Judging Beer with Grandmaster Gordon Strong – BSHB Podcast #6

Gordon Strong, the President of the BJCP is my guest this week.  He is the world’s only Grand Master Level V beer judge and also one of the top competitive home brewers in the US.  We talk about judging beer, what it takes to be a Grandmaster Level V beer judge, and how an average home brewer can use competition and beer judging skills to improve their beer.  Gordon also talks about his new book “Brewing Better Beer” which is being released this Spring.

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This week’s guest is Gordon Strong, the President of the Beer Judge Certification Program, and also the world’s only Grandmaster Level V beer judge.  Gordon also has a book coming out in April-June timeframe called “Brewing Better Beer”The focus of this week’s episode is Beer Judging and the Beer Judge Certification ProgramWe talk about the BJCP style guide and how its used for beer brewing and judgingWhat a first time competitor might see in competitionSome of the most common flaws Gordon sees in home brewed beers he judgesThe BJCP certification program, its levels, and how to become a judgeAdvice for competitive brewersGordon’s life as a jet-set rock star beer brewerGordon’s new book “Brewing Better Beer” coming out this Spring

Thanks again to Gordon Strong for taking time out to participate in the podcast.

Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Great News! We’ve been featured in the New and Notable podcasts on iTunes.

If you are not using iTunes, you can subscribe using this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeersmithcomHomeBrewingBlog

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

Tagged as: BJCP, Beer, beer judge, competition, gordon strong, judging

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Judging Beer with Grandmaster Gordon Strong – BSHB Podcast #6

Gordon Strong, the President of the BJCP is my guest this week.  He is the world’s only Grand Master Level V beer judge and also one of the top competitive home brewers in the US.  We talk about judging beer, what it takes to be a Grandmaster Level V beer judge, and how an average home brewer can use competition and beer judging skills to improve their beer.  Gordon also talks about his new book “Brewing Better Beer” which is being released this Spring.

Download the MP3 File – Right Click and “Save As” to download this mp3 file

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This week’s guest is Gordon Strong, the President of the Beer Judge Certification Program, and also the world’s only Grandmaster Level V beer judge.  Gordon also has a book coming out in April-June timeframe called “Brewing Better Beer”The focus of this week’s episode is Beer Judging and the Beer Judge Certification ProgramWe talk about the BJCP style guide and how its used for beer brewing and judgingWhat a first time competitor might see in competitionSome of the most common flaws Gordon sees in home brewed beers he judgesThe BJCP certification program, its levels, and how to become a judgeAdvice for competitive brewersGordon’s life as a jet-set rock star beer brewerGordon’s new book “Brewing Better Beer” coming out this Spring

Thanks again to Gordon Strong for taking time out to participate in the podcast.

Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Great News! We’ve been featured in the New and Notable podcasts on iTunes.

If you are not using iTunes, you can subscribe using this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeersmithcomHomeBrewingBlog

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

Tagged as: BJCP, Beer, beer judge, competition, gordon strong, judging

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Counting Calories in your Homebrewed Beer

This week, I take a look at calories in your home brewed beer, how to calculate them and where they come from.  With superbowl weekend upon us, the subject of how many calories are in your homebrew may be moot given the mountains of beer and snacks likely to be consumed on Sunday afternoon, but for those of you who are calorie or carbohydrate conscious, read on.

I’ll start with the good news first – an average 12oz commercial beer has slightly less calories than a comparable soda or even a glass of juice.  An average American lager (say Budweiser at 5% ABV) has about 145 calories for 12 oz.  A Coke classic runs about 155 calories for a 12 oz can and orange juice is about 184 calories.

If you drink light beer, they generally run from 100-112 calories per 12 oz and have slightly less alcohol (average of about 4.2% alcohol), placing them well below regular sodas or juice.  Premium beers run a bit heavier – a Sam Adams Lager or Boston Ale has about 160 calories and high alcohol beers like New Belgium Trippel (7.8% alcohol) contain 215 calories in a single 12oz serving.

Not surprisingly the calories in beer comes from alcohol and carbohydrates – both from the malted barley (or other grains) used to brew beer.  During fermentation, yeast breaks down the simple carbohydrates and converts them into ethanol (ethyl alcohol).  The longer chains of carbohydrates that the yeast cannot break down remain in the finished beer, contributing additional calories.  Full bodied and all malt beers tend to have more residual carbohydrates.  Roughly 60% of the calories in an average beer come from alcohol and 40% from residual carbohydrates.

Despite the term “beer belly”, very little of the alcohol you consume is converted into fat.  In fact, your liver converts most of the alcohol into acetate which is then released into your bloodstream and consumed directly to produce energy.  The bad part is that when your body is burning alcohol/acetate, it is not burning fat, so you will tend to retain the fat you already have, plus your body may convert some of the residual carbs from the beer into fat.

Adding to the effect is the fact that alcohol tends to be an appetite enhancer – so if you drink a lot you will likely eat more than you would with water or even other carbohydrate drinks.  Not that all news is bad – in fact several studies have found that drinking in moderation (1-2 drinks a day) can actually have a positive effect on overall health if combined with a healthy diet and exercise.  However, clearly moderation is the key.

Calorie conscious brewers can estimate the number of calories in 12oz of homebrewed beer from the starting (OG) and ending (FG) gravities.  BeerSmith also will show you the calories if you use the Alcohol/Attenuation tool.

Calorie_from_alcohol = 1881.22 * FG * (OG-FG)/(1.775-OG)Calories_from_carbs = 3550.0 * FG * ((0.1808 * OG) + (0.8192 * FG) – 1.0004)Total calories – just add the Calories_from_alcohol to Calories_from_carbs

So lets look at a sample beer with a OG of 1.048 and a FG of 1.010 which has 4.9% alcohol by volume.  Running the numbers above, we get 99 calories from alcohol and 59 calories from carbohydrates, for a total of 158 calories.  Most beers have calorie counts in this range – with the bulk of calories coming from alcohol and not carbohydrates.

Light and low-carb beers tend to be made at lower alcohol levels, and also have less malt and more adjuncts (corn, rice, etc) to reduce residual carbohydrates.  Essentially light beer makers attack the problem on both sides – by cutting the alcohol levels and also cutting the residual carbs.  Corn, rice and other non-barley adjuncts tent to ferment more fully leaving less residual carbs.  The tradeoff is that the body of the beer comes from the residual carbs, so light beers made with more rice will generally have less body than barley malt beers.  However, in very light bodied styles like American Pilsner, the effect is less noticed than it would be in a low-cal Porter or Pale Ale.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on calories and beer.  Thank you for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog.  Please subscribe to the newsletter for weekly articles on home brewing, and have a great home brewing week!

Tagged as: Beer, calculating, calories, carbohydrates, carbs, estimating, light beer

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5 Ways to Save Money Home Brewing

Compared to some buying quality commercial beer, home brewing is still relatively inexpensive, but hop and malt prices have risen the last few years as a result of the hop shortage and shortage for certain malts.  In addition the global recession has put some pressure on many homebrewers.  This week I’ll give you 5 tips on how to save a few dollars home brewing.

One of the simplest ways to save money on your ingredients is to buy in bulk.  If you are an all grain brewer, you can buy 50lb bags of pale malt locally for less than half of what it would cost if you bought it by the pound.  A 50 lb bag of pale malt goes a long way – usually 10-12 batches.

You can do the same with specialty grains and hops.  Hops by the pound is available from mail order houses for less than half the cost of retail hops by the ounce.  Many stores offer you a substantial discount if you purchase hops by the pound.

What if you don’t need 50lbs of black patent malt or an entire pound of BC Goldings hops?  Contact your local homebrew club or some brewing friends and do a group buy.  Buy several pounds of hops and a few bags of commonly used specialty grains and divide them up.  One of the best suppliers for large bags of grains is your local homebrew store – many of these sell 50lb bags of grains and also bulk hops.  If they don’t have a 50lb specialty bag of grain, they can often special order it for you with their next order and save on shipping.

Another money saving strategy is to reduce the hops you are using.  A few years back when the hop crisis first hit and hop prices doubled and tripled overnight, I wrote an article on 10 Tips for Surviving the Hops Shortage.  It contains some great tips for reducing your hop usage without sacrificing the taste or quality of your beer.

Little things like using a full batch boil, boiling your bittering hops a bit longer or using higher alpha hops for bittering can save money over time on your hop bill.    Take a look at that article if you want some creative suggestions.  Another offshoot I enjoy is growing hops at home.

Liquid yeast (and the recent crop of high quality dry yeasts) have significantly increased the quality of home brewed beers, but they are not inexpensive.  Next to malt grains, it is usually the most expensive component that goes into your home brewed beer.

One instant way to save money is to wash your yeast and reuse it for another batch.  Washing yeast is a process that lets you save yeast from one batch and store it safely in your refrigerator to use it on another batch.  Done properly, you can save yeast for several months using this technique.

Instead of buying your brewing equipment from the store, consider making your own.  Brewers are a pretty creative bunch and beer brewing gives you the opportunity to experiment with all kinds of interesting containers, pipes, pumps and other toys.  Examples include making your own mash tun, building a chiller or making a hop back.

Switching to all grain is another way to save money.  All grain batches can be brewed at prices generally 30% less than extract beers.   If you buy grains in bulk you can save even more.  Grains cost less than extract, and you achieve higher hop utilization with a full batch boil, reducing your hop usage.

Brewing all grain does require an equipment investment up front, but if you are a frequent brewer you will pay for it in the long run.  Also, brewing all grain gives you additional control over the brewing process and the ability to use a full range of specialty grains including some that must be mashed.

Those are the money saving tips for this week.  I have some great new stuff coming soon including a collection of my blog articles in book form – look for it next month.  Thank you for joining the BeerSmith blog - and please subscribe if you want to get regular weekly articles like this delivered to your inbox for free.

Tagged as: Beer, brewing, grain, homebrew, hops, money, saving, yeast

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Beer Bitterness and IBUs with Glenn Tinseth – BSHB Podcast 9

Dr Glenn Tinseth, the author of the Tinseth equation for estimating bitterness is my guest this week.  The Tinseth equation is the most widely used equation for estimating bitterness by brewers from around the world.  Glenn talks about hops, bitterness, international bitterness units, hop utilization and much more.

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This week my guest is Dr Glenn Tinseth (realbeer.com/hops)- the author of the Tinseth equation for hop utilizationI mention I’ll be attending the National Homebrewers Conference in JuneWe talk about Glenn’s introduction to brewing, and his research into hopsInternational Bitterness Units (IBUs) and his research into hop utilizationHop flavor compoundsHis thoughts on recent research that utilization may be independent of wort gravityIBU measurement vs the perception of bitternessWhy brewers tend to be focused on numbersHow engineers shaped the early focus of brewers as the hobby evolved during the mid 1990'sAromatic hop compounds and what they do for beerGlenn’s summer job at Mad River Brewing

Thanks again to Glenn Tinseth for agreeing to do the interview!

Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Great News! We’ve been featured in the New and Notable podcasts on iTunes.

If you are not using iTunes, you can subscribe using this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeersmithcomHomeBrewingBlog

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

Tagged as: Beer, IBU, glenn tinseth, hop, hops, ibus, tinseth, utilization

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How To Aerate Your Wort

Suppose you want to make sure your fermentation doesn’t stall halfway through and you want to get a good head start on yeast growth during the initial phase of fermentation…

… well, that’s were good aeration comes into play…

After you boil your wort and cool it down to yeast pitching temperature you want to find a way to get oxygen into your wort… There are three main ways to get oxygen into your wort, splashing, agitating and direct injection.

Splashing
This is possibly the best ‘free’ method of aerating your wort. In essence what you are doing here is splashing your wort into your fermentor by pouring it hard from the kettle into your bucket. If you are using a carboy to ferment, you can pour your wort into your bottling bucket and then siphon into the carboy.

This is the method I use most frequently and has given me consistent results for low and mid-range gravity beers.

The only drawbacks to this method is that it requires a strong back to lift the kettle and splash the wort into the fermentor and it becomes exposed to airborne bacteria. In other words, this is something that should be done indoors where you can be certain the environment is mostly dust-free.

Agitating
If you can’t quite lift a bucket or a kettle to splash it, you may opt for agitating the wort instead. There are many different variations, but basically the best one is to place the lid on your bucket and shake it back and forth to ‘agitate’ the wort.

If you are using a carboy you’ll want to place a loose fitting cap or some sort of plug in the mouth of the carboy to shake it without getting the wort all over the place… most importantly, you want to place the carboy in a padded or cushioned surface area so it doesn’t break.

Rocking the fermentor is not as hard on your back, but it does require some arm strength and can be exhausting.

I like to combine the splashing and agitating techniques to get more oxygen into the wort without having to invest money in an aquarium pump or some sort of air compressor.

Another variation to agitating the wort is to use a steel whisk to whip the wort a few seconds until foam starts to foam on top… Some say this can keep your beers from getting good head formation and retention, but I haven’t noticed any negative effects on my beers.

Injection
The most efficient way to add oxygen to your wort is to inject pure oxygen directly into it. This means you must invest money into your brewing hobby and constantly replenish your source of oxygen, which is often times not needed unless you are brewing high gravity beers.

You can instead opt for injecting your wort with air using some sort of air compressor and having a sanitized tube deliver it to the bottom of the wort. The important part here is to make sure that the air or oxygen is evenly distributed throughout the wort.

If you just blow air into the wort, chances are the air bubbles will be too large and won’t dissolve into the wort. To avoid this, you’ll need some sort of diffuser like an aquarium air diffusion stone. Another thing to keep in mind is that bacteria may not survive in a pure oxygen environment but they sure can live in pure air, which means you’ll want to have an air filter in your aerating system. A HEPA filter is recommended.

So if you don’t want to spend any money, the first two techniques are great and work pretty darn well… but if your back or arms can’t handle the task, then injecting may be the way to go and it can be fairly inexpensive if you use aquarium tools to get your air source.

...blogs about the age old art of deep national importance known as home brewing & loves to visit local micro-breweries to a) Drink beer b) Drink more beer c) Wink at the Sexy Gals and d) Discover how great tasting beer is made and shares it with the world... To peek inside Jorge's head and get the same Einstein-like brewing knowledge check out: How To Brew Beer

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How To Determine Amount Of Water Needed To Brew

When I first started with all grain, I ended up knocking my head against the wall trying to determine the amount of water needed to mash…

…of course this wasn’t much of a problem for steeping grains, but then again I wasn’t doing it right either…

With extract brewing, there is a simple rule of thumb to follow… ‘boil big, steep small’… but with all grain brewing, boiling big is not always what you want and mashing has to be a little more precise than just ‘small’…

So we’ll get steeping out of the way and just go with proven ratio of using less than one gallon of water per pound of grains… and this is just a rule of thumb, because really what you are trying to accomplish by keeping the ratio this way is you pH levels below 6 among other things…

Now, the amount needed for all-grain is a whole different animal altogether…

Grain Absorption
First we have to account for the amount of water the grains will soak up during the mash, which can not be drained in the lauter tun… this usually is about .1 to .18 of the initial weight of the grain… so if you mash 10 lbs of grain, you will lose about 1 to 1.8 gallons of water to the grains…

In my system this is about 1.36 gallons, but you don’t need to be that precise…

Lauter Tun Water Loss
Depending on the configuration of your false bottom, there may be water left in the lauter tun that you were not able to drain, but was not absorbed by the grains…

My system drains the wort to within 1/8? from the botton of the lauter tun so I only loose just under two cups of wort… to find out yours, you’ll have to remove the grains from your lauter tun and measure the amount of water left at the bottom…

This can be a PITA, but the good thing is that you only have to do it once and you’ll know from here on out…

Loss of Water During Boiling
Evaporation rates vary depending on how much you are boiling and your burner settings. 5-15% is about the range you’ll see, but you shouldn’t not be boiling too vigorous so the lower the evaporation rate you can get while maintaining a rolling boil the better… (there are a few exceptions though)

Shrinkage
When you cool down your wort to room temperature, you’ll see the volume decrease. This loss is usually about 4%…

You can leave this as a constant or you can exclude it and account for it by increasing your evaporation rate… so if you have 5% evaporation rate and 4% shrinkage, you could just say you lost 8-10% to evaporation…

Equipment Losses
Last, you want to account for any other equipment losses such as siphoning from your kettle to your fermentor and then to your bottling bucket or keg…

I usually include any loss of wort due to trub since I try not to siphon that into my bottling bucket…

The main thing to keep in mind here is that even with a big long formula that accounts for all of this, the amount of water needed is a mere approximation since you will have many variables…

Being precise is not the goal here… the goal is consistency and making sure you have enough water to brew with… if you are to err, you should do so by over-estimating…

So putting all of this together…

Say I want to mash 10 lbs of grain… Grain absorption will be between .1 to .18, so let’s choose .13…

That means I lose 1.3 gallons of water in the mash…

Next, I lose just under two cups of wort when lautering so we’ll say .45 gallons… so far, I’ve lost 1.75 gallons… this is what you lose during the mash which means that if you want a 5 gallon batch you need to make sure you have 6.75 gallons so far…

But now we have to account for the boil losses… so you would calculate the loss due to evaporation rate… (evaporation rate * Boil time)… in this case I’ll boil for 1 hour and expect my evaporation rate to be 5% so I will lose about 5% of my wort due to evaporation…

That means you need to add the 5% you would lose to evaporation and that is done by dividing 6.75 by 95%… so you would get about 7.11 gallons of water you need…

Next you account for shrinkage of 4%, so you divide 7.11 by 96%… and that gives us 7.4 gallons…

Again, you can combine the evaporation and shrinkage and divide 6.75 by 91% (9% loss) and you would get about 7.41 gallons, which is close enough…

Last you account for any equipment losses (siphoning, trub, etc.)… if say you lose .5 gallons… then you would add that to 7.4 and you get 7.9 gallons of water needed…

This is a lot of math, but the good thing is that if you are consistent, then you just need to worry about the losses from the mash…

If you constantly brew 5 gallon batches then you could just make sure you collect 6 to 6.5 gallons of wort and make that a constant knowing that this will yield about 5 gallons everytime…

So the only math there is to do now is the mash math which we said it was 1.75 that we lost… and add that to your constant, which should be around 6 to 6.5 gallons needed pre-boil…

So depending on our constant, our easy math would yield 7.75 to 8.25 gallons of water needed…

You can also let some brewing software do this math for you…

How do you calculate the amount of water needed?

...blogs about the age old art of deep national importance known as home brewing & loves to visit local micro-breweries to a) Drink beer b) Drink more beer c) Wink at the Sexy Gals and d) Discover how great tasting beer is made and shares it with the world... To peek inside Jorge's head and get the same Einstein-like brewing knowledge check out: How To Brew Beer

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