Shall Not Be Questioned » Brewing

Mystery I Didn’t Even Know Was a Mystery Solved

Sebastian — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:45:50 +0000

Apparently there’s a strain of yeast in lager yeast that no one has ever been able to identify. Turns out it’s a strain of a wild Patagonian yeast that somehow made its way to Bavaria. The important takeaway from this is that this discovery is “paving the way for new types of designer beers.” Give the strain to the folks at Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware. If there’s anything good that be made from it, they’ll figure it out.

Tax Cutting I Heartily Approve Of

Sebastian — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:08:01 +0000

Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-PA-06) has proposed cutting the federal beer tax. His district has a number of microbreweries. If you haven’t tried any of the breweries mentioned in the article, I would recommend it. Victory and Sly Fox are particularly stellar breweries.

National Coffee Day

Bitter — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:58:26 +0000

According to my favorite state government reporter, it’s National Coffee Day today. Normally, I could care less. The only coffee we ever drink is the stuff from Starbucks that probably has some coffee in it, but you wouldn’t know with all of the other crap they put in it. At least until recently.

When we announced we were headed to the Big Island, a friend from NRA mentioned that her father owned a coffee farm where he grows, processes, and sells his own coffee. We made it out there on our last full day on the island, and indulged in a couple of bags. We bought one to try out ourselves, assuming that we’d use it for things like ice cream or other decidedly non-coffee culinary adventures. Instead, this coffee has turned us into weekend coffee drinkers. We went out and bought a french press since we didn’t have a coffee maker (but we did own a coffee grinder!). Every weekend morning now has a new tradition – getting up and having a cup and a half of delicious Kona coffee.

Something Has Gone Horribly Wrong

Sebastian — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:17:47 +0000

PETA and HSUS are gonna love this. For that reason, I should probably approve, but really, it just freaks me out.

Several Food Freedom Issues

Sebastian — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:19:14 +0000

Bitter notes over at her gun-blog-turned-food blog how Bloomberg is being two-faced about food control, and also that home brewers in Oregon are getting screwed by a bureaucratic ruling that’s just destroyed a good part of their community. Now they know how gun owners and shooters feel. Bureaucrats in this country are out of control. One thing I would suggest for fixing this problem is rediscovering a very strong non-delegation doctrine.

Beer Exemptions

Sebastian — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:34:33 +0000

NRA isn’t the only one carving out exemptions for itself. Boston Beer company is getting in the game too:

I would be in favor of the proposal to lower taxes on craft breweries, but I see no reason to create a law that would give Boston Beer a tax advantage until they grow to three times their present size. The idea is to encourage small craft breweries. Once you hit two million barrels, you ain’t small no more. Take it on the chin, Jim, and pay Uncle Sam the full tab. You can afford it.

Hat tip to Liquidity Preference. Personally, I don’t like the idea of special tax statuses at all, even if it’s just for actual craft brewers. But I can also understand small brewers trying to get any leg up they can. The big brewers and distributors have a mega-powerful lobby in DC and state capitols that tailors liquor laws to benefit themselves. It’s regulatory capture at its finest.

My ESB Is Nearly Ready

Sebastian — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:33:50 +0000

My Extra Special Bitter is nearly ready to be bottled/kegged. It’s been in secondary fermentation for nearly two weeks, and it’s developing a clear, amber color. I can’t think of anything to go better with a good English Ale than some fish and chips. Of course, Fish and Chips are probably a good bit less English. Apparently chips (fries) come from Belgium or France, and fried fish was brought in by Jewish immigrants. Nonetheless, Brits are passionate enough about their fish and chips that they nearly went to war over it. Trouble cooled once Iceland started giving up fishing for the fast paced world of International Finance. Now that ship has sunk, and Icelanders have gone back to fishing, so perhaps things will heat up once again.

Holiday Brewing

Sebastian — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:09:41 +0000

I decided to make up a batch of Extra Special Bitter for the holidays. It’s been quite a while since I have done any brewing, so I decided to go with an extract kit rather than doing an all grain batch. Right now I am outside with the snow, ice and rain bringing the kettle up to temperature for the boil. This will be the first time I try to use a plate chiller, so we’ll see how this goes.

UPDATE: Fermentation has started. I had a few issued with the plate chiller. In terms of cooling, it was very efficient, but if you use one, I have a few suggestions. Ideally, you’d probably want a pump. but they are hella expensive for a single use item. It can be done with gravity, but as I discovered a bit too late, one of these is a must, as the plate chiller ended up clogging with pellet hop residue. The worst part is I have one of those strainers for my kettle, but I forgot to put it on. Another option would be to just pre-filter the hot wort, being careful not to splash it and cause oxidation.

Craft Distilling

Sebastian — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:03:11 +0000

That’s apparently what they are calling Moonshining these days, and apparently Tennessee is about to make it legal. Of course, that’s not going to get the feds off your back. Under federal law, you can make small amounts (up to 200 gallons) per year of wine or beer for your own use, or to give away to others (you can’t sell it). But there’s no amount of distilling that’s lawful for home use. To do that, you need a license from the ATF and you need to pay the excise taxes on what you make.

My understanding is that if you want to commercially brew, make wine, or distill, ATF is actually very helpful at getting people set up and in compliance with the federal law. Reading through a lot of forums on the subject several years ago I found myself thinking “This is not the ATF I knew.”

Speaking of brewing, it’s been quite some time since I’ve contributed toward my 200 gallon limit. Pretty soon I will need to bring that down to 195 left for the year. I’m thinking a scottish ale.

Please, No!

Sebastian — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:03:32 +0000

As a sometimes home brewer who primary has made ales from the British Isles, I have several authentic British pint glasses. Authentic because they are emblazoned with a royal engraving on the glass, which certifies it one imperial pint (~20oz). Truth be told, all these glasses are now made in Calais, France, but they are the royal standard.

Now it seems they may be in danger of becoming a thing of the past, due to the Home Office’s obsession of ridding the United Kingdom of anything that could possibly be used as a weapon. That would be tragic, in my opinion.