Upcoming Events
January 17th – Monthly LAGERS Meeting (Virtual)
February 12th – All American Home Brew Competition – Cincinnati, OH
December 13th Meeting Recap
- We had our December meeting a week early because of the holidays. Good turnout, especially of homebrew! Several people brought more than one brew and there was lots of good beer to go around. We also had our white elephant gift exchange, which, to no one’s surprise, included a lot of beer.
- This year’s Yappy hour was a rousing success. Leah sold off the last crowler on Black Friday, and in total, we raised over $3000 for the KY Humane Society! Thank you to everyone that participated and made this such a great success.
- The bulk grain and chemical pickup was on the 12th and all grain has been distributed. We ordered over 3000 pounds of grain, plus 4 gallons of StarSan and 32 pounds of PBW. Look for cost increases on the next order. Grain, like everything else, is going up in price, as are freight charges.
- Greg and Sarah won the vote for the best beer this meeting with their insane barleywine. I hope you got to try it because it was special! You can see the recipe and notes below if you want to try it out yourself.
- MERCH! Brandon has been hard at work getting us some awesome new merch! We’re going to order tin tackers, glasses, and shirts. Here is a sneak preview of some of the planned designs.
iSpindel Orders
In case you missed the earlier email:
The parts have officially been ordered for the iSpindels. You all placed orders for 61 parts and fortunately we were able to order most of the parts in bulk. The unfortunate part is freight costs have crept up a bit and we weren’t able to get you a discount. One of the main components, the PET tube, went from free shipping to charging quite a bit. The exact costs per unit came out to $15.51 (up from the originally estimated $15.00). I’ll be sending out a follow up email with everyone’s totals later this week with payment options. Thank you all for your participation.
Look for PayPal invoices to be sent out soon. Please make sure you pay as “friends and family” to avoid any fees.
Holiday Party
We have made the difficult decision to postpone the holiday party until after the current Omicron-fueled COVID wave is over. With case rates soaring to record highs, we don’t think it’s fitting to host a large party indoors. We’ll look at rescheduling this as soon as possible, hopefully in February.
January Meeting
The January meeting will be virtual for the same reasons that the party is being postponed. This is something we’ll evaluate on a month-to-month basis, but hopefully, we’ll only have to do it for January. This month, Greg will demonstrate a closed transfer from fermentation vessel to keg. Look for a Zoom link on the Facebook page and by email a little closer to the actual date.
December Brewer Recipe Highlight
Brewers: Greg Butorin and Sarah Popko
Name: Malt Wine Ailment
Inspiration: Birrificio Baladin – Xyauyù
Brewed May 2020
Water:
RO water, 2:1 Cl:SO4
Malt:
65.6% Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter
16.4% BestMalz RedX
13.1% Pale DME
4.9% Melanoidin
Hops:
1.5 oz EKG at start of boil for ~10-15 IBU
Yeast:
Blend of WY1318, WY1469, WY1968, WLP005, WLP007, WLP013
1.065 target pre-boil at 13 gallons
Boiled for 8 hours to achieve an OG of 1.160 at about 5 gal
FG = 1.086 for about 12.5% ABV
Process:
Transfer into FV as clear as possible. Fermented at room temp with plenty of O2 during the growth phase. Cold crashed until crystal clear, then raised back to room temp. Ideall,y you would dump yeast, clarify, and repeat until crystal clear (IMPORTANT FOR NEXT STEP).
Let some oxygen in over the course of a couple months slowly (there are better ways to do this but we didn’t have a regulator for our O2). Let me know if you decide to do this, I have all the calculations in terms of pressure and time to achieve a perfect result (experiment for us for later).
After 8 months, cold crashed under enough pressure to prevent vacuum and bottled still without reyeasting or adding sugar. 1.5 vol CO2 at 32F is the natural rate of CO2 absorption at that temp and is plenty for this beer. Served at room temp.
Tasting notes:
The melanoidin and furfural from the long boil and intentional oxidation do this beer a service. The sweetness in barleywines would normally be balanced by some bitterness from the hops, however, the staleness of the oxidation dials it down a notch and introduces interesting sensorial effects, like a tingle on the tongue. This unique process manages to balance the sweetness in a way hops cannot. It’s thick like syrup and boozy so only a small amount is necessary for enjoyment. Look for notes of molasses, almond, tobacco, and dried leather.
Before and after boiling:
