The Beer Thread

[Ball Security]

8 minutes ago, China said:

Woman Suing Heineken Over 0.0 Beer For Containing As Much As 0.03% Alcohol

 

A woman in Louisiana has sued Heineken over their 0.0 Beer that contains as much as 0.03% alcohol.

 

In the lawsuit, plaintiff Kathleen M. Wilson argues that "There are consumers who do not wish to ingest even the minuscule amount of alcohol contained in the product."

 

According to Heineken's website, the beer has "an extremely small amount of alcohol, maximum 0.03% ABV," which is the same as "other food products such as bread, bakery products, and juices due to the natural fermentation of the ingredients."

 

To use the "non-alcoholic" label, a brew must be less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV).

 

Wilson is requesting Heineken change the labeling of the product, and monetary damages as well as court costs.

 

I’m all for transparency in labeling, but I don’t see anything wrong with why Heineken did.  Now if they said it contained 0.00, I could see the plaintiff having a case.

[tshile]

Well.  I did it by myself. And late at night. And it was like 20 degrees last night.  Finished around midnight. And it’s the first time I’ve brewed beer in about 7 years (we started having kids and life got in the way.) but the wife got me a new fermenter Christmas 2020. And I woke up yesterday and decided I was gonna brew the recipe I bought stuff for in august 2021…. So I do t have lots of good pictures and videos but I’ll share what I took. I let the boy stay up late enough to throw the first hops in 

 

My yeast is struggling cause I forgot to refrigerate it for 3 days after I got it. But. It’s alive. I’ll have to leave it in the stir plate for longer than initially planned but it should make it. I have no doubt if I threw it straight in the fermenter it wouldn’t have made it. 
 

Making the starter:

 

cleaning equipment

 

new fermenter:

yeast starter on stir plate:

 

 

my boy throwing in the first bag of hops

 

I’ll grab so pics of the brew room I made last year once I clean the **** up

 

heres mashing out of my “batch sparging” setup 😂 I’m never upgrading that. This takes long enough already. 

Edited January 9, 2022 by tshile

[tshile]

Ok. Here we go. The one wall is painted to match my pool table felt, since you can see it while playing pool. This is actually a utility room. A huge one to accommodate the hvac system and other items. My options for finishing it were super limited because ultimately the headspace is required for the equipment code-wise. 
 

here’s my shelf with my glasses and smaller brewing equipment 

 

next to it is the kegerator. My old one didn’t survive two moves and 7 years in storage. Compressor was shot. It was limping when I got it used from a family member. This one isn’t done. Gotta insulate the wood collar, drill for tubes and spouts. I need to pick up a 20lbs co2 and 20 lbs o2 tanks from the gas supply in Manassas. On top is the yeast started for last nights batch. I ordered this stuff in august and never found the time. I forgot to put the yeast in the fridge when it showed up for 2 or 3 days. At first I thought it was shot but it’s limping along well enough … it’s on a stir plate with a magnetic bar in there to agitate it and make it wake up and reproduce before I throw it in a heavier og wart (session ipa)

 

 

 

 

next is the new fermenter. Loaded with last nights batch. Behind it is a glycol chiller for lagers. Which I’ll be doing as soon as I feel like I worked the kinks and out from the hiatus. Only thing I don’t like about the fermenter is it’s stainless steel so you can’t see what’s going on. As opposed to the glass carboys (first pic on the bottom) where you can see everything. It’s neat to watch so I miss that part 

 

 

 

next is the stainless steel table on casters. It holds the bigger equipment and tubes. Also a few boxes of redskins stuff that’s gotta get hung on the wall … whenever that happens 🙄

 

 

and two general pics 

 

 

The room was studs. I ran the electric, and put that ****ty duct work in the corner to cover up a potential radon vent. I couldn’t drywall the ceiling so it’s just exposed to the above joists and all the hvac/gas/water/sewer runs. I bought flooring to match the rest of the basement. I also cut into the main water lines that run by, and put in two spigots (one before the whole house water filtration system I installed when we moved in and realized the well water was basically made of rocks, and one after, giving me options) so I can run water in here if I want. It has the potential to have a gas stove installed with a hood, which combined with the water run would basically make it a room I could cook on… if I didn’t mind making the house smell like wort for a week. I just would t have any drains but I’m on a septic system so I it has to be dumped in the woods anyways. 
 

it’s a subpar job but it’s a room I can’t really finish and you basically just walk in to pour beer and walk out so 🤷‍♂️ 

Edited January 9, 2022 by tshile

[tshile]

24 hours on the stir plate

24 hours in the fridge to separate

ill pour the starter beer off the top, mix it up, and let the boy dump it in the fermentor after dinner 

 

also need to take a gravity reading. Target was 1.050. After mashing i hit 1.054, which is why I’ll never upgrade from my Rubbermaid cooler, I always come in way more efficient than recipes figure. But. I didn’t have the volume I thought I needed to survive the boil and have enough wort left. So I added water. Which then I stupidly decided to keep the pot covered the e tire time.so I lost very little due to evaporation. And wound up diluting it down to 1.045.

 

which is fine because I completely wing’d this whole thing with 4ish month old ingredients and yeast that probably should have been tossed. Just forcing myself back into it after a 7 year hiatus because I wanted everything perfect and it never will be. 
 

so. I need to double check my measurement. It was hot. Maybe outside the range of the device 

 

then we’re making alcohol. The beer looking stuff at the top goes down the drain. It’s generic beer with no hops. It doesn’t taste good. You make it so you give your yeast a little snack before sending them to the feast. They can literally die from there being too much sugar to eat. So you step them up. The yeast is the white layers at the bottom. There’s actually a super thin white layer which I believe is the actual dormant yeast that suck by putting it in the fridge. And the rest of the bottom layer is the yeast garbage.  But I can’t remember. It all goes in the fermentor.  
 

 

[China]

That's a serious setup, and I know those stainless steel parts ain't cheap.  Nice.  Sound like you've got a fair bit of experience as well.  I'm sure you'll let us know how it turns out.

 

[tshile]

You know. This started because a kit cost 120$ and a recipe was like $40 and for 180$ you could make 5 gallons of beer. And after that it was 40$ for as many 5 gallon batches as you wanted to make

 

ive got a lot of beer to make to break even on this one 😆

Edited January 10, 2022 by tshile

[tshile]

Looks like we’re fermenting. I didn’t check on it till morning, and it’s rolling along, so it got going in less than 12 hours which is great 

 

 

 

[China]

Pick up litter, earn a free pint of craft beer in Chattanooga this weekend

 

There's a new initiative that combines craft beer with the state’s natural beauty.

 

More than 20 Tennessee craft brewers have joined a statewide beautification and anti-litter campaign beginning on Saturday, January 22.

 

"Pick-Up for a Pint" is part of a new campaign launched by Tennessee business and industry leaders called "Pitch In", an initiative to generate volunteering in local litter pickups that support the state of Tennessee beautification programs.

 

"Pick-Up for a Pint" will take place at participating breweries across the state. Volunteers will meet at a designated location to pick up litter, then sort items for recyclables and enjoy a free pint. Cleanup supplies will be provided in partnership with local Keep Tennessee beautiful affiliates.

 

Volunteer registration and event details are available at pitchinTN.com/getinvolved.

 

Click on the link for the full story

[mojo]

On 12/14/2021 at 3:12 PM, Ball Security said:

I’m all for transparency in labeling, but I don’t see anything wrong with why Heineken did.  Now if they said it contained 0.00, I could see the plaintiff having a case.

There’s a lawyer I read about who has made millions in lawsuits like this. He sued Kellogg bc Strawberry Pop Tarts don’t contain real strawberries and a bunch of other lawsuits in a similar vein.  Probably the same dude.

[Dan T.]

Virginia's Solace Brewing Company opens waterfront tasting room near Nats Park.

 

Virginia’s Solace Brewing Unveils Its Gigantic Taproom in Navy Yard - Eater DC

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Dan T.

[China]

Treasury brews up ideas for a more competitive beer market

 

The government wants to give beer lovers more choices than the usual suspects when they reach for a drink — and help them pay less for whatever they choose.

 

As part of a larger Biden administration effort to boost competition in all sorts of industries, the government is looking at ways to loosen the grip of a few big beer companies that control 65% of the market.

 

The answers could include everything from rethinking how beers are displayed on grocery store shelves to considering whether brews can be shipped straight to doorsteps.

 

The Treasury Department came up with its list of suggestions earlier this month in response to a July executive order by President Joe Biden to develop a plan to improve small business access to the beer, wine and spirits industry.

 

The department issued a 64-page report that looks at how state alcohol laws impact competition for smaller brewers, asks the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to examine how mergers affect smaller companies and look at labeling rules that make it hard to comply with federal laws.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Man gives up food for all-beer diet this Lent

 

Going on a liquid diet that only consists of beer sounds like a challenge someone in a college fraternity would attempt, not something done for religious reasons.

 

Del Hall, a Cincinnati native, has taken the Christian observance of Lent, where people usually give up eating chocolate or drinking soda for about 40 days leading up to Easter, to a whole new level by committing to only drinking beer.

 

As he's nearing the end of his all-beer diet (Easter is on Sunday, April 17), Hall has somehow lost weight over the last month -- 25 pounds to be exact.

 

"It’s a way to get back into a healthy mindset, to look at food in a healthy way," Hall told WCPO. "I decided I’m going to turn this into a beer diet to show people that you can use beer in a healthy way and not vilify it as this evil alcohol."

 

Hall has done the all-beer diet during Lent for four years now. His mindset is much different than a college student's would be, as he told the news station that getting drunk all the time isn't the goal. He also follows some advice from doctors by staying properly hydrated and taking a multi-vitamin daily.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Enjoying a Maximator Starkbier I picked up at the German Gourmet, along with some of their homemade brats (and other assorted sausages).

 

[dfitzo53]

Wow, I didn't know that place existed, looks amazing.

[China]

Germany beer bottle shortage: Industry warns of 'tense' situation

 

German breweries are warning there could be a shortage of beer bottles this summer amid rising production costs and a shortage of lorry drivers.

 

The situation is "extremely tense", the chief executive of the German Brewers' Federation told German newspaper Bild.

 

The shortage of glass bottles will mainly affect small- and medium-sized breweries, an industry expert said.

 

Brewers are having to pay 80% more for new glass bottles than they did a year ago. The cost of beer is also rising.

 

One of the reasons behind the shortage is a hike in energy prices which is causing the price of glass bottle production to increase, a glass industry spokesperson told Bild.

 

In addition, Holger Eichele of the German Brewers' Federation said a lack of lorry drivers was making it harder to maintain supply chains.

 

As a result, he said the cost of new glass bottles had nearly doubled in the last year.

 

It follows warnings that the cost of German beer could rise by up to 30%, also due largely to the increase in energy prices.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

The Michigan Summer Beer Festival is back this year in Ypsilanti

 

Beer enthusiasts and novices alike can sample offerings from more than 100 Michigan breweries at the 23rd annual Michigan Summer Beer Festival.

 

The festival, hosted by the Michigan Brewers Guild, is set for 5 to 9 p.m., Friday, July 22, and 1 to 6 p.m., Saturday, July 23, at Riverside Park, 2 E. Cross St. in Ypsilanti.

 

Tickets, subject to availability, are $50 in advance and $60 at the gate on Friday and $55 in advance and $65 at the gate on Saturday.

 

Although the Michigan Brewers Guild is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the festival has only taken place 23 times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“The industry has certainly developed and matured,” said Scott Graham, Michigan Brewers Guild executive director. “There’s still a lot of opportunity, and breweries continue to open, but the marketplace is a little more competitive.”

 

To celebrate the anniversary, the guild has asked vendors to bring a commemorative brew. It also created a documentary with historical information and interviews about the beer industry, which will be released after the festival.

 

The industry has evolved into two distinct types of breweries -- local pubs and distributors, Graham said. The guild itself has grown from having roughly 30 breweries to having nearly 300.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

INTERNATIONAL BEER DAY | FIRST FRIDAY IN AUGUST

 

The first Friday in August brings a toast to ales, lagers, and pilsners that put the international in International Beer Day. 

 

Perhaps there’s a porter or a Belgian in your glass. Whether yours is fermented or not, dark or pale, hoppy, bitter, smooth, raise your mug. Lift it high among friends around the world, thanking those who work at brewing delicious beer in your local area. Why? Because International Beer Day brings the world together, celebrating the beers of all cultures on one remarkable day.

 

Click on the link for more

 

[China]

Concern brewing over craft beer shortage due to carbon dioxide fizzle

 

Sit down and pour yourself a cold one because your next glass of beer might fall flat if American breweries continue to struggle.

 

You can thank carbon dioxide for that refreshing sensation of an ice-cold beer on a hot summer day.

 

"Without CO₂, you don’t have beer," said Chuck Skypeck, technical brewing projects director for the Brewers Association. "CO₂ is not only essential for breweries to process their beer, but it’s an ingredient."

 

And for the nearly 6,000 small and independent American breweries that Skypeck’s group represents, the CO₂ market is now tighter than ever in some U.S. markets. It’s due to a myriad of supply chain challenges, including quality issues, seasonal demand and planned shutdowns that impact gas production. 

 

According to the Brewers Association, the current supply tightness is partially to blame after contamination at Jackson Dome in Mississippi, one of the nation’s largest gas production hubs. As a result, significant quantities of naturally sourced CO₂ are now experiencing contamination.

 

There are also overdue maintenance shutdowns at some source supply plants that are planned for the end of the summer, said Rich Gottwald, president and CEO of the Compressed Gas Association, an American trade association for the industrial and medical gas supply industries. Ammonia plants are one of the largest sources of food-grade CO₂.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

NY Blood Center offering beer for blood

 

With a blood shortage in the New York City region, the New York Blood Center is teaming up with more than 25 local breweries to help support the critical need for blood donations.

 

The blood supply is dangerously low. It is currently standing at a one to two-day level and the ideal level is five to seven days.

 

"Ever since the pandemic, we've really had a hard time recovering," Christina Foran, the manager of the New York Blood Center says. "Blood drives are not as prevalent as they used to be and all the school blood drive donors we aren't getting in the summer."

 

In an effort to encourage donations the Blood Center is offering a voucher to redeem for a pint of beer, cider, wine, or soft drink at participating breweries.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

We can brew it: Munich eyes Oktoberfest at sobering moment for Europe

 

Beneath the Bavaria statue which towers above the Oktoberfest, a coronavirus testing facility has been replaced by a beer tent.

 

Further along the Theresienwiese — the Meadow of Therese — where the Oktoberfest is set to welcome millions of guests after a two-year pandemic hiatus, drought and baking summer heat have left patches of grass scorched and yellow.

 

These traces of the world’s big crises remain visible in Munich, where they’ve sparked a debate about whether the time is right for Oktoberfest revelry.

 

The historic beer gathering welcomes millions of visitors from around the world, drives the Bavarian economy, occasionally provides tales of tax fraud and substance abuse, assumes an air of importance by welcoming international celebrities like the Clintons, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Usain Bolt, and has inspired a Netflix miniseries “Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood.”

 

Beer festival chiefs, for their part, are raising a glass now that a third successive cancellation is essentially off the table.

 

“In Bavaria, we can currently see that people are not deterred from visiting fairs and beer festivals after a two-year break,” said Clemens Baumgärtner, a local politician from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) and the city’s official “Oktoberfest boss,” who supervises the event.

 

Bavaria’s state premier, Markus Söder, also from the CSU and a former coronavirus hard-liner, has been advocating a return of the beer festival, an attitude some have ascribed to his thirst for beer drinkers’ approval one year ahead of Bavaria’s next state election.  

 

“I’m very confident that we will have a very well attended Oktoberfest this year,” Baumgärtner said, pointing to the success of Munich’s spring festival.

 

Beer backlash
But some dark clouds are gathering ahead of the fall party.

 

“The Oktoberfest is to take place under bad energy omens,” Bavarian public broadcaster BR said this month, referring to Germany’s gas crunch and subsequent pressure to save energy. On top of that, “we will bitterly regret the Oktoberfest,” one doctor told German media, citing the surge of infections to be expected following the fun.

 

September has traditionally marked an uptick in coronavirus cases, compelling the government in 2020 and 2021 to reimpose restrictions to try to flatten the curve of infections.

 

In May, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said it was a “bold” idea to plan the Oktoberfest without pandemic precautions, but the famously hawkish Lauterbach has no say in whether the event goes ahead. Munich city chiefs run the show, and they’re ready to get the beers in.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

City mistakes local brewery's garden for overgrown weeds, chops down 60 pounds of hops

 

Just as fall beer season is beginning, a local brewery says a weed whacking error made by the city will cost them thousands in revenue. 

 

Philadelphia Brewing Company, based in Kensington, posted photos on their Instagram page showing their damaged crop of hops in their city garden. 

 

The owner says the city erroneously took down over 60 pounds of hops used to make seasonal beers every Fall. 

 

"Despite our clear signage and fenced off area, the city of Philadelphia took it upon themselves to completely destroy our hop garden yesterday morning," the brewery wrote.

 

They claim it will cost them tens of thousands in lost revenue.

 

In a statement, a spokesperson for the city blamed "miscommunication and staff error" for the hops being cut down. 

 

"The hops were removed as they were initially marked as a violation as it appeared the lot was overgrown," a statement read in part. 

 

The city says they have reached out to the brewery to try to rectify the situation.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Beer shortages feared after extinct underground volcano contaminated CO₂ reservoir: 'Big concern'

 

Breweries could soon see beer shortages thanks to an unprecedented carbon dioxide contamination that is taking the industry by storm.

 

The potential shortage would be due to an extinct underground volcano in Mississippi contaminating the naturally-occurring carbon dioxide reservoir in the area, adding supply chain woes to the already devastating effects of inflation.

 

"It's certainly something we're keeping close attention to," said Ronn Friedlander, co-CEO of Massachusetts' Aeronaut Brewing Company.

 

"We have to figure out some way to continue to source CO₂ and, for now, we're actually just staying ahead of it, but it's certainly a big concern for us," he added.

 

Friedlander told "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday that beer drinkers could see a spike in prices and "slight reductions" in availability because of the contaminated reservoirs.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Can someone explain to me why CO₂ can't just be harvested from the atomosphere?

[China]

Contaminated CO₂ from Mississippi volcano pressures local brewers

 

A national shortage of carbon dioxide may not sound like a big deal, unless you rely on that gas to pressurize lines and kegs and provide the tiny bubbles that make a brew a beer.

No-Li Brewhouse owner John Bryant said carbon dioxide is used virtually everywhere in the brewing process. So it has been a shock as the cost CO₂ has tripled in the past 24 months.

The blame rests with supply chain issues and an extinct volcano in Mississippi.

 

Called the Jackson Dome, the volcano sits about 2,900 feet below the city of Jackson – specifically beneath the Mississippi Coliseum. It holds a massive reservoir of CO₂ that is tapped, stored and delivered to industries across the country, including brewers.

 

Shortages began in mid-2020 when production of ethanol – of which carbon dioxide is a byproduct – slowed as more people stayed home. This summer, the problem became more acute when CO₂ in the Jackson Dome became contaminated by gas from a nearby mine.

 

“We hope to be patient,” Bryant said when asked if the shortage will cause higher prices for his beers. “We don’t control prices at the store level. That’s dictated by our distributors.”

No-Li is the seventh-largest brewer in the state, Bryant said.

 

“It’s important that people know we are doing our best,” he said. “Sometimes it feels like it’s No-Li against the world when you are trying to control your costs, but we do try.”

 

Breweries rely on CO2 not just for those bubbles that beer-drinkers expect but also for moving beer between tanks or to kegs and canning lines, and to purge oxygen from tanks.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Popular beer recalled in Queensland for having 'excess alcohol'

 

A popular beer is being recalled online and across Queensland after it was found to contain "excess alcohol" due to secondary fermentation.

The watermelon-flavoured sour beer had been available online throughout the country and at the Your Mates Brew Pub in Warana.

"Consumers should not drink or open this product and should dispose of it safely," Food Standards Australia New Zealand said.

 

"Food products containing excess alcohol and carbonation may cause illness/injury if consumed.
 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Watermelon flavored beer is an abomination and should be destroyed anyway.

[RedskinsFanInTX]

Wow! This thread is still going!