The Beer Thread

[Skinsfan1311]

I keep coming back to Heavy Seas Cutlass...anyone else a fan?

Yes.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

I keep coming back to Heavy Seas Cutlass...anyone else a fan?

I read the pack of HS Cutlass tonight, and it says that it used to be the HS Marzen. I was stoked, because it's labeled "Heavy Seas Cutlass Amber Ale", and thought the Marzen was just gone forever. Yes, yes I like that beer. Heavy Seas Marzen

They also re-named their "Pale Ale" in to "Powder Monkey". Saw Heavy Seas Red Sky At Night for the first time on the shelf this year as well.

I got Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale, though. Craving it. A can of Shock Top Lemon Shandy to switch it up in the middle of my session.

Edited July 22, 2014 by d0ublestr0ker0ll

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Got the Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night. It's their Summer Seasonal. Lots of yeast, and what seems like German malts. Very high level of sweetness. One of the more intense Summer Seasonals.

[Keldog]

I'm in Germany where all the beer is great.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101864607#_gus

Old Bay Beer Brews Up Chesapeake Pride

A 75-year-old seasoning is spicing up the Maryland beer business.

When Flying Dog Brewery, Maryland's largest craft brewery, struck a deal to license a beer made with Old Bay seasoning, brewery officials knew it would generate some buzz. But not even the man who worked to put the partnership together anticipated the frenzy the brew would inspire.

Old Bay, made by fellow Maryland-based company McCormick & Co., is a seasoning mix made with 18 herbs and spices including celery salt, red and black pepper, and paprika, that is a Chesapeake Bay-area restaurant and kitchen staple.

"We originally had in our production schedule what we believed to be enough beer to sell to anyone who wanted it up and down the east coast for five months," said Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery. "In eight days, we sold that amount of beer just in Frederick and Baltimore, Maryland, alone."

It turns out the marriage of two Maryland favorites stirred up a fierce case of Chesapeake pride.

"People were ordering this beer before they even tried it," Caruso said. "We had people in Frederick trying to bribe the distributors and their drivers with $100 to give them a case of beer off the truck."

Caruso says not only did people try Dead Rise, named after the wooden-hulled fishing and crabbing boats used to navigate the Chesapeake Bay, they kept coming back for more.

Knowing they had a hit on their hands, Flying Dog made the decision to shift as much production as possible to Dead Rise. So out went the original plan of selling the beer throughout the Mid-Atlantic from New York down to North Carolina.

For about five weeks, Flying Dog shifted 65 percent of its total production capacity to focus solely on meeting Maryland's demand for the beer.

"We're selling more Dead Rise just in the state of Maryland than we are with all our other 40-plus beers combined everywhere else," Caruso said.

Still the decision wasn't an easy one for many reasons, not the least of which was focusing so heavily on the demand for Dead Rise meant the Flying Dog had to temporarily stop all beer shipments to the 26 other states in which they have distribution.

Caruso said the decision was a painful one because they didn't want to risk damaging out-of-state relationships, but being a Maryland company meant putting the Maryland market first.

"That's one of the meanings in local," Caruso said. "Taking millions dollars in profits from one part of the country and giving it to our local beer stores and bars because this is a Maryland beer, it's the right thing to do."

While Dead Rise may be an extreme example, the idea of focusing on local needs is a core part the Flying Dog philosophy.

Flying Dog and Old Bay are donating a portion of the proceeds from Dead Rise to True Blue, a program that advocates on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay's 5,500 watermen and promotes sustainably harvested Maryland Blue Crab.

The brewery also donates a portion of sales from its Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout to the Oyster Recovery Partnership. Since the program started in 2011, Flying Dog proceeds have assisted in planting nearly 3 million oysters in the Chesapeake Bay.

The local focus means, for now, the Old Bay-seasoned beer taking Maryland by storm will remain just for Maryland.

"It's humbling and flattering to know other locations want the beer, but we're saying we're only capable of producing so much and if Maryland bars and restaurants want it, they got it," said Caruso.

The licensing deal with McCormick for the Old Bay trademark only lasts through September, but based on this summer's sales, it's a good bet the Dead Rise brew will be return.

"I would hope McCormick would be interested in partnering with us again next year," said Caruso. "However, we could still do Dead Rise, it just wouldn't have the official license for the Old Bay mark on it, but we could still do a beer made with Old Bay."

They better make it next year! I love this stuff! Edited July 27, 2014 by d0ublestr0ker0ll

[dfitzo53]

That's nuts.

 

I think it's fine but not special.  I'm not surprised that people like, but I am surprised that there's that kind of demand.

[twa]

tried the Firestone easy jack by accident (meant to grab the DBA) , decent brew if ya like the citrusy summer style (I don't)

[sportjunkie07]

So my buddy that brews for Flying Dog came down this weekend and brought me some presents! He brought me Ginger Beer and the other was a White Ale. Was surprised with the Ginger beer. Didn't think I would like it, but it was pretty light and smooth. Could make a nice summer beer. The White Ale was pretty good. Could taste some citrus in there, another possible summer beer.

Fancy, isn't ginger beer usually non alcoholic?

my buddy just came back from Maryland and he grabbed some dead rise. Will get to try it out.

On the topic of Sculpin IPA. My gf ordered it for me the first time i tried it. Knowing her beer taste i wasn't expecting much. After the first sip i knew this beer was a winner. So many different flavors and excellent balance. This IPA is highly rated with good reason.

i prefer lagers/ales, but the sculpin ipa is the best beer on the market.

Would love some suggestions to change my mind though.

Edited July 27, 2014 by sportjunkie07

[grego]

homebrew enthusiasts!- i have a question for you.

 

my father has been brewing his own beer for about 20 years. the problem is, every one of his beers, no matter what kind he's trying to make- tastes like a moldy wheat beer. (my dad happens to like wheat beer, i, on the other hand, would rather drink a miller lite. theres just something about the taste of a wheat beer that gags me- more on that in a minute)

 

now, he thinks his beers are all great. and, from private conversations with people who have had his beer, they seem to think its actually not bad. very few people react to his beer the way i do. i do my best to not let him know i think his beer tastes like wet cardboard wrapped in band aids because i dont want to hurt his feelings (that, and most people cant taste what i taste in his beer, so whats the use?)

 

i recently made my first real batch of beer- with his help- (ok, he did it and i helped. and it was kind of my second. the gimmicky gallon jug blond ale my sister in law got me for christmas actually tasted ok- as in, not terrible. it tasted like a light beer, and i was actually happy with that, despite liking light beers about as much as i like wheat beers).

 

 

my first real attempt at home brewing was an IPA, of course. its been a month, so. i just opened it -and it tasted exactly like my dads other beers. like wet cardboard and band aids.

 

now, i've had several other peoples home brews. virtually every other one i've had is amazing. full, hop flavor, or other flavors, with absolutely no phenol, chemical taste.

 

i've done some googling on the problem, and there are a few things my dad does which may be the cause of the problem. first, he uses some kind of sanitizer (i think its an acceptable, fool proof one, but i'll look more into it, as this is a potential problem within itself) to sanitize everything. then, he'll take the siphon tube, stopper, whatever he sanitizes, and rinses it AGAIN in a water and dish detergent (just a drop, but still.....WTF?) solution. i have a feeling this is one potential problem, especially if hes using regular tap water (its well water, filtered to remove arecenic). i know he uses spring or purified water for the actual beer, but for the rinse, i'm not 100% sure.

 

another potential problem is the 'aeration' of the wort when its too warm. i'm actually not aware that he actually aerates it, as i have made beer with him a couple of times and can't recall it. he does take his 5 gallon kettle and cools it in water with a few ice cubes in it for a few minutes, but i'm not sure that all he should be doing before transferring it to the fermenting bucket.

 

i dont think theres a problem with splashing the brew as we bottle it, or not filling it enough. and i think he just scrubs and sanitizes the bottles really well, but there could be a secondary rinse involved there, as well. i'm not sure.

 

oh, and he does gently squeeze the wort bag, which many frown upon. to be fair, its a really gentle squeeze, as he is conscious of the fact that this could be bad. so, its probably not an issue. hell, i've squeezed the bag myself, and its really not even a squeeze. more of a 'touch'. 

 

anyway, sorry for the wordiness. i'm not sure if i'm explaining the problems with the flavor properly- obviously, if someone with a sensible palate tasted it, they would likely be able to be able to pinpoint the problem.

 

any thoughts from my brew loving brethren would be appreciated! 

Edited July 27, 2014 by grego

[RememberOsaka]

Blue Point Toasted lager was a beer my NY friends had been telling me about. Just found it on tap in AA Co and it did not disappoint. I think I may have found a new watering hole.

[MattFancy]

Fancy, isn't ginger beer usually non alcoholic?

 

 

Not sure. This defintiely tasted alcoholic to me.

[HooHog]

Went to Burlington, VT this weekend and finally got to try the Heady Topper. Totally lived up to the hype.

[DButz65]

Blue Point Toasted lager was a beer my NY friends had been telling me about. Just found it on tap in AA Co and it did not disappoint. I think I may have found a new watering hole.

 

 

Where is this at? I used to work all over the damn place... lol Calvert, St Marys, AA, Charles, Southern PG

 

Not many places in AA used to have hard to find beers

Edited July 30, 2014 by DButz65

[HBnotBlades]

homebrew enthusiasts!- i have a question for you.

 

my father has been brewing his own beer for about 20 years...

 

Hey Grego,

 

Just thought I'd chime in since you haven't had an answer yet.  

 

The two flavors you describe, band-aid and wet cardboard, are two pretty common off flavors in homebrews.  The band-aid flavor is usually associated with phenols as you mentioned (more specifically chlorine in the water), and wet cardboard is usually oxidation.  

 

The band-aid flavors are usually produced by phenols which occurs when the yeast are stressed during the early stages of fermentation or chlorine is present in the wort.  Some yeast strains are more likely to produce phenols than others, Belgian strains in particular. German wheat beers are one of the styles that are typically made with phenol producing yeast and they actually benefit from a small amount of that "band-aid" flavor.  When the flavor is subtle, it comes across with more of a peppery note, but if the yeast are strained it can take over a beer.  

 

This stress can occur if the wort is under oxidized when the yeast is pitched, and it may actually be likely in your case.  You should splash that beer around like crazy before you add the yeast, it is virtually impossible to over-oxygenate the beer at that stage.  Under-oxygenating will stress the yeast, which makes Belgian strains very likely to over produce phenols and take your beer on a trip to band-aid city.  Yuck. Do you know what yeast strain you were using?  You could try a yeast like Safale US-05, which is pretty forgiving, produces a nice clean beer with almost no phenols.

 

The other cause of the band-aid flavors could come from chlorine in the sanitization process (bleach) or the water used to brew.  You should try using a non-chlorine sanitize like Star-san (never look back), and DO NOT rinse items that have already been sanitized.  The foam from star-san will be fine in the beer because it dilutes to simply be phosphorus for the yeast to eat.  You could also try adding about ¼ of a campden tablet to help remove any chlorine in the water, but if your Dad uses bought-purified water for the actual brewing I don't think the source of the chlorine is the water itself.

 

Adding ice the the wort after the boil is a bit concerning, but that's more likely to cause infection than any other issues.  If you water is particularly high in chlorine the the ice might be an issue.  Instead of adding ice to the beer to cool it you should try a wort chiller. You could get your Dad one as a gift, especially if he's gone 20 years without one.  It will make a world of difference with IPAs or anything with late hop additions.

 

The wet cardboard smell you mentioned is definitely oxidation and 90% of the time it's from splashing the beer around after primary fermentation.  Make sure to always transfer the beer with tubing and try using those oxygen absorbing bottle caps if you can.  Although I have no idea if they actually make a difference.

Edited July 30, 2014 by HBnotBlades

[HBnotBlades]

Went to Burlington, VT this weekend and finally got to try the Heady Topper. Totally lived up to the hype.

 

Did you get to try any of the Hill Farmstead beers?  If not, you may have to schedule a return trip.  

 

On a side note, summers are awesome up here.  Everyone should come visit.

[grego]

Hb- awesome information. Way more that I could have hoped for. I really appreciate it.

One thing- you're saying that I should splash around the wort before pitching the yeast? But only after it's cooled below 80 degrees, right?

And I should avoid splashing around the beer for the remainder of the brewing process?

I'll try to find out more today about exactly how my dad makes his beer. There's definitely something he's doing that's producing these wheat beer-like flavors, as all of his beers taste like that.

And he definitely rinses stuff after sanitizing which is not good. I'll have to find out what sanitizer he uses.

Thanks again. I'll try to update.

[HBnotBlades]

Hb- awesome information. Way more that I could have hoped for. I really appreciate it.

One thing- you're saying that I should splash around the wort before pitching the yeast? But only after it's cooled below 80 degrees, right?

And I should avoid splashing around the beer for the remainder of the brewing process?

 

 

No problem, brewing is fun and I'm a scientist/engineer by nature which makes me extra inquisitive about the brewing process.  It's fun to talk about.  

 

You're right that you want the beer to cool down first, but I don't really think it's critical.  I personally believe that hot side aeration (oxygenating hot wort) is only an issue at the production scale when liquid is being moved around hot by high volume pumps.  You'd have to get really crazy with your homebrew setup to get enough oxygen in the hot wort to make a difference.  When the wort is hot, worry more about not burning yourself.  Much like the fear of autolysis from leaving fermented beer on the yeast cake for too long, hot side aeration seems to be a bit of an old wives tale unless you're making beer at a commercial level.

 

Ideally you'd cool down the beer quickly (seriously, wort chillers are awesome!), then oxygenate the wort and pitch the yeast.  The most common method is to skate your fermentor like crazy for 5-10 minutes after pitching the yeast.  If you want to get a little fancier you could sanitize a paint stirrer, attach it to a drill, and whip up the beer for a few minutes.  If you want to get really, really fancy you could buy and oxygen tank and a diffusion stone and have the beer fully oxygenated in under 10 seconds.

 

Getting the beer fully oxygenated will really help the yeast kick off the fermentation strong and minimize any off flavors.  In fact, I'd say it is the second most important thing you can do after making sure you are very precise with your temperatures for the mash, sparge, and fermentation, especially for fermentation. 

 

On the other end of the spectrum, make sure to avoid splashing and deoxygenating the beer after primary fermentation has started at all costs.  The yeast will effectively eat up all that oxygen while they're making alcohol, but they'll mostly do it during the initial stages of fermentation.  If oxygen is introduced later, the yeast won't help clean it up.  Lazy ****s.  

 

If the wheat beer flavors are showing up in other beers it is likely due to the flavors that are contributed by the yeast.  See if you can find out what kind of yeast your Dad uses, if it's one the the strains that's intended to be high in phenols and esters (most wheat strains) you could try switching to something else.

Edited July 31, 2014 by HBnotBlades

[DButz65]

Dead Rise news!

 

Stores cant keep it on shelves its such a hit! Flying Dog is upping their brewing of it to keep up with demand and

will brew it until the end of september

 

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/stores-can-t-keep-flying-dog-s-dead-rise-old/article_6675a453-0522-5506-bd8a-3992d14809de.html?mode=story

 

Flying Dog Brewery has a special Dead Rise Old Bay cookbook printed.

The cookbook is available for $15 at Family Meal restaurant, the Flying Dog Brewery or via the brewery's web site, flyingdogbrewery.com.

Edited August 1, 2014 by DButz65

[grego]

Thanks, HB.

I think I'll definitely take your advice on the wort chiller. My dads been making beer for 20 years and I'm surprised he doesn't have one already.

Been googling and I've seen a few that look pretty good. Any you'd recommend? Or is one as good as another?

Gonna talk to dad a little more about his methods. I think his yeast choice may have something to do with his results, among a few potential other things.

I'll update tomorrow. Thanks again.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Dead Rise news!

Stores cant keep it on shelves its such a hit! Flying Dog is upping their brewing of it to keep up with demand and

will brew it until the end of september

Thanks for the info! I am ****ing addicted to the stuff, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it. My beer snobbery goes out the window when it comes to Dead Rise. Old Bay = Flavorgasm. I should just dump the spice in to second or third-rate beers I buy. If I love Yuengling w/Old Bay, I can save a few pennies. Got some more Dead Rise today. They stop production in Oct? That's like Sam Adams stopping their Boston Lager, relative to each others' own popularity. I can see the mindset that they don't want to push it to the point where people get bored of it, but this is MD, I think they have their signature beer in Dead Rise. I think it would sell the best all year, every year. It would be the beer to try when you come to MD...even if it isn't the classiest beer in the state.

Maybe I'm dreaming, or just worried I'll miss it *wipes away tear*...LEAVE DEAD RISE ALONEEE!!!

Edited August 1, 2014 by d0ublestr0ker0ll

[MattFancy]

Thanks for the info! I am ****ing addicted to the stuff, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it. My beer snobbery goes out the window when it comes to Dead Rise. Old Bay = Flavorgasm. I should just dump the spice in to second or third-rate beers I buy. If I love Yuengling w/Old Bay, I can save a few pennies. Got some more Dead Rise today. They stop production in Oct? That's like Sam Adams stopping their Boston Lager, relative to each others' own popularity. I can see the mindset that they don't want to push it to the point where people get bored of it, but this is MD, I think they have their signature beer in Dead Rise. I think it would sell the best all year, every year. It would be the beer to try when you come to MD...even if it isn't the classiest beer in the state.

Maybe I'm dreaming, or just worried I'll miss it *wipes away tear*...LEAVE DEAD RISE ALONEEE!!!

 

Well it was originally supposed to run from Memorial Day to Labor Day as the "Summer" beer. But it ended up coming out a couple weeks early and now they're keeping it around an extra month. I don't get ending it in October only to start up with it again in 6 months.

 

I'm still not a huge fan of it. I'll drink it, but it just wasn't what I thought it would be. But like I said numerous times, it's so much better on draft. I definitely get more Old Bay flavor from the draft than the bottle.

[TheGoodBits]

I'm closing in on the end of my second case of Dead Rise. I've consumed all but a couple of them.

[HBnotBlades]

Thanks, HB.

I think I'll definitely take your advice on the wort chiller. My dads been making beer for 20 years and I'm surprised he doesn't have one already.

Been googling and I've seen a few that look pretty good. Any you'd recommend? Or is one as good as another?

Gonna talk to dad a little more about his methods. I think his yeast choice may have something to do with his results, among a few potential other things.

I'll update tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

No problem.

 

I don't have a particular recommendation for a wort chiller, I made mine with copper tubing from home depot.  You don't save too much money by building one these days, so you might as well buy one.  You make want to pick up a few extra pipe clamps to make sure you get a very good seal where the copper piping connects to the plastic tubing.

[S.T.real,lights,out]

Best beer deals in the world in new Hampshire. Picked up 2 12s of elder betty and a 12 of smutty nose pumpkin for $25 total.

[MisterPinstripe]

Picked up Beer Camp this year. Its going to be awesome.