least I got my hands on some Born Yesterday to ease the pain.

Sucks was one of my favorite hoppy beers period a couple of years ago. Ever since it moved to the 32oz bottles, both those and the 6-packs have been way off from what it was the previous winter. Now they're decent at best, malty and boring at worst.

 

[housepants]

steimie

 

[steimie]

steimie

Yes?

 

[housepants]

Yes?

i had a random beer thought for you

 

[steimie]

i had a random beer thought for you

I've got your random beer thought right here, boss.

 

[MooseLang]

5.2 PH Stabilizer is a buffering product designed to get the PH of your mash water to stay consistent at 5.2. I've used it in every batch of all grain beer I've ever brewed, and I've found it greatly assists with my water supply (I'm one of the very few folks in Chicagoland whose municipal water supply comes from a town well drawing off an aquifer opposed to treating Lake Michigan water).

Nothing wrong with it at all, and no different than brewers using lactic acid / acidulated malt to modify the ph of their wort as well. Very common stuff.

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/5two-Tech1.pdf

...so, another example of someone just making something common sound worse than it actually is?

We could probably take this over to the homebrewing thread, but there isn't anything necessarily wrong with 5.2 stabilizer. However, many brewers treat it as sort of a band-aid and just add it with little regard to what else is in their water. The link below shows a discussion (between people much smarter than I) about 5.2 stabilizer.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=536628&highlight=5.2+stabilizer

If you're using it on a homebrew scale with good results, I say keep it up. But don't it would be nice if someone who was opening their own commercial brewery would know a little more about what additions, water profiles, etc will help them make better beer?

 

[trickytunadicky]

I was excited to finally find a 6-pack of Lagunitas Sucks that was only a month old, but the flavor turned out to be disappointing. Last I tried this beer, it had wonderful grapefruit notes and a pronounced hoppiness; now, there's barely any fruitiness or hoppiness at all and a bit of a medicinal, boozy aftertaste to boot. Not even close to the Sucks I fell in love with several years ago.

Did I get the date wrong? The bottle says "268 5 1 / 8049 2049". There's no way that's a year old, right? The medicinal notes in particular are very reminiscent of a bottle of Hoptimum I let sit in my fridge for several months too long.

At least I got my hands on some Born Yesterday to ease the pain.

I blame Chicago. FIBs ruin everything.

 

[yamar68]

I've got your random beer thought right here, boss.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

We could probably take this over to the homebrewing thread, but there isn't anything necessarily wrong with 5.2 stabilizer. However, many brewers treat it as sort of a band-aid and just add it with little regard to what else is in their water. The link below shows a discussion (between people much smarter than I) about 5.2 stabilizer.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=536628&highlight=5.2+stabilizer

If you're using it on a homebrew scale with good results, I say keep it up. But don't it would be nice if someone who was opening their own commercial brewery would know a little more about what additions, water profiles, etc will help them make better beer?

While I hear where you are coming from, I think you would be surprised how few large scale breweries are doing any kind of water chemistry aside from carbon filtering their water. Thinking only about Chicagoland, I know that the vast majority of breweries (even bigger guys like Half Acre) are simply carbon filtering their water and adding just a little of lactic acid to their strike water.

In my personal opinion, if you are a new brewery you have much bigger concerns than tweaking your water (granted you are starting with decent water that isn't too hard).

 

[ASak10]

I had to back track to see what I was talking about. We talking bombers or 12oz? It is a no on a bomber, and a maybe on a 12oz.

I had a bomber, haven't seen and smaller format bottles of this stuff but they may be out there, who knows.

 

[MooseLang]

While I hear where you are coming from, I think you would be surprised how few large scale breweries are doing any kind of water chemistry aside from carbon filtering their water. Thinking only about Chicagoland, I know that the vast majority of breweries (even bigger guys like Half Acre) are simply carbon filtering their water and adding just a little of lactic acid to their strike water.

In my personal opinion, if you are a new brewery you have much bigger concerns than tweaking your water (granted you are starting with decent water that isn't too hard).

Yeah there are definitely a ton of great breweries that don't do anything other than carbon filtering. I could be wrong, but I heard that Maine Brewing Co just does carbon filtering and gypsum additions. And there are certainly many other aspects that go into making great beer.

Again, I was really generalizing in my initial post. The water where I live and the surrounding areas is poor brewing water. So there have been a few breweries that have opened, and the people can't figure out how to make decent beer. They end up hiring brewers with real experience (Seibel, other larger breweries, etc) to come in and take the brewing reigns.

 

[sacrelicio]

Yeah there are definitely a ton of great breweries that don't do anything other than carbon filtering. I could be wrong, but I heard that Maine Brewing Co just does carbon filtering and gypsum additions. And there are certainly many other aspects that go into making great beer.

Again, I was really generalizing in my initial post. The water where I live and the surrounding areas is poor brewing water. So there have been a few breweries that have opened, and the people can't figure out how to make decent beer. They end up hiring brewers with real experience (Seibel, other larger breweries, etc) to come in and take the brewing reigns.

Wouldn't their homebrew also taste ******?

Oh wait, that doesn't stop people from opening breweries.

 

[MooseLang]

Wouldn't their homebrew also taste ******?

Oh wait, that doesn't stop people from opening breweries.

Bingo.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

I think everyone's experiences are different, and experiences influence perspective, but I think we've swung the pendulum too far against homebrewers turning professional.

While there have been any number of anecdotally ****** beer coming from places that don't have good understanding of cleaning / sanitization, professional equipment, scaling recipes, etc..., I've had really great beers from a bunch of places that have opened in Chicagoland over the past few years from homebrewers.

Having a solid vision / business plan, a good understanding of consumer demand, and making clean drinkable beers doesn't require Siebel / UC Davis classroom education.

 

[Ispeakforthetrees]

I wish I could find more craft beer 40's for cracking with da homies....


This is how this works right?

 

[MooseLang]

I think everyone's experiences are different, and experiences influence perspective, but I think we've swung the pendulum too far against homebrewers turning professional.

While there have been any number of anecdotally ****** beer coming from places that don't have good understanding of cleaning / sanitization, professional equipment, scaling recipes, etc..., I've had really great beers from a bunch of places that have opened in Chicagoland over the past few years from homebrewers.

Having a solid vision / business plan, a good understanding of consumer demand, and making clean drinkable beers doesn't require Siebel / UC Davis classroom education.

I totally agree, but you're making it hard for me to over-generalize and bitch about the ****** breweries that are constantly opening in my surrounding area .

Tons and tons of great homebrewers out there, many of whom could move up to a commercial scale and churn out great beers. I just get frustrated because it seems like they're the ones that aren't opening up shop.

On the flip side, I've had beer from Seibel / Davis educated brewers that is incredibly boring, and brewed only to 2008 BJCP guidelines.

 

[boogercrack]

A bunch of people can cook a good dinner. Not many people can run a successful restaurant.

The exact same thing, just less vitriol.

It’s the American dream to take your hobby and take a shot at turning it into a legitimate way to make a living. Why does the community **** all over people for actually sacking up and trying?

Beer people are the worst.

 

[steimie]

But it's just a beer forum where we can say whatever we want...

 

[Gonzoillini1]

I totally agree, but you're making it hard for me to over-generalize and bitch about the ****** breweries that are constantly opening in my surrounding area .

Tons and tons of great homebrewers out there, many of whom could move up to a commercial scale and churn out great beers. I just get frustrated because it seems like they're the ones that aren't opening up shop.

On the flip side, I've had beer from Seibel / Davis educated brewers that is incredibly boring, and brewed only to 2008 BJCP guidelines.

I think the biggest misconception about the transition from homebrewer to profressional brewers is that the quality of your homebrew is a leading indicator for how good your commercial product will be.

My best example is Heretic Brewing Company run by Jamil Zainasheff who was well regarded as the best homebrewer in the country (maybe Gordon Strong gave him a run for his money), but everything he has put out commercially has been ok to meh with very little that has stood out among the crowd in California.

Business plan > homebrew quality when it comes to the commercial scale in my opinion.