Belgian Grain Malts

Something new for April’s meeting: a "hands-on" sampling of DeWolf-Cosyns grains, malted in Belgium. Charlie brought several grains to see, smell, and taste. From light to dark were CaraPils (1.8L), CaraVienne (22L), CaraMunich (72L), Special B, Chocolate, and Black. Detail on the grain characteristics and usage was from "All About Grains 101," by Jim Busch, http://alpha.rollanet.org/library/Malt101.html. This was a tasty demonstration of what could (and maybe does) go into your beer.

Charlie also demonstrated his BrewTek Malt Mill, which is well engineered to crack all the grain mentioned above.

Bob shared the progress he has made with the definition and sales claim of a "pint of beer." Bob has written an article (inside this newsletter) expanding on the letter he received from the Department of Agriculture, Division of Measurement Standards.

Bob brought a guest, Peter, a homebrewer from England, to tell us of the differences between British and American homebrewing. Peter tells us that in England:

Homebrewing is mostly from kits (few "full-grain" homebrewers)

Most towns have small supply shops but it is difficult to find good yeast. Sometimes you can get yeast from brewers

Open fermentation ales are popular; 5-gallon batches are typical

Corny kegs have not yet caught on

Small plastic pressure kegs with CO₂ are popular

Dispensing is usually without pressure, and no priming sugar is used in bottles

Few, if any, homebrewing contests, and few homebrew clubs

There are no skunks in England, so a light-struck beer is "sulfury" not "skunky"

John Pyles brought some more of that famous Beer Across America. The most notable thing about the Wit was its public offering via "Wit-Trade, the bulletin board based market mechanism through which the Common Stock of Spring Street Brewing Company publicly trades." http://plaza.interport.net/witbeer/

John’s report on the oxygenator (fish tank air pump, 0.3 micron filter on a tube with an air-stone) is that it does generate lots of foam.

Finally we had some style-of-the-month dark lagers: Helles, Traditional, and Doppelbock. Bruce brought his linear (oven mash) peated stout, and Harry brought Red Hook Double Black Stout (brewed with Starbucks coffee.)

Next month’s meeting will be the 2nd Annual Group Brew-In, this time at Bob Jones’ house in Alamo, on May 11, 9:00 am. The Wheat recipe and map are inside this newsletter.