Paul’s Brewsletter

My efforts to homebrew beer against the clock were successful. I was able to brew, bottle and serve a batch of beer in just under two weeks! The beer is a basic pale ale and was pretty warmly received by my coworkers at my company’s annual chili cook-off. Sadly, the dish I prepared didn’t fare as well. Wonder if I can enter my beer as a dish next year? Hmmmm!

I’m planning ahead for the holidays this year. I have ordered and received the ingredients for my traditional cranberry wheat holiday brew. This is always a hit, even among people who don’t typically drink beer. The fruit flavor from the cranberries (FRESH cranberries, mind you) really adds a nice compliment to the wheat beer.

Additionally, I’m considering a Russian Imperial Stout - that one will take several months to complete, per the recipe I’m consulting. I also want to brew one further batch for my brother, who will be going overseas to Iraq in January 2009. I figure I’ll brew the beer and will hold it until he returns.

Did you see my post about the new microbrewery in the New Orleans area? I’m real excited about this, as not only it means a new variety of beer, but maybe a little jolt to the New Orleans economy…something we can all use these days. Well, I’ve outlined my beer plans that will take me through the end of the year. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

If you would like any of these recipes I’m working on or insider tips on brewing, please sign up for my Spam-less email updates at this link.

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I’m pleased to announce that beginning in January 2009, a new microbrewery for the New Orleans area will begin producing New Orleans’ latest local beer! The microbrewery is called Nola Brewing, and they will be initially offering two varieties of beer: blonde ale and brown ale.

Also, if you’re in the Metairie or Greater New Orleans Area, there will be a beer tasting taking place at East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie on Friday October 24th. The event is called “Up on the Roof” and will feature a large selection of beers along with food and some music! Proceeds from this event benefit the EJGH Foundation. Check this website for more details and admission prices: http://www.nolabrewing.com/news.htm

I’ve finished the primary fermentation for my most recent batch, so I still have a fighting chance for getting it ready by Thursday October 9th! The beer is a West Coast Pale Ale, and alcohol content by volume came out to 3.13%. This beer will be drank mostly at a chili cook-off, so I’m not looking for high alcohol since that would overpower the flavor of the food (not good!) I used two 2-liter bottles and twelve 12 ounce bottles in bottling this batch.

It is hard to say if this beer will be ready by 10/9, but I’ve been looking at the bottles periodically and notice the beer is starting to turn clear. In case you’re wondering what I’m blabbering about, one of the tell tale signs of when your beer is close to being ready is the beer in the bottle will clear up so you can see your hand clearly through the other side.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to your Hefe, or wheat beers. And the really dark stouts and porters will be tougher to tell clarity, but you should still be able to.

I’ve decided to start sending out emails with my favorite beer recipes and beer specials to anyone who is interested. If you are, click this link: beer ezine. I promise you’ll ONLY get email on beer related topics from me, so don’t worry!

I’ll be tending to the beer and let you know how it goes next week! I’m going to be brewing a bit during the fall, getting ready for the holiday season. I’ll pop in on you from time to time to let you know how it is going.

Happy brewing!
Paul

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Hello again - it has been a hectic several months. Hurricane season has given us a few close calls and some damage in the Louisiana area. Nonetheless, I’m already working on my next batch of beer! This batch is a West Coast Pale ale. Original specific gravity is 1.035 on this batch. I’m hoping to have this ready by October 9, for my company’s annual Spanish Heritage Month chili cook off. I’m entering a dish into the cook off, and plan on adding the beer as a nice side item. That’s sure to help me get some points with the judges!

I’m doing the West Coast Pale ale because it reminds me somewhat of Dos Equis, my favorite Mexican beer.

Did you know that Mexico has been seeing several microbrew beers appear over the past decade? If you’re in the Mexico area and want to try a decent local microbrew, you might check the following out:

Cerveza Cucapá ([Chupacabras Pale Ale], Obscura, and Honey beers.)
Cervecería Minerva (Kölsch, Vienna, and Stout beers.)
Cervecería Primus (Cerveza Artesanal Tempus (Altbier Style))

Hopefully my West Coast Pale Ale will make it in time. I started primary fermentation on 9/24/08, so it is a race against time to be ready by 10/9/08. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Happy brewing

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By Michael Russell

Let me start out by saying that nobody should host a bear tasting party unless all the participants are over age and there is a designated driver for each person. That way you are assured of nobody getting arrested for underage drinking or driving under the influence. Having said that, what exactly is a beer tasting party and how do they work?

A beer tasting party is just that. You bring a number of people over to your place and have them sample a variety of beers. At the end of the evening the beers are ranked from best to worst. There are many variations you can do on this such as having friendly wagers on what beer you think will come in first. Of course gambling for money is illegal so the wagers would have to be for something other than.

It’s best, when having a beer tasting party, to have a small group. The reason for this is simple. With a small group, the tasting party is just that, a tasting party. With a larger group, it tends to become a party, period. And parties with large groups can become quite rowdy. So if you want a serious tasting party, keep it small.

The next thing is the selection of the beers themselves. How do you go about doing this? A good tasting party will have about eight to ten different kinds of beers, all very distinct in taste. You should probably select a beer by its brewing style rather than by its country of origin. You should mix up your beers between beers that are expensive and beers that are cheap. You don’t want to have two beers that are very similar. This way you are sure to get a more accurate ranking of the beers. If all goes as it should, the cheap beers should end up at the bottom with the premium beers coming in first.

Because this is a tasting party, you don’t need a lot of beer. Probably a six pack of each beer will be more than enough and you’ll still have plenty left over after you’re done. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to buy whole six packs, then figure one bottle of beer for every three people at the party. This way you can pull off your party without going broke.

Because you don’t want your guests to get rip roaring drunk, it is a good idea to have food at this party. What kind of food? You want foods that will go well with the beers, like cheese and bread. These things won’t interfere with the tasting process itself. And if you want, you can even turn this into a combination cheese and beer tasting party. They make great fund raisers.

Finally, there should be a certain order to the tasting itself. You want to taste your beers from the lightest beers to the heaviest, making sure that you take a bite of cheese or bread in between each beer so that the taste of the previous beer is gone.

Your guests should rank each beer on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. All scores for each beer should be added together and then divided by the number of tasters. This will give you an average score for each beer.

By following these simple steps, your beer tasting party should go off without a hitch.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Beer—Tasting-Parties&id=235602

It has been a busy spring for brewing so far. I have two beers ready to go! The first beer is called Atonement Beer. It is an ale with the added flavor of boysenberries. Alcohol content came to 4.71% by volume for this one. Also ready to go is a beer I call Black Magic (5.85% alcohol by volume). It is a variation of a recipe from the Mr. Beer website. My variation is I substituted molasses for brown sugar. This resulted in a darker color and an unusual taste. It is good, just not the typical beer taste I’ve encountered.

Currently it is Strawberry season in Louisiana, so I’m going to try and make a strawberry beer soon before the street vendors stop selling fresh strawberries. Until next time….

Happy brewing!

By Michael Russell

Let me start out by saying that nobody should host a bear tasting party unless all the participants are over age and there is a designated driver for each person. That way you are assured of nobody getting arrested for underage drinking or driving under the influence. Having said that, what exactly is a beer tasting party and how do they work?

A beer tasting party is just that. You bring a number of people over to your place and have them sample a variety of beers. At the end of the evening the beers are ranked from best to worst. There are many variations you can do on this such as having friendly wagers on what beer you think will come in first. Of course gambling for money is illegal so the wagers would have to be for something other than.

It’s best, when having a beer tasting party, to have a small group. The reason for this is simple. With a small group, the tasting party is just that, a tasting party. With a larger group, it tends to become a party, period. And parties with large groups can become quite rowdy. So if you want a serious tasting party, keep it small.

The next thing is the selection of the beers themselves. How do you go about doing this? A good tasting party will have about eight to ten different kinds of beers, all very distinct in taste. You should probably select a beer by its brewing style rather than by its country of origin. You should mix up your beers between beers that are expensive and beers that are cheap. You don’t want to have two beers that are very similar. This way you are sure to get a more accurate ranking of the beers. If all goes as it should, the cheap beers should end up at the bottom with the premium beers coming in first.

Because this is a tasting party, you don’t need a lot of beer. Probably a six pack of each beer will be more than enough and you’ll still have plenty left over after you’re done. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to buy whole six packs, then figure one bottle of beer for every three people at the party. This way you can pull off your party without going broke.

Because you don’t want your guests to get rip roaring drunk, it is a good idea to have food at this party. What kind of food? You want foods that will go well with the beers, like cheese and bread. These things won’t interfere with the tasting process itself. And if you want, you can even turn this into a combination cheese and beer tasting party. They make great fund raisers.

Finally, there should be a certain order to the tasting itself. You want to taste your beers from the lightest beers to the heaviest, making sure that you take a bite of cheese or bread in between each beer so that the taste of the previous beer is gone.

Your guests should rank each beer on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. All scores for each beer should be added together and then divided by the number of tasters. This will give you an average score for each beer.

By following these simple steps, your beer tasting party should go off without a hitch.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Beer—Tasting-Parties&id=235602

Wow, hard to believe it has been ten years homebrewing beer for me already! In that time I’ve…

…brewed beer through approaching hurricanes (that means more if you live in the gulf coast region, believe me)…

…made beer with ginger (not the best idea lol)…

…bottled stout beer in glass root beer bottles (that sure made an interesting impression at parties)…

…made mini kegs (kind of a neat idea but more of a hassle in the end)…

…bottled beer in used 2 liter bottles (laugh all you want, but its a lot less bottles to deal with!)

and of course, I had a great time through it all. My attitude on homebrewing beer is “even when its bad, its still kind of good.” I can’t imagine what the next ten years of homebrewing will bring - I do know that I am having a blast and plan on doing this as long as I’m able to.

Anyway, the Czech the Halls beer made a great New Years brew. I along with several other guilty parties killed off the last of that beer for New Years. Everyone loved it all around. I need to do that one again.

My next brew is going to be a recipe from Mr. Beer called Atonement Beer. I can tell you it is an ale that includes boysenberries. Should be interesting - it probably won’t be ready for the Mardi Gras season, but it should be ready soon after.

Happy brewing!
Paul

By Graham Williams

Belgium beer is one of the most varied collections of beer in the world. Beer making in Belgium has its origins in the Middle Ages when monasteries produced beer. Belgian beer often has a higher alcohol content than other beers. This is due to a law that prohibited the sale of spirits in pubs, causing them to make beer with higher alcohol content so they would no longer be classified as spirits. The law was lifted in 1983; however, many breweries still produce beer with an alcohol content between 6% - 8%.

Beer experts have a high esteem for Belgian beer. There are 125 breweries that produce about 500 different types of standard beer.

Trappist beer is a top-fermented beer, which is brewed at a monastery. In order to qualify as a Trappist beer the entire brewing process must be overseen by or carried out by Trappist monks on the monastery site. There are only 6 monasteries in Belgium, which qualify for this categorization.

Lambic beer is unique to Belgium. It is produced using spontaneous fermentation using wild yeasts, which are found in abundance near Brussels. This is the only beer to be produced this way. The fermentation process takes place over a rather long period of time, from 3 - 6 months for some to over 2 or 3 years for others.

Fruit beers are a variation of Lambic beer. Fruit beers are made by adding fruit or fruit concentrate to Lambic beer. The most common type is Kriek, which is made with cherries. Other common fruits used are raspberry, peach and black currant. The fruit is used to trigger a second fermentation in the brew.

White beer is made with wheat hops and contains spices. Typically it is made with orange peel and coriander and is often served with a slice of lemon. Flemish Red is a strong fruity beer that is a reddish brown color. Other Belgian beers include Dubbel, Tripel, Blond, Brown and Amber. Each has its own specific brewing method and ingredients which cause a distinct flavor. Each type of beer has its own specially shaped glass. The Belgian pubs are called cafes, and they use these beautiful different glasses.

Graham Williams is the owner of http://www.gw-ebooks.com this site is full of books that are about hobbies such as Brewing your own beer, Camping, Bird watching, Beekeeping. While your there don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter and you will receive monthly discounts in any new book that is added each month you can visit my site here http://www.gw-ebooks.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Graham_Williams
http://EzineArticles.com/?Beer-Making-In-Belgium-Has-Its-Origins-In-The-Middle-Ages&id=795943

Hello and Happy Holidays! I hope you’re having a great time and are getting ready for Christmas - it is fast approaching!

Countdown to Christmas 2007:

I finished off my holiday beer for 2007: Czech the Halls…get it? It is a Czech style pilsner similar to Pilsner Urquell. The alcohol content on this batch came out at 3.89% by volume, which is just fine for me. I typically don’t like to overload on the alcohol content with beer.

Are you still shopping for gifts? I created a page on Paul’s Brewsletter to give you some ideas. Take a look:

http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

You might find that beer related item you’ve been looking for that beer nut in your life…or maybe for yourself!

I’ve also added a Beer search engine on the brewsletter homepage. Check it out!

I haven’t tasted the Czech the Halls yet…will probably do so Christmas Day for my family’s huge get together. Will let you know how it goes!

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Find a wide selection of beer gifts at http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/