I'm a fan of several different blogs that write about beer history, and in many ways I'm envious because they have access to such great historical information about brewing and beer. I've definitly been learning a lot. In particular, "Shut Up About Barklay Perkins." Ron is a serious historian on some of this stuff. Serious.

But I wonder sometimes, how important it really is.

Some folks in the blog-o-sphere begin to drool, shake and fling spittle when some publication or other makes a statement about beer history they think is erroneous. They drag people through the mud for repeating common misconceptions, and engage in verbal warfare to purge the world of this heinous misinformation. Woe be to the poorly informed!

The current cage rattler revolves around whether the Scotts had peaty beer or not. Ron and Barm (from "I might have a Glass of Beer") have even put together some google maps, peat bog maps, and coal maps to show that the Scotts used coal instead of peat to kiln their malts.

It's interesting. It's entertaining. But it's not science, nor is it proof. And I'm not sure it really matters. Really, what difference does it make whether those early beers were peaty or not? Some folks make peaty beers now and enjoy them. Some people can't stand peat in either beer or scotch. Again, what difference does it make?

Is it really important who coined the term IPA? Does it matter whether the original IPAs were stronger or not? How hoppy they were? Was it really so they'd survive the trip to India?

What about Porters? Were they really only for the working class?

For a historian, it makes a difference because you want the facts to be correct, and historians spend some serious time sifting through the detritus of the past to glean that pearl of wisdom which grants us insight into the lives of those before us.

When it comes to beer history, it makes for interesting reading. But not particularly useful. Recipes for an English Brown from a century or more ago aren't reproducable anyway. Too much has changed in the water, the techniques, the grain, the yeast, even the fuels we use to kiln, mash and boil. It's better to focus on techniques that work and produce the beer you love.

So let's have everyone in the beer world take a deep breath. If some one says something ridiculous about the history of beer. If you can politely suggest some other sources that suggest otherwise, that's great. If you can engage in a rational conversation about the subject, go for it.

If you can't, then let it go. It really isn't such a big deal.

Okay, sure, I know Florida gets hot. This, however, has been reeeeeeeeee-diculous!

The whole nation is suffering under this record heat, and no relief seems to be in site. The economy is struggling, unemployment continues to run high, and as a nation we have a record number of dip-shits in Washington sitting on the debt issue like a mother hen on a clutch of newly laid eggs.

Worst of all, this heat is keeping me from brewing! There's just no way to go out and spend 5 or 6 hours standing around high-output burners working the mash, and boiling a wort. It's really starting to make me cranky.

I've got grains good to go. I've got hops good to go. I've got yeast starting to get past its freshness date. And I've got a ton of ideas waiting for a chance to get tested. But not in this heat, for sure.

Instead, I'm relegated to reading about brewing, studying yeast metabolism, kibitzing on the homebrewing sub-reddit, and drinking microbrews.

I guess I can always make some more mead.

How many of you are braving this heat?

I said I'd post some pictures from the National Homebrew Convention in San Diego a couple weeks ago. Here is the first set. I'll do another in a couple days. BE WARNED: It could take a minute or two to download. There are quite a few pics attached, most of which are from the Homebrew convention. You can click on the pics for larger versions.

Next post will be mainly from the San Diego area (Zoo pics, Seal Pics, Old Town, etc.).

The Big Stone at Stone Brewery

The Big Restaurant at Stone Brewery

Stone brewery

Most Awesome Brew-car, the Ale Camino

Moonlight Meadery (Professional Brewer Night)

Widmer (Professional Brewer Night)

Russian River (Professional Brewer Night) (Pliny is Overrated)

Lady Face (Professional Brewer Night)

Kern River (Professional Brewer Night)

Lost Abbey (Professional Brewer Night)

Coronado Brewing Company

Hob Nob Hill Restaurant. Don't eat there. Seriously. Bad service, food was frozen and reheated. Nasty.

Big homebrew kettle being sold by More Beer.

Really cool castle tap (Homebrewer Night)

B.R.E.W. Pirates (Homebrewer Night)

Panorama Picture of The Awards Banquet Dinner

Tampa Representin' Large!

Rogue sponsored dinner, and provided a nice assortment of beers to match the courses.

More Florida peeps

More Tampa/Florida guys. Drunk love is beautiful.

Chef Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, mastermind of our amazing dinner/beer pairing

Special Rogue "Gift" Beer presented at the end of dinner. Haven't even tried it yet.

10) "I'd rather be brewing."

9) "Beer is God's way of saying he loves us."

8) "Winning never sucks!"

7) "Thick & Nasty"

6) "I brew, therefore I am"

5) "Brauvernugen"

4) "Fermentaboutit"

3) "I am drunkard, beer me roar"

2) "Stop staring at my beers"

1) "Buy a man a beer, he wastes an hour. Teach a man to brew, he wastes a lifetime!"

Chris White of White Labs is giving the next presentation, "Choosing the Right Yeast." I'm really looking forward to this, since Chris is an AMAZINGLY knowledgeable guy when it comes to all things yeast. I've learned a lot about yeast, propagation, esters, phenols, etc., just by reading past presentations and papers that he authored. I'm ready to get my learn on! Based on the contents, this is going to be another glorified bullet list, rather than a nicely written, well-thought out treatise. Sue me.

Chris and Jamil Zainasheff have a new book out called "Yeast." Based on some of the early info here, it sounds like a good book to pick up for any brewer who wants more info on yeast biochemistry.

Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species. Strain is below that normal classification level. Thanks to yeast's ability to bud, they can spontaneously create new and different strains. Strains have a tendency to be pretty stable which is what allows them to be consistently used for beer.

Ale yeast: A big class with many strains. All those strains share some characteristics: Warmer temperatures, ferments clean to fruity, usually a "top cropper", stores well. Typically pitch 10 million cells per milliliter

Hefeweizen yeast: Produces a lot more banana and clove phenols, has low flocculation, low diacetyl, can produce sulfur, ferments very rapidly, but not a great cell count. Top cropping is the best way to collect a Hefeweizen slurry.

Belgian Yeast: Ferments with unusual wild-like character, has low flocculation, low diacetyl. Also ferments rapidly, can produce sulfur and can be very fruity.

Lager Yeast: A different species from standard Saccharomyces C. Ferments clean, will not drop out quickly, will produce diacetyl, will produce sulfur. Slow fermenter, that can't usually be top cropped. Typically pitched at 50 million cells per milliliter. Lagers definitely need a diacetyl/sulfur rest in order to drive off some of the volatile sulfur, and allow the yeast to consume some of the excess diacetyl.

Wild Yeast types: Mainly Brettanomyces used in beers. Necessary to really produce an authentic "English" character. Brett. is usually used in secondary fermentation, and in bottle conditioning. Brett. is sometimes referred to as "Dekkera", which is the asexual form of the yeast. What is unique about Brett. is the ability to produce B-glucosidase, which can break down wood sugar cellobiose. Cellobiose is produced when fire is used to toast the inside of barrels. Brett also produces isovaleric acid and guaiacol (4-ethyl guiaicol is common).

Bacteria: Most bacterias are undesirable, producing off flavors and acids like acetic acid. Lactobacillus, pediococcus are the lactic acid producing bacteria. They don't mind alcohol, low PH, and anearobic conditions of beer. Unlike most bacteria, these also reproduce very slowly. Acetobacter, Gluconobacter, Obesumbacterium, Rahnella are other examples of bacteria that can grow in beer. Very few Gram-positive bacteria can live with Hops (which blocks nutrient absorption).

Jamil's Strain Selection Process
Set goals (ABV, IBU, SRM)
Flavor concept (Malty, hoppy, other?)
Select likely candidates
Test batches

Key Requirements
Flavor (Bitterness, maltiness, sweetness, alcohols, esters)
Alcohol Tolerance
Attenuation
(Some other stuff that I couldn't type fast enough!)

End of session, end of notes. On to more beer!

Last night (Friday night) was Homebrew Club Night here at the National Homebrewer's Convention in San Diego. Many local, and quite a few not-so-local (HUGE props go out to New York and Michigan!), clubs brought their finest libations in and served them up to the bleary eyed, half drunk already, costumed masses of homebrewers attending this year's festivities. Those weary masses were still up to the challenge of enjoying some malted beverages even after 3 days of continual inebriation.

My hangover this morning was intense, and well earned.

As I sit writing this, I'm sipping on a "Beermosa", a strange combination of carbonated tang and a Belgian triple. It would have been a lot better with real orange juice, but otherwise the flavors meld pretty well, and the alcohol is calming the sudden football sized tumor that grew in my skull during the night. It may have been from the Romulan Ale (Yes, it was VERY blue).

According to the group running the show, there were over 700 unique kegs of homebrew here last night. I think I personally only got through half, but that's only because I ran out of consciousness, making it difficult to crawl between taps. No two beers were the same, even though there were many of similar styles. Almost every booth had something odd on tap as well, showing off local flair and creativity.

The fun didn't stop there, of course. Once again, after the drink fest inside the convention center, the hospitality suite opened up in the tiki house. At 11am, I'm still not seeing a lot of the poor souls who got sucked into the black-hole vortex of the tiki house. They may be lost forever, their souls getting closer and closer to Ninkasi, but never quite reaching her golden radiance.

Off to lunch. We're heading to Green Flash Brewing's new facility. More blog later.

Dear lord. Just sat down in "A Saison for every Season", and the speaker just informed us that there are 7 beers to drink in this session. I'm already half in the bag from the last session. This could be grueling. I'm going to stick with some disjointed, bullet like notes. not sure I can mount an actual monologue.

This session is being given by Drew Beechum. It's very quickly clear that Drew is a huge Saison fan, and isn't too happy with some of the beers that get that label. He launches the session by quoting Peter Bouckaert, "In Belgium, there are no styles". Drew believes that Saisons, then, are really just an amalgamation of 20th century styles. The BJCP "Dupontish" model just doesn't fit many saisons. Here is what Drew says Saisons are NOT: Not heavily spiced, not cloying/clinging sweet, not flat, not acetic sour either.

Drew says a saison should be: Dry, earthy, spicy (from the yeast, eugenol), lively, yeast driven.

All the beers we're tasting are based on the same simple wort, the same hops, the same fermentation conditions (except for one beer, noted below). The only difference is the strain of saison yeast and whether or not Brettanomyces was added in the fermentation cycle. We didn't actually find out the yeast type until after we had done our tasting notes. I've included the yeast type after each brief beer description (Very brief :-)

First sample definitely fits Drew's definition of Saison. Quite dry and earthy, with lots of carbonation. Definite clove notes in the aroma. Some banana phenols in the nose as well. WYeast 3711 French Saison

Second beer is a lot more earthy in the nose, some lemony undercurrents. Strong barnyard taste. A lot like licking a donkey's ass (based on what Andy has told me). This is not something I would want to drink, nor would I recommend anyone else drink it either. This was fermented with WLP 565 Saison 1. The temperature was jacked up to 85 and held there. That definitely contributed to the nasty character.

Beer Three: Some banana notes in the aroma, Not nearly as earthy as beer two, but still has a certain amount of barnyard. WLP 565 Saison, not heated. Amazingly different considering it is the same yeast, but this one was never heated.

Beer four has a very strong clove note. Nice aroma, some darker fruit in the aroma, some lemony character in taste. WLP 585 Saison 3

Beer 5, nice fruity aroma, some spicy, fruity taste. Very dry, and clean. EC 408 Saison Brasserie (Man, all these beers are starting to add up!)

Beer SIX: Earthy, leathery, mushroom like aroma. Very dry, finishes clean. Drew mentioned Horehound, which I can kind of see (Taste?). EC 403 Farmhouse Brett

Beer Number Seven: Nice strawberry notes in aroma, very smooth and rounded. Nice earthy taste, but some slight, solventy back notes. FV13 Fantome (Bruery) Since this was pulled from The Bruery's, stash, you WILL NOT be able to find it anywhere. You may want to just go buy a Fantome, and propagate that!