As per the discussion at the blogorama this post was written about a year and half ago... but never quite was completed.

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I made a light German ale for my Father for Father's day, while the Wingin It pool party was a reason for the trip I also had the priority of delivering a beer I had made just for him. The beer was an experiment, based on some malt I got from the homebrew shop, I wanted to create something stronger than a kolsch, but light enough to be enjoyed in the Phoenix summers. Dark beers are a bit too heavy to enjoy in the summer months but I wanted to ensure he had something with flavor. The problem is making something with medium to light body but without overwhelming hop character. While I tried the first sample tonight I am not sure I succeeded the malt character is a bit too strong in the beer so it has a slightly sweet character. The balance is off, not that it is bad just the hops I used were quite enough to balance the hops. Next time I think I may try the same concept but with more of the Hallertau hop just an ounce or so in the initial bittering boil to better balance the overall construction.

The recipe was as follows

3lbs liquid malt
1lb Pilsner DME (Dried Malt Extract)
1lb Caramuinch
1lb Carapils
2 oz Hallertau hops
1 Vial German Kolsch Ale Yeast

Partial mash of the grains with 30 minutes at 130 degrees, 30 minutes at 155 degrees. The leftover grains were partially sweet so in later versions I'd like to sparge the wort to ensure excess sugars are drawn out.

One hour boil with the malt extract and 1 and 1/2 oz of Hallertau at 60 minutes, and last 1/2 oz hops added at 30 minutes. Cooled the wort and fermented at upper 60s.

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After the beer looking back it was too sweet and I'd likely run the boil for 90 minutes as the DMS or corn flavor was strong. A bit more hops of the classic noble variety would have added to the balance of the beer.

In retrospect I don't consider this batch a success, but it was a great learning tool. But that is the nature of brewing, lately I have been pondering testing some new ideas and similar results are bound to happen. As long as I learn from such events I figure I am heading in the right direction.

Watching Reason TV? I hadn't either but if this piece is anything like the norm, it is something to definately add to your regular watching/feed list.



Don't think that beer and wine aren't on this same agenda he speaks about.

As Vox mentions cooler weather means my return to Phoenix, on occasion. So let's have a beer as she mentions Saturday at Sonoran Brewing. I will probably show up around 3pm. Hope to see all my blogging friends there.

So if you know anything of the craft and homebrewing community you know there is almost a panic in the minds of people. Generally it's a scarcity of hops and to a lesser degree malt. Europe had a poor crop year and with the current exchange rate with the dollar Europeans can get hops for a deal here. Add to that the current industry growth rate in the double digits and that some farmers are switching from barley to corn, you have all the elements to make everyone scared about getting necessary ingredients. After some consideration I don't think that this is a bad thing at all, I suspect 10-20 years from now the brewing community will see this time as when brewers stepped up and allowed innovation to shine.

It was the maltier tastes of Europe that informed the start of craft beer revolution, they told us in the dark days of beer in the 1970s that choice and flavor were out there in the world. Americans being true to our often contrary notion went in the opposite direction from our European cousins during the 1980s and 90s. This was especially true on the West Coast where getting big and bolder became not just a challenge, but the order of the day. In some sense that might be the craft brewing industries rebellious teenage years.

Hops have been vogue for a while but with the pending hop shortage, malt will begin to shine as well as the less traditional bittering and balancing agents. It's not to say high alpha and hoppy beers won't have a place and success, but just we will soon start to see a new round of experimentation.

This first round will be ingredients like heather tips, spruce and forgotten agents, some of which are already on the homebrewing shop shelf. What I am looking forward to seeing is the other ingredients that we wouldn't even consider today but wouldn't thinking of making some future style without it.

But with the farmers turn from barley to corn for ethanol, I suspect we will also see growth in the sugars we use to make our beers. Celiac suffering brewers are already ahead of us trying to work with sorgum in beers. While I have yet to meet anyone impressed with the beers yet, I see it that those folks are like the ones who started with the extract cans in the 1970s and will quickly make their way towards partial mash and allgrain brewing. They will find a way to make these beers truly shine and that day will arrive far more quickly than people suspect.

A quick look at Wikipedia yields a number of grains I have never heard of, but soon I am sure we will soon be quite familiar with some of them. From Africa there are Teff, Fonio and Millets. Emmer is from the fertile crescent the very home of brewing. Last from the other parts of the Americas we have Amaranth and Quinoa crops that have been staples for thousands of years. I don't doubt some homebrewers are already starting to look at one of these and pondering "what would I get if I brewed an ale with that."

Economic theory states that one of the possible reactions to scarcity is substitution. The current growth rates of 10% per year of craft brewing I don't see demand subsiding anytime time soon. So there will have to be another answer found and I think it's down the road of substitution. American brewers have proven if they can do anything it is innovate.

It's the end of the beers as we know it and I feel fine.