Ann Arbor Brewers Guild

Hop Stoopid

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:49:19 +0000

Lagunitas Brewing is running a”challenge” for NHC attendees. Details after the break.

Hello to all you Homebrewers out there! Lagunitas Brewing Co has put together (what WE think is) a cool idea for us all to have some extra fun at your National Homebrew Conference this year in Seattle.

I’m attaching our recipe for Hop Stoopid. Here’s the challenge:

For those of you coming out to the National Conference this year in Seattle, why don’t you give our Hop Stoopid recipe a go?? Brew a batch and see how it turns out. Then bring a bottle of your finished product to the conference and join us in our suite at the Westin Bellvue, attached to the Hyatt Regency. We’ll have OUR version of Hop Stoopid there AND our Head Brewer, Jeremy Marshall! You can sample your beer against ours and see how close you got. Then you can hang out and talk with Jeremy about the creativity, challenges and the fun of brewing hoppy beers.

This is not a contest, just a cool & casual sharing of ideas and techniques.

We’ll have lots of food and drink for you so there’ll be no need to find dinner that night. Just come on out for a fun and informative few hours in our suite.

Here are the details:

Date: Thurs, June 21 2012
Time: 3pm – 6:30pm
Dinner: Provided!
Beer: Of Course!

I ask that you RSVP to me by Fri June 15th so I can make sure to have plenty of food & drink for you all. If you have any questions, just ask!

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Seattle!

Karen Hamilton

National Marketing
Lagunitas Brewing Co

Here are the answers to some questions that homebrewers have posed about it:

From Jeremy Marshall:

The recipe was a 5 gallon but ours here is a 75 BBL (which takes about 85 BBL before evaporation and contraction due to cooling). I tried to scale down but there are really different grain and hop utilization rates between brewhouses, so they will need artistic leeway.

Regarding IBU, we peg at 102 though the scale is only 0-100, with anything over 80 not really tasting any more bitter (80-100 is a blur). There are a lot of wild factors governing final IBU and you need a lot more than you think to get over 80.

We go by a “calculated” wort IBU of 300 and losses really vary afterwards (fermentation vessel, pitching rate, carbonation, foaming, filtration, etc.) the stated recipe is about 28 pounds of alpha in 85 BBLS and the kettle utilization rate is 24% or lower so only 3 million milligrams of the alpha is isomerized (or less) and that is in 9945 litres of wort.

May, 2012 meeting

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:38:02 +0000

Please note: you must be at least 21 years old to attend AABG meetings.

The May meeting will be hosted by Steve Krebs, starting at 7:30PM on Friday, May 11.

Read more about the meeting online, including an interactive map to the location, or download the newsletter, which contains information about the meeting and features the style of the month, Scottish/Irish ales.

Ant Hayes Burton Ale

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:58:59 +0000

Just in time for “Big Brew”, we present you with Ant Hayes’s original Zymurgy article on Burton Ale. It is reprinted with permission from Zymurgy magazine.

Jeff was the person in the club who knew Ant best. He writes:

Ant Hayes was an honorary AABG member after he and his South African mate Llewellyn van Rensburg visited Ann Arbor before the Cincinnati conference. Many AABGers met them then.

For reasons that no one understands, he tragically took his own life last May.

I got to know Ant in the late 90′s on Homebrew Digest, and then in 2003 (I think), he and the Wort Hog Brewers of Johannesburg, South Africa invited me to Jo’burg to administer the first BJCP exam outside of North America and to speak to the club. They showed me a great time. Ant moved the next year to the UK. He visited here twice and spoke at the Cincinnati and Minneapolis conferences, where he was a popular speaker. I visited him in the UK as well, and counted him as a close friend.

At Minneapolis he spoke on Burton ale, an extinct ale which fits into the old ale category. He explained that “gone for a Burton” is a British euphemism for someone who has died. It may have originated when a RAF pilot didn’t return during the Battle of Britain, or perhaps earlier. That is why he named his recipe “Absent Friends,” but when Llew phoned me last May (while I was brewing) with the tragic news, we both wondered about the name.

Ant said that a Burton should be a comforting beer, and I hope that brewers will find it to be so. In November, AABG will host/judge an AHA Club Only competition for old ales in honor of Ant called the Ant Hayes Memorial Competition.

I greatly miss Ant.

Jeff

6th Annual BrewsCrews competition

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:11:28 +0000

The 6th Annual Brews Crews homebrew competition, jointly sponsored by Arbor Brewing Company and the AABG is now open for entries. The winner gets to brew their winning beer on the 7 barrel system at ABC. Find out more at http://brewscrews.aabg.org.

bottle-caps-sized

crispy275 — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:59:35 +0000

April, 2012 meeting

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:24:03 +0000

Please note: you must be at least 21 years old to attend AABG meetings.

The April meeting will be hosted by Geoff Billiu and Annie Zipser, starting at 7:30PM on Friday, April 13.

Read more about the meeting online, including an interactive map to the location, or download the newsletter, which contains information about the meeting and features Stout, the style of the month.

This month’s technical discussion, which will start at 7, is being directed towards brewers who would like an introduction to all grain brewing. We’ll have a couple of setups including an igloo system with a gravity sparge and the club’s Pico system. We won’t have time for a demo, but will talk to the basic methods of all grain brewing.

Special parking note: We’re in the country, so parking anywhere
on the property is okay as long as there
isn’t any snow (yeah, it’s 70 outside, but
we know better!). I’d like to note that
people should park on the grass and not to
block the driveway. Lots of additional
parking is available in the backyard.
People can walk right in from the front
door or through the back doorwall on the
deck. The 7:00 technical presentation will
be set up in the basement. We’ll start the
7:30 meeting upstairs and spread out to
the basement and deck from there.

Annie’s Spent Grain Biscotti

dawarpo — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:01:03 +0000

Annie Zipser brought these to the March 2012 meeting and they went fast. Two great recipes to use up your spent grain (or at least some of it).

Spent Grain Coconut Biscotti

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dried and Milled Spent Grain
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1 cup flaked coconut
3 oz. dark or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, eggs, vanilla and coconut extracts. Beat on medium-low speed until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the flaked coconut with a spatula.

Turn the dough out onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Divide into two equal segments and form each into a log 1-inch deep, and approximately 4 inches wide. (Be sure to leave room between the logs as they will spread during baking.)

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs diagonally into 14-20 slices, depending on thickness. Lay the slices on their sides and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the slices over and bake for 10 minutes more.

Place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Drizzle over the biscotti and allow to cool until the chocolate is set.

Note: I only had ¾ cup of coconut so I added ¼ cup of pecans. When I made it before I didn’t use pecans and upped the coconut extract to ¾ tsp…and Michael compared it to a Mounds bar.

Spent Grain Cherry/ chocolate chip Biscotti

2 cups all –purpose flour
1 cup dried and milled spent grain
¼ tsp.salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp. almond extract
2/3 cup dried cherries
½ cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine flours and salt in a bowl and stir well with a whisk.

3) Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 4 minutes). Add oil and extracts, beating until well blended. Add flour mixture, beating a low speed just until blended. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

4) Divide dough in half; turn out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (I used parchment paper). Shape each portion into a 10 inch long roll and flatten to 1 inch thickness. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove rolls from the baking sheet; cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temp. to 325 degrees.

5) Cut each roll diagonally into 20 (1/2 inch) slices. Place slices, cut side down onto baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in the center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on wire rack.

Note: I was short of the spent grain on this one so I used ¾ cup of spent grain and 2 ¼ cups of flour.

March, 2012 meeting

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:57:34 +0000

Please note: you must be at least 21 years old to attend AABG meetings.

The March meeting will be hosted by Adventures in Homebrewing, starting at 7:30PM on Friday, March 9.

Read more about the meeting online, including an interactive map to the location, or download the newsletter, which contains information about the meeting and features Stout, the style of the month.

AiH is located on the south side of Jackson Rd, west of Zeeb. If you are coming from the east, turn at the first cross-through after you pass Lowes. Special information for this meeting:

If you want to purchase supplies, please arrive before 7PM, as the store closes at 7.
There are only about 15 or 20 parking spaces in the front of the building, so if the lot is full, you may be able to park at one of the neighboring retail establishments (if they are closed for the evening), or you can drive around back and park, or on the side of the building. For those who elect to park on the side of the building, please keep it to one row so as not to obstruct others from coming in and out.
The actual meeting will take place in the “middle” of the building. By “middle”, I mean that you will come in through the front door, walk to the back of the shop. Jason and his crew have created a separate room through those back doors. The bathroom will be available throughout the evening, which means members will have to walk through the store close to the entrance where the bathroom is. This means that everyone will have access to the retail supplies area. While I hope it goes without saying, please don’t ask to purchase anything after 7:00, and please help the club earn the trust of AinH so that they will invite us again.
While they will have tables available for food, they do not have any chairs in the back. Bring your own if you would like a seat.

Williams Brewing

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:18:08 +0000

Williams Brewing
2088 BURROUGHS AVE
SAN LEANDRO, CA 94577
800.759.6025

Mail order home brewing, wine making, and coffee roasting supplies.

Sponsor of 2012 Brews Crews competition.

February, 2012 meeting

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:59:56 +0000

Please note: you must be at least 21 years old to attend AABG meetings.

The February meeting will be hosted by Adventures in Homebrewing, starting at 7:30PM on Friday, February 10.

Read more about the meeting online, including an interactive map to the location, or download the newsletter, which contains information about the meeting and features Dark Lager, the style of the month.

AiH is located on the south side of Jackson Rd, west of Zeeb. If you are coming from the east, turn at the first cross-through after you pass Lowes. Special information for this meeting:

If you want to purchase supplies, please arrive before 7PM, as the store closes at 7.
There are only about 15 or 20 parking spaces in the front of the building, so if the lot is full, you may be able to park at one of the neighboring retail establishments (if they are closed for the evening), or you can drive around back and park, or on the side of the building. For those who elect to park on the side of the building, please keep it to one row so as not to obstruct others from coming in and out.
The actual meeting will take place in the “middle” of the building. By “middle”, I mean that you will come in through the front door, walk to the back of the shop. Jason and his crew have created a separate room through those back doors. The bathroom will be available throughout the evening, which means members will have to walk through the store close to the entrance where the bathroom is. This means that everyone will have access to the retail supplies area. While I hope it goes without saying, please don’t ask to purchase anything after 7:00, and please help the club earn the trust of AinH so that they will invite us again.
While they will have tables available for food, they do not have any chairs in the back. Bring your own if you would like a seat.