GR's First Collabrative Beer!

 While hanging out at The Hideout doing what brewers do together, the guys in the Grand Rapids Society of Brewers decided some kind of substantial response was needed to mark the city’s new crown as ‘Beer City USA.’
What could they do to ensure the honor doesn’t just pass the city by?
“We wanted to come up with something we could do to celebrate it,” said Wob Wanhatalo, head brewer at The Hideout Brewing Co.
“We figured, there hasn’t been a collaborative effort on a beer in Grand Rapids before, why don’t we do that?”
The fruit, or pale ale of their labor, will hit tap handles all over Grand Rapids on Sunday, July 1 when the 10 different West Michigan breweries that collaborated on the project will unveil the "Beer City Pale Ale" at their respective establishments.
Wanhatalo wrote the recipe for the amply hopped, red pale ale, brewed with cascade and nugget hops from the Michigan Hops Alliance. Each brewery brought a unique touch to the beer in secondary fermentation, resulting in subtle differences.
“There will be style flourishes, but for the most part it’s the same celebration ale,” said Barry Van Dyke of Harmony Brewing Co. in Eastown

Hey, Pass Me A Beer!

Pass Me A Beer

10 Best Vacation Cities for Beer Lovers

Beer drinkers shouldn't limit craft beer to part of their vacation. With enough planning, those IPAs, Hefeweizens and Russian Imperial Stouts can be their vacation.  10-best-vacation-cities-for-beer-lovers

Brewing Water

   Water, we take it for granted yet it is the most important ingredient for brewing. Here is a nice water calculator for adjusting your water to the beer style you want to brew. You will need to know your water's profile first, which can be obtained from city offices or by sending a water sample to be tested. ezwatercalculator
 This is a good forum to help you along. HBT EZwater

Nice Beer Locator While Traveling

 This is a great little website for locating brewpubs and breweries nationwide, try it for your travels. beermapping

Still No Homebrewing In Alabama

This homebrewer is glad that I live in the beautiful state of Michigan and not Alabama where homebrewing is illegal.
 ‎ We Just Ran Out Of Time   posted May 17, 2012 4:36 AM by Brant Warren
 I am sorry to report that the Homebrew bill died at midnight last night, when the Senate adjourned without getting to our bill. Though it is still too painful to try to look on the bright side, there is something to say about the bill dying because time ran out, rather than being voted down. We progressed farther down the legislative process this year than ever before, and yes, we will be back in 2013.

Get One of These and Don't Get Shorted!

The "Piaget" Beer Gauge:  Don't Get Short Poured thebeergauge
Ask yourself the following:  Is your bartender sloppy, cavalier, or imprecise when pouring your favorite micro-brew, or is he just trying to increase his profit margin?
 When your local pubs say they are selling you a pint of beer, you should get a pint (i.e., 16 oz). Not 12 oz or even 14 oz, but 16 oz of beer. A "pint" is a standard U.S. liquid measure,  or precisely 16 oz of liquid.
 As it turns out, the majority of the volume in a standard US pint glass is in the relatively small height in the top part of the glass. In fact, if a beer is poured to within about 1/2 inch from the top, 13% of the beer is GONE.  If the beer is poured to about one inch from the top of the glass, an astonishing 25% of the beer is missing from your pint.

Craft Beer Quiz

 See if you are an American craft beer know-it-all. craft beer quiz

G.R. Ties Ashville for Beer City Title

by Mittenbrew - Grand Rapids is the new BeerCity USA 2012!
The poll closed early Monday morning with a “statistical tie” between the West Michigan city and three-time winner Asheville, N.C.
 The annual poll is conducted by homebrew godfather Charlie Papazian, who showed the final tally as an exact tie, based on a three percent “margin of anomalies.” Both cities received 17,849 of 55,926 votes, or 32 percent each.
 Among the breweries in Grand Rapids are Founders Brewing Co., Brewery Vivant, BOB’s House of Brews, Harmony Brewing, The Hideout Brewing Company, HopCat and Schmohz.
In the nearby outlying areas are New Holland Brewing Co., White Flame Brewing Company, Jaden James Brewery, Saugatuck Brewing Company, Michigan Beer Cellar, Old Boys Brew House, Odd Side Ales and Vander Mill.
  Founders owner Dave Engbers is passionate about his brewery, but he gives all the credit back to the people.
“I think (Grand Rapids won) because of the phenomenal beer enthusiasts we have in Michigan,” Engbers said. “The people came out and spoke. We’ve had great dialogue with some of the folks down in Asheville, another thriving metropolitan beer community.”
 Co-founder and vice president of marketing for Founders, Engbers called the BeerCity USA crown a testament to West Michigan’s “thriving brewing industry.” He is not naive to that fact that Founders attracts a large draw to Grand Rapids, pointing to its being the second-highest rated brewery in the world by RateBeer for two straight years. “We’re doing what we love,” Engbers said. “The fact that other people are jumping on board is just a testament to the industry.”
 Engbers credits other leaders such as Mark Sellers of HopCat for helping educate the beer culture and other brewers quietly doing their part.“I really think there’s just a great beer culture here in West Michigan,” Engbers said.
 The culture is a supportive one, or “non-competitive,” as some might term it.
 If you come visit Grand Rapids and don’t make it to a brewery most of the restaurants have Michigan beers on tap.  Jason Spaulding said. “You come to our town, you’re going be surrounded by local beer. That’s a take away when they come visit us.”
Finally, Spaulding credits the Michigan Brewers Guild’s annual Winter Beer Festival for putting Grand Rapids on the map. “We saw people who traveled from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana. I met someone who came from Texas just to go to this Winter Beer Festival,” Spaulding said.
The nominating process for Beer City USA was April 15-21. In all, 31 cities made the final poll, which opened May 1 and ended early Monday morning. Winning isn’t everything, but both Engbers and Spaulding agreed it puts Grand Rapids on the map.
“It’s really great for West Michigan to get some recognition for the great beer community it is,” Engbers said.

New Holland Expansion

by Garret Ellison - Don’t be surprised if you see a large fire-breathing beast perched atop the new outdoor fermenting tanks installed at the New Holland Brewing Company in the future. The new equipment installed at the brewery’s production facility in Holland Township this week are the largest pieces of a $3 million expansion by New Holland this year to meet “exponential” demand growth for specialty brews like their Dragon’s Milk. The five new 400-barrel outdoor tanks, shipped over from Germany, will allow the brewery to more than double brewing capacity, said CEO Brett VanderKamp. “We couldn’t push another drop of beer through the system right now,” said VanderKamp, who started New Holland in 1996 with Jason Spaulding, who left to establish Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids.
 New Holland anticipates brewing about 23,000 barrels this year. The new tanks will allow the company to reach 50,000 barrels per year, said VanderKamp. The company is experiencing 40 to 50 percent in top line revenue growth, said VanderKamp, although he declined to release sales figures. New Holland distributed 15,000 barrels of beer in 13 states in 2011. Each barrel holds about 31 gallons.
 “We’re seeing across-the-board growth in both the mainstay brands like Mad Hatter, and solid growth in our Dragon’s Milk,” he said. This year, New Holland is doubling production of Dragon’s Milk, a bourbon barrel-aged ale with complex flavors of oak, vanilla bean and chocolate. The “high gravity” beer clocks in at 10 percent alcohol by volume. New Holland’s website describes the painstakingly-crafted brew as a “crown jewel.” The brewery recently built a new aging cellar to hold up to 3,200 Kentucky bourbon barrels, which the Dragon’s Milk matures in for at least 90 days.
 Brett VanderKamp, president of New Holland Brewing Company, talks about the construction of five 400-barrel outdoor fermenters that are part of a $3 million expansion project which will more than double the company's brewing capacity. Other changes to the production facility include a rebuilt bright conditioning tank cellar, which will house four tanks by the end of May, said Brewmaster John Haggerty. New Holland also added a new centrifuge to help clarify larger batches of beer more quickly.
 The expansion will allow New Holland to not only expand their distribution footprint around the country, but also to expand product availability on shelves within the current distribution area, which VanderKamp said was “critical” for the brewery. The brewery brought on another four brewers amid the production expansion. They anticipate creating another 8 to 10 jobs in the next two years, he said. The brewery started laying the groundwork for the expansion about a year ago. Haggerty began looking around the country at operations using the outdoor system and settled on tanks built by a Germany company called Ziemann.
Haggerty said the tanks are temperature-controlled and built to withstand the heat of summer as well as the cold of winter without any adverse side effects to the beer. Each tank has six inches of foam insulation blown into the space between the exterior cladding and the stainless tank wall. The tanks were constructed with an indoor room at the bottom for the brewer to access without having to bundle up in January.
“I think we are the first brewery in Michigan to use these outdoor tanks,” said VanderKamp. “Most everybody had gone the more traditional route of building a building around the tanks.”
The tanks are costing more upfront, but should pay off in the long-run in reduced heating, building maintenance and other overhead costs, he said.

Michigan Brewing Co. Evicted

WEBBERVILLE — Michigan Brewing Co. was evicted Tuesday from its headquarters in Webberville, according to court records and officials familiar with the case.
The company’s restaurant in downtown Lansing remained open Wednesday, though MBC officials did not return calls seeking comment.The 76,000-square-foot property, located at 1093 Highview Drive, fell into foreclosure after MBC failed to make loan payments to Zions First National Bank, documents indicate.An entity called Highview Enterprises then bought the property but failed to reach a rental agreement with MBC and its lending company, Highview Holdings, said attorney Pat Gallagher, who represents Highview Enterprises.Gallagher would not say who owns Highview Enterprises.Highview Enterprises asked for permission to evict MBC in January during a 55th District Court appearance, Gallagher said. That eviction came Tuesday.Bobby Mason, president of MBC and head of Highview Holdings, and other management at the business’s Webberville location did not return repeated calls on the matter.It was not known how many employees lost their jobs.John Gormley, MBC and Highview Holdings’ attorney, declined to comment Wednesday.It also is unclear how the eviction will affect MBC’s other sites, including its downtown Lansing restaurant and brew pub, or its beverage-making business, which includes rocker Kid Rock’s American Badass Beer.MBC also has plans to expand to Fenton. City officials there could not be reached for comment.Ingham County records show Highview Holdings purchased the deed to the property from Michigan Brewing Co. for $2.6 million in 2007.The MBC site at 1093 Highway Drive, near Interstate 96 and M-52, had been listed for sale for $1.65 million.

The beer name game

Grab a homebrew and play  fiftybeers_fiftystates

• Enter a state in the box 
• Correctly named states will show up below
• Click any empty Beer or State to answer for that location

Lagunitas to build new brewery in Chicago

Chicago's craft beer fans have been no doubt delighted by the growth of the area's beer scene: half a dozen new brewers opening in 2011, and at least as many on tap for 2012. The scene has been upended with the announcement at Lagunitas Brewing Company will building an expansion facility in Chicago.
 Lagunitas Brewing Owner, Tony Magee, just announced one of the biggest news stories of the year in the beer world…140 characters at a time on Twitter. No press conference. No press release. No press kit. Just a handful of text messages likely sent over a mobile phone.
The brewhouse is a 250-barrel system to be built by Rolec, the same manufacturer that recently completed a 250-barrel system for Lagunitas’ home base in Petaluma. The first mash at the Chicago brewery is expected to take place in Q4 of 2013.

Lagunitas Brewing: “We’ll be the last brewery in the US to use aluminum cans”

(Petaluma, CA) – Lagunitas Brewing Owner, Tony Magee, took to Twitter last night to sound off on the hottest packaging trend of the last couple years: cans.
And he doesn’t like them one bit.
 Though cans are championed for their portability, availability in recreational outdoor venues and post-packaging environmental benefits, there is a darker side that brewers do not acknowledge: mining of bauxite. Many have already written about the environmental impact of bauxite mining though Lagunitas may be the first brewer to take it to this level. Here is a just a snippet of a report from Triple Pundit:
 In order to remove the aluminum from the bauxite heavy chemicals are needed to dissolve the ore materials from the soil. Sodium Hydroxide, a nasty chemical, is paired with extreme heat to accomplish this task. Five tons of bauxite is needed to produce one ton of unrefined aluminum (alumina). When you consider just how many tons of aluminum are used in the United States alone each year with only a 50% recycle rate, that adds up to a lot of moved earth. And don’t think that the remains from the process are harmless, just ask Hungary which had to evacuate entire towns due to the remaining toxic sludge breaking through its dam. These places are unable to sustain plant life and won’t in the near future.
 Aluminums cans, as with anything, have their pros and cons.

The Secret to Big Hop Aroma and Flavor

 Spring is here and time to start hopping-up the beers.  The following is a good article from mr. malty.com describing how to get the most out of your hops.
 Have you recently come across a craft brew with a massive hop flavor and a smooth bitterness that you really loved? If you're like me, you wondered how the brewery created such an incredibly huge, but smooth hop character. The secret, it turns out, is very large additions of late hops.
Late hopping is the addition of hops during the latter part of the boil. It is an excellent method for creating hop aroma and flavor in your beer. In general, any additions with less than 30 minutes left in the boil and prior to cooling the wort are considered late hop additions. Although some hop oils are lost during this shorter boil, reactions between the hop compounds and the wort create other desirable flavor-active compounds not found in hops.
Many brewers turn to dry hopping in an effort to get more hop flavor and aroma, but dry hopping results in a completely different hop character, which maybe out of place in certain styles.
While dry hopping is a great technique, it is often characterized as more resiny and grassy, while boiled hops are often characterized as more floral and spicy. Ray Daniels, in Designing Great Beers, says, "Late-hopped additions have been characterized as more floral, fragrant, and less grassy than dry-hopped additions."
 Calculating the Numbers To use this technique in your own beers, replace all or part of your traditional bittering hop additions with additions at 20 minutes or less left in the boil, increasing the amount of hops to get the same IBUs. Replace all of your bittering hops for an intense hop flavor. Replace a lesser amount to just enhance the hop flavor.
  Hop Selection
Select your late hop varieties based on how pleasing the aroma. Select hops for late hopping based on their aromatic quality. Utilize a number of low alpha aroma varieties as well as mid-alpha dual purpose hops for late hopping. Some examples are Styrian Golding, East Kent Golding, Cascade, Centennial, Crystal, Mount Hood, and US Fuggle.
 Look for aromatic hop varieties with good flavor characteristics and low cohumulone values. In our experience, these are the hops that isomerize without imparting harsh or astringent-like hop profiles. This goes beyond late-hopping for flavor and aroma, and applies equally to smooth bittering early in the boil as well. The hops that have worked best for our late-hopping include Cascade, Amarillo, Tomahawk, Simcoe, Chinook, and a newer variety, Palisades. Tomahawk and Simcoe have relatively high alpha acid values and somewhat low cohumulone values and are best used in lesser percentages than the other hops mentioned. For English-style Ales, use East Kent Golding and Styrian Golding.
 Some studies suggest that late hopping with high cohumulone hops tends to result in a more harsh bitterness. However, don't buy into the cohumulone equals 'harsh bitterness' theory. I also believe that the cohumulone argument is independent of how you are utilizing the hops-kettle hopping or late hopping. Some of the best smelling hops in the world are high in cohumulone and I plan to continue using them.
 Given that a number of brewers report a less harsh bitter from late hopping, it might be a lesser issue than first thought. It might be more important to select late hops based on their flavors and aromas first, and their cohumulone fraction second.
With this technique comes the question of using whole leaf or pellet hops. Some use a false bottom in the boil kettle and are able to use whole hops for experiments.  The concern was that a large amount of pellet hops might clog his counter-flow chiller. However, using whole hops results in a very large mass that can make it difficult to extract the wort at the end of the boil.
The majority of brewers I spoke with use pellet hops for this technique. Pellets break up quickly and expose the alpha acids for isomerization. Most select pellets for late/whirlpool hopping.
While isomerization is limited during a short boil, hop utilization isn't linear across the boil time. You don't need 6 times as much hops for a 10 minute boil as compared to a 60 minute boil. Assuming you're getting about 30% utilization at 60 minutes, you'll get around 17% at 20 minutes, 14% at 15 minutes, and around 10% at 10 minutes. So you'll need to approximately double or triple your hops to get an equivalent bitterness. If you're already calculating your bitterness with software or some other tool, use the same method to make this adjustment.
It is said that most formulas for calculating bitterness are not as reliable for very late hop additions, but don't let that stop you. It is quite difficult to detect a 5 IBU difference in most moderately bittered beers and impossible in a highly bittered beer.
In beers with significant bitterness (50+ IBU), you might still want to add a charge of high alpha hops early in the boil. If you don't, the amount of hop flavor can completely overwhelm some beers.  late_hopping

Calibrate Those Thermometers!

 Thermometers should be calibrated whenever the they are dropped, before first used, and when going from one temperature extreme to another.  Sanitize thermometers before using and in between using.  

Ice Point Method

►Fill an insulated  cup with crushed ice and water.
►The cup  must have enough crushed ice  to provide an environment of 32°F, so you may need to pack more ice into the cup  during the process.
► When the mixture of the water has stabilized in about four or five minutes, insert the thermometer to be calibrated to the appropriate immersion depth.
►Be sure to hold the stem of the instrument away from the bottom and sides of the container (preferably one inch) to avoid error.
► If your thermometer is not accurate within +/- 2°F of 32°F., adjust the thermometer accordingly. The ice point method permits calibration to within 0.1°F.

 


Boiling Point Method
►  Place distilled water in a container and heat.
►  After the water in the container has reached a complete “rolling” boil, insert the instrument to the appropriate immersion depth.
►  Be sure there is at least a two-inch clearance between the stem or sensing element and the bottom and sides of the container.
►  If your thermometer is not accurate within +/- 2°F of 212°F., adjust thermometer accordingly. The boiling point method permits calibration to within 1.0°F.

Got Time To Kill, Frat Boy?

See how good you are at  buzzedgames-Beer_Pong

Fat Tire, New Belgium Brewing to break into Michigan this summer!

By John Liberty FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- One of the best-known craft beer brands and one of the country's biggest breweries will be busting into Michigan this summer.

 New Belgium Brewing Co., ranked No. 3 on a recent list of top U.S. craft breweries by Beer Marketer's Insights, has signed a distribution deal with a network of 22 distributors across the state, the Fort Collins, Colo.-based brewery announced today. It will begin shipping 22-ounce bottles in late August, according to a press release. Draft and 12-ounce offerings will follow.
 New Belgium's most popular beer is the Fat Tire Amber Ale. The brewery sold 713,000 barrels in 2011.
 For Michigan craft beer drinkers, Fat Tire similar in popularity to Bell's Brewery Inc.'s Oberon Ale, the seasonal wheat ale from the Kalamazoo brewery. Oberon will be released on March 26. Bell's came in at No. 8 on the same list with 180,000 barrels in 2011.
 New Belgium also said in the press release, it plans to collaborate on beers with Michigan breweries.
 “We’re incredibly excited to start shipping beer to Michigan,” said New Belgium spokesman, Bryan Simpson in a press release. “It’s a craft savvy state with a strong tradition of producing creative and innovative beers. We look forward to joining that community and helping to grow the fan base for craft beer.”
 New Belgium Brewing Company began operations in 1991. It produces nine year-round beers: Fat Tire Amber Ale, Ranger IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Belgo IPA, Sunshine Wheat, Blue Paddle Pilsner, 1554 Black Ale, Abbey and Trippel, as well as a host of seasonal releases.

Founders vows to triple future KBS after beer lovers leave empty-handed

By Garret Ellison Founders Brewing Co. apologized on its website this weekend for not being able to sell enough of its sought-after Kentucky Breakfast Stout to beer lovers who lined up as early as 12 hours before Saturday’s limited release event.

The popularity of KBS, which was named the No. 2 beer of 2011 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, meant there were close to 1,000 people in line for the release when the Grand Rapids brewery’s taproom on Grandville Ave. SW opened at 11 a.m.
The turnout took the brewery staff by surprise and they decided to limit the purchase amount to a half-case per person instead of the advertised full case. The brewery had 315 cases to sell at $114 apiece. With the allocation cut in half, 634 people walked away with beer and the last 362 people were out of luck, the company said.

New iced-tea-flavored Coors Light

It sounds like a beverage tailor-made for the South. Coors is introducing an iced-tea-flavored version of its popular light beer in April.
“Coors Light is the world’s most refreshing beer,” Molson Coors CEO Peter Swinburn told analysts this week, according to CNNMoney. “Iced tea is the world’s most refreshing non-alcoholic drink.”  The company intends to launch the new alcoholic drink in Canada first, evaluating its performance north of the 48th parallel before deciding whether or not to expand it into the United States.
Keep your fingers crossed!