Thanks go out to Steve Schultz for an excellent presentation on, and tasting of Makkoli (various spellings), a Korean fermented rice/wheat beverage at the meeting last night. I think I speak for everybody when I say it was much appreciated and made for a fun evening.
Joe has posted an entry on his blog about it, you can read that here.
Rick made some references to sake last night, he followed up today with this info:
Here is the thing I was talking about in sake brewing – koji. Its a mold that does what the enzyme that you add for makgeolli does – break down the starch in the rice. Its essential for making sake and I’m sure it occurs naturally in Japan. In reading this you can see its pretty finicky (for a mold) and a slight change in conditions can really affect the taste of the saki:
The club barrel beer (Belgian Dark Ale) went into the 53 gallon barrel on 11/21/2012. Thanks go out to all who brewed and made this a success. Check out the pictures on the Photos page.
The past and current director of the American Homebrewers Association estimate about half a million bbls of homebrew per year which is about 0.25% of all the beer enjoyed in the United States.
What do you think our club’s percentage of that half million bbls is? j/k
Another yeast experiment presentation tonight. I brewed a Robust Porter and split the batch into two. Batch 1 was fermented with WLP001 California Ale Yeast. Batch 2 was fermented with WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast. Come to the meeting tonight and sample the difference!
i just built mine around the same time you posted… but just now found out about this site…
it was very simple… first you need an external thermostat… basicallly it just controls the freezers temp by shutting off power to the freezer. your keezer plugs into it and then the thermostat plugs into the wall and then sensor rests inside the keezer.
next you need a simple wood collar to raise the lid up and allow room for the taps off the front… unless you are doing a beer tower out of the top…
other than that its just a simple co2 tank, regulator and some hoses … dont forget the kegs and beer =) if that doesnt help enough… email me and i can help ya out
Visited the Terrapin Station Winery in Elkton this weekend http://www.terrapinstationwinery.com , got to sample some wines and get the tour. Nice setup, their wine fermenters would be good for making beer, the small one was 30 gallons.
Stopped by State Line Liquors on the way back, best selection of imported/domestic beers I have seen in a long time. Great Belgian beer selection.
I was a club member about 14 years ago. Along came three little kids to take up my time and run me down and I stopped home brewing–probably when I needed it the most. This weekend I’m brewing a batch of Wheat beer–first in 14 years! I’m also thinking about stopping by the Red Barn on the 14th. Is everything still on at 7:30?
Hi Joe, everything is still on for 7.30 at the Barn, new members/visitors are always welcome. Wow, 14 years, you must have come across a really good wheat recipe to stir you back into action! Hope you can make it.
Sorry I missed last month’s meeting — got stuck in Annapolis working late. Definitely going to try to make it on the 12th…I’ll probably bring some of the Orange Wheat for some feedback.
Thanks go out to Steve Schultz for an excellent presentation on, and tasting of Makkoli (various spellings), a Korean fermented rice/wheat beverage at the meeting last night. I think I speak for everybody when I say it was much appreciated and made for a fun evening.
Joe has posted an entry on his blog about it, you can read that here.
Rick made some references to sake last night, he followed up today with this info:
Here is the thing I was talking about in sake brewing – koji. Its a mold that does what the enzyme that you add for makgeolli does – break down the starch in the rice. Its essential for making sake and I’m sure it occurs naturally in Japan. In reading this you can see its pretty finicky (for a mold) and a slight change in conditions can really affect the taste of the saki:
http://www.sake-world.com/html/koji.html
Steve’s Makkoli guide that he based the talk on can be found here:
Makkoli.pdf
Great Christmas party guys, the club holiday spice beer was delicious!
The club barrel beer (Belgian Dark Ale) went into the 53 gallon barrel on 11/21/2012. Thanks go out to all who brewed and made this a success. Check out the pictures on the Photos page.
The Crabfeast at Jerry’s place was a great success, thanks to everybody for coming.
Here is the recipe that Kevin had for the spent grain dog biscuits:
4 cups spent grain
4 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
Mix together with hands, and roll out onto a cookie sheet.
This stuff won’t rise while baking, so roll it the thickness you want before baking.
Cut pieces into shapes, but not quite all the way through.
Bake @ 350° for 30 minutes, take out of oven & let cool.
Then break the pieces apart at where you scored them and place back in a 225° oven for 8 hours so they completely dry out.
Then, let cool & enjoy!! Oops, I mean let your dog enjoy
Warning: since hops can be fatal to dogs, DO NOT use any spent grain which was mixed with first wort hops in the mash!!!
How much homebrew is brewed in the USA?
(http://www.examiner.com/article/how-much-homebrew-is-brewed-the-usa)
The past and current director of the American Homebrewers Association estimate about half a million bbls of homebrew per year which is about 0.25% of all the beer enjoyed in the United States.
What do you think our club’s percentage of that half million bbls is? j/k
I think Kevin alone is good for a half million!!!
Well he has 12 taps he has to keep up production!
Another yeast experiment presentation tonight. I brewed a Robust Porter and split the batch into two. Batch 1 was fermented with WLP001 California Ale Yeast. Batch 2 was fermented with WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast. Come to the meeting tonight and sample the difference!
Updated the list of local wineries under “Brew Links”, there’s a heck of a lot of them pretty close to us.
For anyone interested in the mead I brought to the Christmas party, here is the link. It’s called Ancient Orange Cinnamon & Clove Mead.
http://www.moremead.com/mead_logs/Ancient_OCC.html
Anyone ever build a DIY Keezer (a chest freezer converted for kegs)?
I just ordered a 7.0 cu.ft. chest freezer from Home Depot: http://bit.ly/sbZawV
It’s on sale for $159, so I’m making an attempt at building one.
How’s it coming along – pictures?
i just built mine around the same time you posted… but just now found out about this site…
it was very simple… first you need an external thermostat… basicallly it just controls the freezers temp by shutting off power to the freezer. your keezer plugs into it and then the thermostat plugs into the wall and then sensor rests inside the keezer.
next you need a simple wood collar to raise the lid up and allow room for the taps off the front… unless you are doing a beer tower out of the top…
other than that its just a simple co2 tank, regulator and some hoses … dont forget the kegs and beer =) if that doesnt help enough… email me and i can help ya out
Facebook page mystery solved…
The old “page” was set up as a group which is no longer supported by Facebook and it is scheduled to be archived. So I set up a new page. Here is the address: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Libation-Association-of-Northern-Maryland/106750346106698
Head over to Facebook and give us a like.
Thanks Joe, I updated the link on the “Contact Us” page to the new one.
Visited the Terrapin Station Winery in Elkton this weekend http://www.terrapinstationwinery.com , got to sample some wines and get the tour. Nice setup, their wine fermenters would be good for making beer, the small one was 30 gallons.
Stopped by State Line Liquors on the way back, best selection of imported/domestic beers I have seen in a long time. Great Belgian beer selection.
Oh man, great meeting this month. 14 different yeast experiment beers to sample and they were all so different. Quite an eye opener!
Planning on presenting the results of my Dry Hop experiment at the next meeting (9/14/2011).
Due to extent of the Yeast Experiment tasting we have moved this presentation to the 10/12/2011 meeting.
I was a club member about 14 years ago. Along came three little kids to take up my time and run me down and I stopped home brewing–probably when I needed it the most. This weekend I’m brewing a batch of Wheat beer–first in 14 years! I’m also thinking about stopping by the Red Barn on the 14th. Is everything still on at 7:30?
Also, I dig the WordPress site.
Hi Joe, everything is still on for 7.30 at the Barn, new members/visitors are always welcome. Wow, 14 years, you must have come across a really good wheat recipe to stir you back into action! Hope you can make it.
Not so much a special recipe…I just missed it.
Here’s the recipe that got me off my butt: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/beer-recipes-how-to-home-brew#fbIndex2
A Sam Calagione beer, always an interesting brew from him! You’ll have to bring some in for sampling.
Sorry I missed last month’s meeting — got stuck in Annapolis working late. Definitely going to try to make it on the 12th…I’ll probably bring some of the Orange Wheat for some feedback.
No problems, hope to see you then.
Nice beer Joe, thanks for bringing it last night.
I enjoyed sharing and thanks for the feedback.
The answer to the question of the mystery yeast is Wyeast #3068.
http://www.wyeastlab.com/com_b_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=135
Great turnout for the meeting at Red Brick Station this month. Nice to see the brewing equipment and get the grand tour. Loved the cask ale!