Limited Edition Wine Kits 2014

A unique collection of five distinguished varietals from some of the world’s most renowned wine-growing regions. Available by pre-order only. Order yours by December 5th, just $25 down.

 

WINE: German Riesling
Riesling, with its pronounced acidity and ability to mask sweetness, is a grape that is happy in a cooler climate. Its notable flavors of lemon, fresh apple and limestone will encapsulate you with its tangy acidic kick and the soft, gentle sweetness on the finish to tie it all together. This wine loves food, and many sommeliers often reach for Riesling as their wild card. This German example would pair beautifully with schnitzel, white fish, or simply a good book.
FOOD PAIRING:
Sweet Thai Glazed Shrimp Skewers
STYLE:
Sweetness: Off-Dry
Body: Light-Medium
Alcohol: 10%
TOTAL PRICE:
$135.95
SCHEDULED TO SHIP:
January, 2015

WINE: Shiraz Viognier
This Northern Rhône-inspired blend takes the spicy, strong and tannic red grape Shiraz and softens its edge with the voluptuous white grape Viognier. These wines are a beautiful marriage of black cherry, smoky plum, black pepper from the Shiraz and hints of exotic jasmine flower, ripe apricot and juicy peach from the Viognier. Enjoy this full-bodied wine with grilled lamb stuffed with an apricot-mint stuffing or barbecued ribs coated with a sticky sauce. If meat is not on the horizon, then try dishes such as grilled vegetable kebabs or portobello mushroom burgers.
FOOD PAIRING:
Beef & Mushroom Cottage PiesSTYLE:
Sweetness: Dry
Body: Medium-Full
Alcohol: 14%TOTAL PRICE:
$139.95 SCHEDULED TO SHIP:
January, 2015

 

WINE: Trio Blanca
The three grapes that make up this blend are distinct characters indeed. Chardonnay is the popular and adaptable friend with apple and melon characteristics. Chenin Blanc reflects the soil well in its chalk and citrus aromatics, while its acidity anchors its structure down on the palate. Finally, lady Muscat with her wildly perfumed nose and distinctive “grapey” flavor gives the blend a refreshingly fun and juicy addition. This wine is sip-worthy on its own, but will also pair well with fuller white meats such as roasted turkey or duck, and exotic flavors like curries and south-Asian cuisine.FOOD PAIRING:
Lemon & Sage Flattened ChickenSTYLE:
Sweetness: Dry
Body: Medium
Alcohol: 13.5%TOTAL PRICE:
$135.95 SCHEDULED TO SHIP:
March, 2015

 

WINE: Triumph
This blend of Bordeaux’s finest; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot is proof that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These three friends all work so well together and each contributes their individual strength to the wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, or “King Cab”, brings the structure with his firm tannins and adds complexity with his aromas of cassis and black currant. Cabernet Franc adds spice, with his peppery nose and red fruit undertones. Merlot likes to round things out with his approachable plum and cherry characteristics and his softer, rounder body. Together, they really do create a harmonious blend. Think of dishes that warm your stomach: beef stroganoff in the winter, steak on the barbecue in the summer, or simply aged cheddar for any time of year.FOOD PAIRING:
Wild Mushroom and Arugula RaguSTYLE:
Sweetness: Dry
Body: Medium-Full
Alcohol: 13.5%TOTAL PRICE:
$163.95

SCHEDULED TO SHIP:
February, 2015

 

WINE: Super Tuscan
Super Tuscans are proof that winemakers are also rebels in their own right. In the appellation of Chianti, where rules limited winemakers to certain grape varietals and practices in order to warrant official status, in the 1970s a few winemakers decided to break the rules and make wines that they decided were of superior quality, and disregarded the limitations. Coined “Super Tuscan”, this full-bodied wine consists of Cabernet Sauvignon and the native Sangiovese, and has firm tannins, notes of cherry and currant and a long finish. Italy is the land of food and wine, so naturally these wines are a perfect match with food. Try spaghetti Bolognese, osso buco or a big wedge of asiago cheese.FOOD PAIRING:
Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank With Creamy PolentaSTYLE:
Sweetness: Dry
Body: Full
Alcohol: 14%TOTAL PRICE:
$139.95

SCHEDULED TO SHIP:
April, 2015

 

 

 

Grand Opening at new location and Learn to Homebrew Day

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SALT CITY BREW SUPPLY HAS MOVED!

Just across the street to the North at 723 E Fort Union

In an effort to serve our customers better, we have added a mill room to keep down the dust, 8 feet more grain wall to display more grain, a larger hop freezer to display more hops... and yes, we now have a back room for storage. No more relying on our supplier so heavily to stay in stock with all the ingredients you need to make your next batch.

We are growing our wine selection by 20% as well, and we will be adding cheese making supplies in the near future. 

 

Our Grand Opening will be this Saturday in conjunction with an AHA sanctioned "Learn to Homebrew Day" event. We will be hosting a Beginning Homebrew Class starting at 1:00 PM. So, come out and join us to see the new location, join the class if you would like to learn to brew, and stay for some prizes.

 

 

Kinda Corny

Corn gets a bad rap these days with the constant onslaught of anti-high fructose corn syrup rhetoric, so as a native Iowan I find myself constantly compelled to defend this amazing plant. Not just because of corn's contribution to beer (which we will get to in a bit), but because it is wholly American and deserves some recognition.

While wheat and barley certainly are at the roots of beer and even civilization itself, corn was the dominant grain crop for the Western hemisphere for thousands of year before Columbus. Much different than today's corn on the cob, Maize was cultivated in the Americas long before America was even "discovered", and while it's transition to a European staple was slow, it eventually became a dominant crop in Europe and the rest of much of the world.

Fruit, Vegetable or Grain? Yep! Since the reproductive parts of the plant reside in the corn kernel, it is a fruit. Since the kernel can be dried and stored, as well as planted, it is a grain. And, since it is part of the vegetation of the plant (before maturity) and we eat it, it is also a vegetable. "Field corn that is harvested when the seeds are dry would thus be considered a grain. Sweet corn when harvested before maturity is usually considered a vegetable. It is however, actually classified by botanists as a fruit."

Why do I feel obligated to defend corn as a native from Iowa? Well, child hood memories of the dangers of walking into a cornfield and getting lost aside, Iowa is the largest producer of corn in the U.S. (sorry Nebraska and Illinois), and the U.S. produces 40% of the worlds corn which feeds not only the U.S. but people all over the world. Indeed, I once heard that Iowa produces more corn than any other single country in the world! At a high water mark, Iowa production was 14.4 million acres, or roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined (or just larger than the size of Belgium) While corn likely had it's modest, but important beginnings in what is now Mexico, the Midwest of the U.S.A has everything needed for this crop to shine.

So why does corn sugar get a bad rap? Well, because people like a scapegoat, and many nutritionists (some without any health credentials to speak of) latched on to the ominous sounding High Fructose Corn Syrup a decade or so ago, and didn't let go, blaming it for everything from obesity to cancer. And while there seems to be a general overuse of sugar (of any kind) in the pre-packaged food we eat today, the fact of different sugars is this: Glucose is the sugar in blood, and dextrose is the name given to glucose produced from corn. Biochemically they are identical. Fructose is the principal sugar in fruit, and since corn is technically a fruit, when ripened, corn starch produces fructose as well as dextrose. In comparison, sucrose is table sugar. It is a double sugar, containing one part each of glucose and fructose, chemically bound together. The human intestine quickly and efficiently split sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are absorbed into the body as single sugars. HFCS is made from corn starch. It contains roughly equivalent amounts of glucose (45 to 58%) and fructose (42 to 55%). There is no difference to your body (except that there is no need for your body to split the sugars as it is already separate in HFCS). Indeed, the American Medical Association, and The Center for Science in the Public Interest seem to agree there is no scientific evidence to suggest that HFCS have any different effect on the body than other types of sugar, but that Americans consume to much sugar in general.

And this all brings us to the beer and wine makers. We would rather turn sugar into alcohol, and there
is no better way to do this than with corn sugar (dextrose specifically). Since Dextrose is a monosaccharaide (simple sugar) it is easy for yeast to eat and is the first to ferment, making an almost 100% conversion into alcohol. For this reason, dextrose is used in many beer styles to add alcohol while keeping the body light and clean (meaning not much flavor). The homebrewer also uses dextrose to bottle condition their beers in the form of "priming sugar" since dextrose doesn't leave residual sweetness or flavor behind. While the use of corn or dextrose does go against the  Reinheitsgebot (German beer purity law), it has become common use in Belgian and American beer styles. Whole or Flaked corn is used in some European pale recipes such as bitters and ESBs, but exist in many American versions of Pilsners, Light Lagers, Blondes, Cream Ales and Pale Ales.

From making a light bodied beer to creating a dry wine or cider (or a cheap base for a distillate), corn and corn sugar will always be an important tool in the hombrewers list of ingredients, and one that has its roots in the Western hemisphere, not in the pretentious "cradle of civilization" like that of wheat, barley and grapes. So use corn, make booze, and be proud!

Kentucky Common
(Yep, its a style - Dark Cream Ale)

5 Gallon Recipe: 1.049 SG, 1.010 FG, 27 IBU, 5% ABV
3.25# Corn Grits (or Flaked Corn)
5.5#   6-Row Malt
.25#   Cara 60
.25#   Black Malt
.5 oz   Cluster @ 60min
.5 oz   Cluster @ 35min
.5 oz  Hallertau @ 20min
.5 oz  Hallertau @ 0min

Yeast is Unknown, but is probably a variant of a lager strain that ferments warm:
Wyeast 2112
It is also speculated that this beer was sour and most likely Used Lactobacillus Brevis:
Wyeast 5335


 "I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with C."
~ Children of the Corn

Cherry’s are here. It’s time to make booze!

There are a lot of people this time of year that have more cherry’s than they know what to do with, and since you can only make so many pies, you might as well make some booze. A few options would be beer, cider, or wine!

For any of the following recipes, make sure your cherries are de-stemmed, cleaned and pitted, free of worms and are as ripe as possible.

BEER

If you are a beer brewer and don’t like wine, beer is the obvious option, but if you haven’t added fruit to a beer before, you might be hesitant. Don’t worry, adding fruit to a beer is easy, and can produce great results. The big question is, what kind of beer goes well with cherries? Well, if you like beer, and you like the taste of cherries, the options are pretty much limitless. Most people think of light colored and light bodied beers like a Hefe or a Blonde, but the tart flavor goes well with sour beers like berliner weisse or lambics. But, sometimes the overlooked beers for fruit are the dark beers, and sweet or tart cherries work well in porters and stouts. Try adding 5 pounds of tart cherries to your fermenting dry Irish stout, and get an easy drinking cherry stout:

Light LME - 6 lb

  (or 8 lbs 2-row pale malt for all grain brewers)

Flaked Barley - 1 lb

UK Roasted Barley = 12 oz

Acid Malt - 4 oz

UK Black Malt - 4 oz

Kent Goldings - 2 oz @ 60 min

Cherries - 3-5 lbs

Yeast: Wyeast 1084 or Lallemand Nottingham dry

OG: 1.046, FG: 1.010, IBU: 32, ABV: 4.4%

Add cherries to the end of primary fermentation or to start of secondary fermentation. This will create a reactivation of the yeast and will start fermentation again. Once this second fermentation has stopped, transfer to another vessel for clearing and aging, or bottle.


CIDER

Making cider can be an easy way to ferment some cherries also. This can be done with just cherry juice, or as an apple cherry blend. While the blend is more popular, if you love cherries, try it straight. Using just cherry juice will give you a starting gravity of 1.055-1.065, just right for a cider. Much like an apple or pear cider, the only thing really needed is juice and yeast. Since even “sweet” cherries are relatively tart, I would recommend starting with sweet cherries so you don’t get something too sour to drink, but some people like it sour, so do whatever you like, it is homebrewing after all. Make a 1 gallon batch to start, and go from there:

Sweet Cherry Juice 1 Gal

Yeast: Wyeast Cider or Mangrove Jack Cider dry

Yeast Nutrient

OG: 1.046, FG: 1.010, ABV: 4.4%

Not much to do here. Just ferment your juice in either double or single stage and bottle. Try it carbonated.

WINE 

Many people think that after grapes, cherries make the best wine, and cherries also blend well with grape wines, but for the sake of purity we will just discuss a straight cherry wine. Like the cider you can use a sweet or tart cherries, or a blend of whatever you have, but unlike the cider, instead of just cherry juice, we will use sugar and water to bump the volume and alcohol. It is a bit counterintuitive, but the cherry wine recipe takes fewer cherries than the cider recipe, but again it is homebrewing, so make some 1 gallon batches with varying amounts of cherry juice to see what you like best:

Fresh or frozen sweet cherries 4-6 lbs

  (or 1 gallon black cherry juice, pure or reconstituted)

Finely granulated sugar 2-3 lbs

Water 1 gallon (omit if using 1 gallon juice)

Acid blend 1 tsp

Pectic enzyme 1/2 tsp

Yeast nutrient 1 tsp

Montrachet or Premier Cuvee wine yeast

Whether you use juice or water you can use a nylon bag to “steep” the cherry “pulp” in your primary fermenter, this should add some body and character to your wine. Remove bag when transferring to your secondary vessel (or after 5 days).

Summertime is Saison Time

It is getting hot out there, but there is a delicious way to help stay cool. Our Saison kit is back on the shelf, and saisons can be a great beer to brew during the summer time, as it likes warmer fermentation temperatures. If you have never had a saison, or maybe you have, but wanted to know more about this delicious beer, here is some interesting information for your beer nerd brain. 

Saison is an old world style of beer that has recently received a revival amongst craft brewers and home brewers throughout the world. A group of beers more than a exact style, saisons meaning “season” originated in Wallonia, the southern and predominantly French speaking region of Belgium, as a refreshing and nourishing drink for farmhands and seasonal harvest workers (les saisonneirs) to drink in the summer. Much like an unwanted house guest, farm workers would consume upwards of five liters of this beer per day since the other available water sources were of questionable quality. Given the volume of consumption, alcohol was only 2-2.5% or less making the beer refreshing and also preventing the hired help from getting too plastered on the job. The mechanical revolution took all of the farm jobs and put them into factories, and as a result most all of the rustic farmhouse breweries disappeared, taking with them hundreds of years of saison brewing knowledge and tradition.

What most saisons have in common is a light golden/orange color, very dry finish, and either a crisp sourness or bitterness (or sometimes both). The farmhouse breweries would use their own grains, and due to the higher tax rates on malted barley versus other grains, would have certainly used a mixture of barley, oats, rye, wheat, and spelt. Each brewery had their own unique strain of yeast that was a blend of common brewing yeasts, wild yeast, and other bacteria. These wild yeasts and bacteria, combined with limited knowledge of sanitation, gave the saison a distinct dryness and sour flavor reminiscent of other styles of the era such as bier de garde and lambic/gueze. Hops, known to help preserve beers, were used fairly generously in making saisons and were typically split between early bittering and late aroma additions. Other spices such as ginger, coriander, peppercorns, and orange peel were commonly used as well. The beer was then aged in oak barrels for four months or as long as several years to give the sourness from the yeast time to blend and balance with the bitterness from the hops. While the versions given to the farmhands were lower in alcohol, export and specialty versions could have alcohol content from 4-9%.

Because of the wide array of acceptable grain, hops, and adjuncts in this style, saisons can very widely in flavor, but here is the profile from the BJCP guidelines:

Combination of fruity and spicy flavors supported by a soft malt character, a low to moderate alcohol presence and tart sourness. Extremely high attenuation gives a characteristic dry finish. The fruitiness is frequently citrusy (orange- or lemon-like). The addition of one of more spices serve to add complexity, but shouldn’t dominate in the balance. Low peppery yeast-derived phenols may be present instead of or in addition to spice additions; phenols tend to be lower than in many other Belgian beers, and complement the bitterness. Hop flavor is low to moderate, and is generally spicy or earthy in character. Hop bitterness may be moderate to high, but should not overwhelm fruity esters, spices, and malt. Malt character is light but provides a sufficient background for the other flavors. A low to moderate tart sourness may be present, but should not overwhelm other flavors. Spices, hop bitterness and flavor, and sourness commonly increase with the strength of the beer while sweetness decreases. No hot alcohol or solventy character. High carbonation, moderately sulfate water, and high attenuation give a very dry finish with a long, bitter, sometimes spicy aftertaste. The perceived bitterness is often higher than the IBU level would suggest. No diacetyl.

Vital Statistics:

OG: 1.048 – 1.065

IBUs: 20 – 35

FG: 1.002 – 1.012

SRM: 5 – 14

ABV: 5 – 7%

Brewing this beer has a lot to do with the yeast strain and the temperature in which it is fermented, which can very the flavor and body of this beer as well. From mild Belgian character, to very dry and sour, saison beers can be exactly what you want them to be. Lucky for you Salt City Brew Supply has the largest selection of saison yeast in Utah.
 

WYEAST
French Saison - Wyeast 3711: highly aromatic (estery), peppery, spicy and citrusy. This strain enhances the use of spices and aroma hops, and is extremely attenuative but leaves an unexpected silky and rich mouthfeel.
Belgian Saison - Wyeast 3724: crisp, mildly acidic finish that will benefit from elevated fermentation temperatures. This strain is notorious for a rapid and vigorous start to fermentation, only to stick around 1.035 S.G. Fermentation will finish, given time and warm temperatures.


GIGAYEAST
Saison #1 Yeast - Gigayeast GY018: Traditional Saison yeast from a French craft brewery.  Produces fragrant beer with pepper and fruit notes.  Warmer fermentations create more intense flavors.   Perfect for accentuating citrus and fruit flavors.
Saison Yeast #2 - Gigayeast GY027: From a traditional farmhouse Saison.  Creates the fruity/spicy aroma traditional to the style.  Warmer fermentation temps result in more intense flavor.  Produces a tartness not found in most of our yeast
Saison Sour - Gigayeast GB124: New Strain


WHITE LABS
Belgian Saison Ale - White Labs WLP565: crisp, mildly acidic finish that will benefit from elevated fermentation temperatures. This strain is notorious for a rapid and vigorous start to fermentation, only to stick around 1.035 S.G. Fermentation will finish, given time and warm temperatures.
Belgian Saison Blend - White Labs WLP568: This blend melds Belgian style ale and saison strains. The strains work in harmony to create complex, fruity aromas and flavors. The blend of yeast strains encourages complete fermentation in a timely manner. Phenolic, spicy, earthy, and clove like flavors are also created.
Belgian Saison III - White Labs WLP585 (seasonal): produces beer with a high fruit ester characteristic, as well as some slight tartness. Finishes slightly malty, which balances out the esters. Also produces low levels of clovey phenolics. Great yeast choice for a summer Saison that is light and easy-drinking
Belgian Saison II Ale - White Labs WLP566: saison strain with more fruity ester production than with WLP565. Moderately phenolic, with a clove-like characteristic in finished beer flavor and aroma.
American Farmhouse Blend - White Labs WLP670: complex flavor profile with a moderate level of sourness. It consists of a traditional farmhouse yeast strain and Brettanomyces.


LALLEMAND
Belle Saison Ale Yeast (Dry Yeast): Belle Saison is an ale yeast of Belgian origin selected for its ability to produce great Saison-style beer. This  is a relatively new yeast, but seems to have a flavor profile somewhere in between the French Saison and Belgian Saison strains from Wyeast.

Try Some Cool New Hops!

hopunion

It's like a party in your mouth and everyone's invited!

MORE NEW HOPS TO TRY! 
Come get 'em, while supplies last:
GERMAN MANDARINA BAVARIA
GERMAN POLARIS
GERMAN HULL MELON
GERMAN HALLERTAU BLANC

EL DORADO

CALYPSO

DANA
APOLLO
AUSTRALIAN SUMMER
ORGANIC CHINOOK

---GERMAN MANDARINA BAVARIA---
Pedigree: Daughter of Cascade
Brewing Usage: Aroma
Aroma: Distinct tangerine and citrus flavors
Additional Information: Bred at the Hop Research Institute in Hull and released in 2012
Alpha Acids
7.6
Beta Acids
5.0 - 6.5%

---GERMAN POLARIS---
Pedigree: Hull breeding line
Brewing Usage: Aroma
Aroma: Intense floral and pleasant mint tones
Additional Information: Bred at the Hop Research Institute in Hull and released in 2012
Alpha Acids
18.1%
Beta Acids
4.5 - 6.0%

---GERMAN HULL MELON---
Pedigree: Daughter of Cascade
Brewing Usage: Aroma
Aroma: Distinct fruit characteristics including honeydew melon and strawberry flavors
Additional Information: Bred at the Hop Research Institute in Hull and released in 2012
Alpha Acids
6.3%
Beta Acids
7.3 - 7.9%

---GERMAN HALLERTAU BLANC---
Pedigree: Daughter of Cascade
Brewing Usage: Aroma
Aroma: Floral and fruity with passion fruit, grapefruit, pineapple, grape and lemongrass overtones
Typical Beer Styles: American-style Ale
Additional Information: Released in 2012
Alpha Acids
7.6%
Beta Acids
4.5 - 5.5%

---EL DORADO---
Brewing Usage: Dual Use
Aroma: El Dorado hops consistently elicit responses of fruity notes, specifically tropical fruit flavors. Other fruit notes offered have been pear, watermelon candy and stone fruit.
Typical Beer Styles: American-style Ale
Alpha Acids
15.7%
Beta Acids
7.0 - 8.0%

---CALYPSO---
Brewing Usage: Dual Use
Aroma: pleasantly complex fruity, citrusy aroma, hints of pear, apple, sweet lemon lime brilliance, as well as notes of earthy tea, hints of unique tropical fruit aroma.
Typical Beer Styles: American-style Ale, Stout, and Barley Wine
Alpha Acids
15.3%

---DANA---
Brewing Usage: Dual Use
Aroma: hop with a lemony, pine, and floral aroma
Typical Beer Styles: American-style Ale, Euro-style Ale
Alpha Acids
12.3%

---APOLLO---
Brewing Usage: Bittering
Aroma: hop with an intense,  pleasant  citrusy,  orange, resiney and spicy aroma.
Typical Beer Styles: All beers with a big hop profile.
Alpha Acids
18.0%

---AUSTRALIAN SUMMER---
Pedigree: Open pollination of a tetraploid Czech Saaz
Brewing Usage: Dual Purpose
Aroma: Balanced citrus, melon and light apricot tones
Typical Beer Styles: Ale or Lager
Additional Information: Bred by Hop Products Australia at Tasmanian Bushy Park Breeding Garden in 1997
Alpha Acids
5.5%
Beta Acids
4.5%

---CHINOOK---
2oz Organic Chinook hops from a small, independently owned hop farm in Palisade Colorado.
Brewing Usage: Dual Use
Aroma: Slightly spicy and very piny with some grapefruit
Typical Beer Styles: US-style Pale Ale, IPA, Stout, Porter, Lager
Alpha Acids
10.2
Beta Acids
3.0-4.0

A Stout History

1759 - Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease on an unused brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin. It costs him an initial £100 (about $147 US dollars) with an annual rent of £45 (about $66 US dollars) - this includes crucial water rights. The brewery covers four acres and consists of a copper, a kieve, a mill, two malthouses, stabling for 12 horses and a loft to hold 200 tons of hay. Arthur begins brewing porter and ale.

In honor of the St. Patrick's Day holiday we thought we would cover that classic beer style; the Stout. Although there are many stout styles outlined by the BJCP, there is one that is more prolific than the others, and we can thank the Irish for it.

American Stout
OG: 1.050 – 1.075, IBUs: 35 – 75, FG: 1.010 – 1.022, SRM: 30 – 40, ABV: 5 – 7%

Foreign Extra Stout
OG: 1.056 – 1.075, IBUs: 30 – 70, FG: 1.010 – 1.018 SRM: 30 – 40, ABV: 5.5 – 8%

Sweet Stout
OG: 1.044 – 1.060, IBUs: 20 – 40, FG: 1.012 – 1.024, SRM: 30 – 40, ABV: 4 – 6%

Oatmeal Stout
OG: 1.048 – 1.065, IBUs: 25 – 40, FG: 1.010 – 1.018, SRM: 22 – 40, ABV: 4.2 – 5.9%

Russian Imperial Stout
OG: 1.075 – 1.115, IBUs: 50 – 90m FG: 1.018 – 1.030, SRM: 30 – 40, ABV: 8 – 12%

Dry Irish Stout
OG: 1.036 – 1.050, IBUs: 30 – 45, FG: 1.007 – 1.011, SRM: 25 – 40, ABV: 4 – 5%

Of Course the Dry Irish Stout has been popularized by that iconic Irish brewery, Guinness. So how did the Irish (dry) stout come to be so popular? Well, stout is actually a relatively new type of ale for the Irish. Some kind of red ale is mentioned in am 8^th century poem about Irish ale, among other beers from the around the Emerald Isle, but sadly the poem makes no mention of a Stout or other dark roasted barley beer. But the Irish have a long history of beer. Old Irish laws required farmers to have brewing equipment and room for malting beer, just so they would have beer on hand in case they had to entertain nobles. Laws also required brewers to adhere to specific malting practices. Seems like the Irish were even more strict about their country's beer production than the German's Reinheitsgebot.

While there are mention of red and brown ales in the UK before 1772 it seems like dark toasted malt wasn't used in excess until the invention of the malt roaster in 1817 made a smooth black malt available. The history of the stout starts a bit earlier though and in fact were not stouts at all, but porters. It is generally accepted that porters date back to 1722 and a London Brewer Ralph Harwood who made what was called an “Entire” which was a blend of different beers. Many believe this blend became popular with the dock workers and quickly became known as “Porter”. This already strong beer eventually broke into different variants of color and alcohol content; “export”, “stout, and “extra stout”. These British porters quickly made their way across the water to Ireland (and other parts of Europe), and large breweries put their own spin on it using their own yeast strains and local water. The Irish generally used mostly pale malt with just enough roasted malt to darken the beer, and with the porter's popularity growing, Guinness doubled down on the porter by excluding all other styles by 1799.

The Irish Stout was further defined by Ireland's tariffs on barley which lead to a lower gravity porter. The use of black malt lead to a darker smoother beer, and the Guinness version of the Irish Stout was born, and through shipping, marketing, and production volume (the Guinness brewery was the largest in the world for a time), their version of the Dry Stout became synonymous with the style itself like Budweiser is to the Standard American Lager.

So even though St. Patty's day may seem a bit trite, go ahead and drink an Irish stout and know that there is some very real history in your mouth.

Sláinte mhaith!



Want to know more about the Guinness Brewery:
http://www.guinness.com/en-us/thestory.html

Hop Rhizomes

Planting, harvesting and using your own hops can be a fun and rewarding hobby. They smell good, and can look nice growing up the side of a fence, trellis or patio, especially if you don't mind the company of s few bees.

You can pre order your Rhizomes now for planting in March, and while they don't typically produce much there first year, you could be experimenting with "wet" hop additions next summer.

Not sure what a Rhisome is, or what to do with them. Here is a bit of info to get you acquainted:

Hop rhizomes are a cut from the root of an established hop plant. They must not be allowed to dry out before planting, need well drained “workable” soil, lots of sunlight and need approximately 4 months of frost free growing for fully developed flowers. Well established plants may require a couple of growing seasons, but can produce around 2 pounds of hops per vine under the right conditions.

Planting – you can plant your rhizomes horizontally or vertically 1-2 inches below the surface in fertilized soil. If the rhizome has started to bud, orient the plant facing the bud towards the surface. Hops like the sun and grow quickly, so a Southern exposure works best and separate multiple plants 3-5 feet apart to avoid tangling. Do not let the soil get overly dried out. Frequent short watering is recommended.

Growing – While a first year plant may only need a 6-10 foot support system (stake, fence, wire,
etc.) mature healthy plants can grow 20+ feet under the right conditions, but for the home grower 10+ feet of support will work just fine. The hop plant is durable and can survive harsh winters. The plant will die back to just the bottom stock in the fall and grow back in the spring. Pruning back to the stock is recommended at this time during the first growth.
Picking/Harvesting – Once the hops are most fragrant and before the first frost it is time to pick the cones from the vines. The cone's “petals” will be papery and fragrant when crushed. Sticky yellow powder should be evident, as this is the lupulin produced by the cone and what is responsible for the bitterness used in brewing. A little bit of browning is normal for mature cones. Pick from the top of the plant first and work your way to the bottom. Dry the hops while avoiding direct sunlight before storing. The hops are dry when the inner part of the cone is brittle. Hops degrade when exposed to oxygen, heat, and light, so store your dried hops in a cold dark place with little exposure to oxygen. Packing tightly in a ziplock back and storing in a freezer works great, but vacuum packing in oxygen barrier plastic is ideal.

Usage – When growing your own hops, your Alpha and Beta Acids will not be known, but should fall within the range specified for that specific plant type. You will need to get a feel for the bitterness through some testing. Undried "Wet" hops require a 6:1 ratio by weight as compared to hop pellets. Dried hop cones have a 1:1 ratio in weight to hop pellets, but of course the voume of Wet or Dry hops will be much more than pellets.

Pitch Rate and New Yeast

While most of this information has been covered in previous posts, we have a new product on the shelf that we wanted to highlight, and it is always good to go over things that are important. There is a new player in the liquid yeast scene. GigaYeast, Inc. "laboratory was opened in July 2011 to create perfect.... And by perfect we mean the right yeast, the right pitch rate and no detectable contamination.”

We have picked up GigaYeast as a product for a couple of reasons; One, they offer some yeast strands that are not available from both Wyeast and White Labs, and Two, they provide a real pitchable yeast for the consumer without the need for a starter, for most 5 gallon batches of ale.

Putting the correct amount of yeast in your beer can be one of the easiest ways to eliminate off-flavors. However, it is probably one of the most common oversights by the home brewer. Most people like the variety available in liquid yeast, and feel like it is a better product than the dry counterpart, but the fact is, the large Wyeast pack and the standard Whitelabs vial, contain about half the necessary yeast for clean start to fermentation for a 5%, 5 gallon batch of ale. Doing a yeast starter is a great way to use liquid yeast correctly, but many beginners are intimidated by them. Giga Yeast has twice as many yeast cells at the time of packaging as their liquid yeast counterparts, which is ideal for many beers.

We of course recommend figuring out what your correct pitch rate should be for any beer before adding your yeast. While pitching yeast is a fairly straight forward process, there is a bit of mathematical magic happening in the background that has to do with keeping your yeast cells happy and healthy. But, since math is hard and magic doesn't exist, let's make this as easy as possible, first we need to find how many degrees Plato your beer wort will be. Like specific gravity, Plato is just a measure of density, and approximating Plato can be done by taking the numbers after the decimal of your Original Gravity (O.G.) and dividing them by 4. So, an O.G. of 1.048 would be 12 degrees Plato (1.080 would be 20 degrees Plato). Once you know how

to find Plato you can easily find your pitch rate using one of the below:

Find Plato, double that number, add a zero after it, and then say billion after that... it's easy. “My recipe is going to have a 1.048 O.G, so 48 divided by 4 is 12, double that is 24, or 240... Billion”. Subtract 25% for ales, or add 25% for lagers.

Or, an even shorter version; calculate Plato, then times that number by 15. That is it for ales. Double that number for Lagers.

Sanitation Iodophor vs. Star-San

A question we get a lot in the store is why to use a no rinse sanitizer, and whether or not the One Step or PBW is a sanitizer at all. So, I thought I would cover those very common questions.

Unlike other posts, I will be slanting this towards the products we sell in the store and giving my opinion based on what I have use, seen, and read about. It seems there are neverending threads on forums on whether or not Bicarbonate cleansers such as PBW, One-Step, and B-Brite work as a sanitizer, but for the purposes of this post, I will just say they are NOT sanitizers. Yes, it used to be. Yes, it kills microbes. Yes, people use it as a sanitizer successfully. But it is not classified as a sanitizer any longer because it doesn’t kill enough microbes. They also leave a film and granules behind that I wouldn’t really want in my beer or wine, which means you need to rinse it… and if you are rinsing you are reintroducing microbes.

So, we recommend treating your equipment like a commercial kitchen treats their dishing and cookware. Clean (with cleanser), Rinse (with water), Sanitize (no rinse sanitizer).

Since One-Step, PBW, and B-Brite are virtually the same thing and are all really good at removing organic material, you could go with whatever one you would like with similar results, but there are a couple popular no rinse sanitizers that are fairly different, so here is an over vew of Both:

Iodophor

This is an iodine based sanitizer that is great for home brewers. There is no real Iodine smell, and if diluted properly, should not affect the taste of your beer either, but if you have a severe iodine allergy, I would probably stay away from it. The main benefit of this product is price. It is a bit cheaper than Star-Stan.

Dilution: 1oz to 5 gallons

Contact Time: 1 minute

Dry Time: None

Min Cost/Oz: $.66

Star-San

Built specifically for the home brewer, this product is acid-based and uses a low PH to kill microbes. The diluted solution will quickly degrade in the presence of beer (wort) and break down into yeast nutrient. It is a bit more expensive, but you can keep the diluted solution around for several weeks (as long as the PH says below a 3) and reuse it, which makes up for the added cost. This product also produces a lot of foam, which turns some people off, but in my experience has never caused any off flavors or issues with fermentation.

Dilution: 1oz to 5 gallons

Contact Time: 30 Seconds

Dry Time: None

Min Cost/Oz: $.70

We suggest trying both products to see which one works best for you, but because of the longevity we give the edge to Star-San.

In full disclosure there are other products, such as Caustic soda, sodium hydroxide and lye which are a VERY effective cleaners for organic solids but rather dangerous to use without protection and not very friendly to the environment.