Landed:

So its been about 10 days in Germany now. My feelings are heavily mixed. My drive is starting to slow down and I'm starting to tire. I know thats bullshit and no excuse but its how I feel. I've learned so damn much its overwhelming. Before I left I was a homebrewer making beer in a coleman cooler and some kegs my friend cut the top off. Now we are learning and theorizing on how to brew on multi-million dollar systems and its overwhelming. Enough of the bitchin' and moaning though... theres updating to do...

First the flight over... most of you know I hate flying. I really hate flying. The first time I flew overseas It ended up with me on a bus puking on a Japanese buisnessman, though thats a whole nother' story. This was BY FAR the easiest flight I've ever had. Probobly for 2 reasons... the first can best be explained by this photo:


This was the first time I've ever drank alcohol on a plane. In fact its the first time I've ever broken my tradition of not drinking ANYTHING except ginger ale. (Dont ask, yea I'm weird)

Needless to say I felt no pain (even after being cutoff by the hot stewardess) That having been said I honestly dont remember landing, getting off the plane or going through customs. I do however remember arriving at my hotel with 2 thoughts. First how the hell did I get here. Second, I'm hungry. Out of the hotel I have two choices. (At this point) left or right. I chose right.





Off I go, 2 miles later I see a sign for McDonalds and Burger King, another 2 KM ahead. I havent run into one cafe or little resteraunt so I settle on McDonalds (closer) What suprised me about McDonalds here is its a social gathering place, its clean, the food is well made. Trust me, it actually tastes different than in America. I didnt say better, different.


So after that I came back to the local bar were I decided to see how much I could drink. Bad decision, apparently I can put down more than a few liters of Helles if I give it my all. The headache the next day was terrible.

Up Next: Brewing at Domens

After That: Andechs' (Matt goes and drinks with monks, proceeds to make them laugh, brings a dozen people in to the "quiet room" after not know it was a "quiet room" locals are not amused nor laughing.

Prost!

The conclusion of the Angry Hop Brewing Co.

I've been a little busy flying across the planet, pardon the lack of posting but I promise theres more to come. ALOT more. But first I'm sure you are all wondering about the Angry Hop.

The Angry Hop entered the market on a Tuesday, they were going up against the big guns. 5 "mega breweries" one was even creatively named "mega brew", we also had the Intl' brewing company, Clybourn Brewing Company, Global Brew, and one other "big name". The competition was fierce, the hops were even more angry.




In this fantasy world of brewing there are 3 main products that are produced. To simplify we will simply call them Draught, Cans, and Bottles. All 6 breweries started out with their own draught line. The first financial period that changed. Some went right to the uber-expensive bottling lines. Others added canning lines, and yet others still decided to go the route of contract brewing. The advantage being that you dont have to invest $$ into equipment. The downside? You arent making as much. Not NEARLY as much.

The angry hop decided to formulate a strategy inspired by a little brewing company down south, whos mascot I'm particularly fond of. We started with the intention to buy a bottling line but in the end contract brewing was where they found their success.




Ok, so I didnt open a "real" brewery, but who cares. Reality can really suck. This was a simulation game (think brewery monopoly) where each team is given share capital as well as the opportunity to invest in the different lines of product. We set our own prices and battle for customers. The market is determined by our instructor. The Angry Hop wasnt always the powerhouse it ended up to be. In fact they ended up in the red after the first period. (This is not unusual for even a startup brewery to lose $$ the first year)

To make a long story short the Angry Hop got angrier, and eventually, like a turtle with a carrot dangled in front of him racing a tortoise, he perceived and the Angry Hop was the only company ending in the black as you can see below. It wasnt as realistic as the real deal, but it was interesting, and a little fun as well. Did I mention I love competition and hate losing.

(For those interested the big numbers are our profit/loss at the end of the quarter. Small 2 numbers are what we expected to sell and what we actually sold. One company actually got merged due to some bad biz'' planning :)

The story of the Angry Hop Brewing Co. (Part 1)

Once upon a time in the world of brewing beer there was a brewery called the angry hop brewing co. The employees certainly werent angry, but the hops were. The entire company consisted of 3 people. The first was a woman, the only one with brewing production expierience. She had previously worked at a brewery on a river named after one of my favorite critters. The second, a maltster from South America. The third was a crazy young kid with a dream, take over the industry and cripple these mega-brew-conglomerations.

They wanted vengance, and vengence is what they would get. They were a small brewery. The only brewery in the entire industry that considered itself a "micro/craft" brewery. The competition had big scary names like "mega brew" and "global brew". They had a plan and they had the ambition to just maybe... pull it off....

(Up Next: The Story of the Angry Hop Brewing Co. (Part Deux))

Clarification on hop utilization:

Ok guys and girls, I need to apologize and clarify. I was infact mistaken when I posted about hop utilization and the boiling time/added having no effect. So please forgive me and allow an explanation:

1) Timing when the hops are added (60 mins or 10) does have an effect on IBU's.

2)It is impossible for a homebrewer or even most microbreweries to accurately calculate their IBU's. There are just too many variables which I will go into.

3)There is a huge curve (crashing downwards) in hop utilization after 60 minutes.

4)The threshold for IBU's. I have had 2 teachers tell me 2 different things. The first one said the human palate can only sense up to 75-80 IBU's, the 2nd teacher and the one who brought up this topic originally said the threshold is 40. I think this is a subject still in huge debate.

I talked to him again and his point was that its impossible for homebrewers/micro breweries to calculate their IBUS. Have you ever thought about after your "60" (minutes) is up?

What happens then? The whole world of chemical transitions and changes just come to a halt? No sir. Think about pro' brewers who are whirlpooling for up to an hour or even more. Even some homebrewers through use of plate chillers might have wort in the kettle at near boiling temps for 30 minutes or more. Do you think those hops just "shut off" at 60?

I HOPE this clarifies things as I am responsible for mucking them up. Up next is another interesting story and then my trip to Europe. So stay tuned.

Field Trip

Goose Island has 3 locations, 2 brewpubs and a production facility. I attend classes at the Clybourn Brewpub. Anyways we got to go tour the brewery and I brought my camera. Great place, great people. Got to try the bourbon 2k wheatwine, which was delicious. Cheer.

Goose Island Fullerton

One of our teachers showing the pilot system, a cool little 5 gallon system

Our tour guide starts by the kettle and mash tun

The mash tun in action

Making way for the kegs

The class

The bottling line

The bottling line (again)

The class (and my favorite photo)

Packaging (The Corona experiment)

How a beer is packaged can have an enormous impact on the stability and shelf life of a beer. The enemies of beer are light, oxygen and extreme temperatures. Not in that order, any one of these can destroy a fine brew. This was blatantly displayed to us during one of our sensory tastings. You too can perform this test and see the results for yourself, should cost you no more than $15 and 12 minutes of your time.

First, you will need to buy a 12-pack of Corona. The reason for a 12-pack (and not a draft or 6'er) is the packaging. Its packaged completely in cardboard, hence there is no light contaminating the beer during transport and its shelf life. Take your 12 clear soldiers home with you, place one in your window sill or anywhere its in direct sunlight. The other bottle should be kept in the case or placed in the fridge.

Wait just 15 minutes.

Retrieve both beers and take a seat. Find 2 glasses (pint glasses will work fine), clear and clean are the important things. Pour each into its own glass. Now give the one that sat in the dark (or fridge) a good sniff. Raise the glass to your nose and take 3-4 SHORT sniffs. Short is important, it wont over saturate your palate. (Though in this experiment it wont be a problem) Now do the same with the "windowsill" sample and take note of the results. See what I mean?

The results were astounding to me. It blows my mind that a company of that size and resource would continue to let its beer be destroyed by the use of clear bottles. Though maybe if you were like me, you never realized that probably all the bottles you had were skunked.. or maybe not..

Cheers,

Matt

What I learned from drinking 15 budweisers'...

Budweiser, the self proclaimed king of beers. Images of mythically large Clydesdales prancing and galloping and whatever else horses do when they have had a few too many of the product their selling, I also hear they’ve been known to play a bit of football as well.

The first week when I saw our teacher carrying in cases of ice cold bud I figured this was an excersises in patience, or temperance, it was neither. It was actually one of the most educational things I've done during the course and as a craft beer drinker.

Why bud? For those not familiar with this product its neutral, its clean, its consistent. The hops and malt are balanced, not "bitter" nor overly "sweet", clean in that there are no esters or strange flavors. Its a consistently made clean product, and the perfect "control" for these experiments. Our teachers have taken these bottles of bud and "spiked" them with various chemicals and compounds... the results were a great combination of facinating, horrible and downright nasty... so without further delay (me babbling) I give you Budweiser, 15 different ways:


The Results: (Brief tasting notes)

Basic Flavors and Compounds

Sample 1- Control (Just regular old bud)
Aroma: Corn, malty, slight sulfur, clean, simple, almost no hop prescense.
Flavor: Slightly malty, clean, slight bruised apple, feint lemongrass

Facto Says: Its bud. What else is there to say. Its Budweiser. In a bottle.


Sample 2- Sweet (2% Sucrose)
Aroma: Very similar if not the same.
Flavor: Sweeter in the middle and backend.

Facto Says: Nothing terribly offensive here. Just bud with a bit of sugar.


Sample 3- Sour (Acetic acid 300mg/L)
Aroma: Slight sulfur and lemon notes enhanced just a bit.
Flavor: Sour, not stale milk or lambic sour just a bit of tang in the back end.

Facto Says: This is not poor mans gueze, so don’t even think about it sourheads!


Sample 4- Salty (0.2% Sodium Chloride)
Aroma: Actually a bit more bland. Or maybe that’s my palate.
Flavor: More salt, initial flavors are slightly enhanced.

Facto Says: Dude, like remember that time in Cancun when you like totally swam out in the ocean and drank that bud and like some of the water totally got in your beer dude. Yea. Its kind of like that, except that never happened to me. And I’ve never been to Cancun.


Sample 5- Bitter (+25 BU(bitterness units)) (pre-isomerized hop extract)
Aroma: A bit of body odor (not the good kind) is added into the mix
Flavor: Astringent bitterness, not pleasant by any means. Chemical like flavors.

Facto Says: Ok, so the aroma could of came from the guy next to me. No, not dry hopped bud. Just bitter bud. Chemically bitter bud.


Sample 6- Metallic/Astringent (3mg/L FeSO4.7H2O)
Aroma: Not really that different
Flavor: Very metallic. Like chewing on aluminum foil or sucking on a roll of pennies while drinking bud.)

Facto Says: The only chemistry course I’ve ever taken I got a D- in. That having been said I think the chemical was iron sulfate, hopefully someone can chime in here.


Sample 7- DMS (150ppb di-methyl sulfide)
Aroma: Cooked corn/vegetables. Slightly more salty?
Flavor: Dulls the mouthfeel, more cooked corn/vegetable funk.

Facto Says: This is one of those really easy to spot off chemicals that occur in beer. Its not pleasant and once its above the threshold it will pretty much wreck any beer of any style of any creed on any planet. Get it?


Sample 8- Isovaleric Acid (3ppm)
Aroma: Artificial candy, stale gummies, BO, all sorts of terrible things going on.
Flavor: Sharp, cheesy, just plain awful.

Facto Says: Isovaleric acid is the result of when hops stale. Trust me, you don’t want this stuff in your beer. It was bad, really really bad. Barely finished the sample, and I’ve drank some terrible stuff before.

*These were from a different tasting 2 weeks later, the control, enviorment, and taster were the same. However as everyone knows my palate is not the same everyday of the week. I might have had a slight cold, might of drank liters of Imperial IPA before the tasting (just kidding) but you get the picture. These are not absoloutes, and I am by no means a trained professional beer drinker……. Yet…

Yeast Related Flavors

Sample 1- Yeasty, fresh (fresh yeast/vitamin tablet)
Aroma: More yeast in the nose, processed vitamins/pills, slightly bready
Flavor: Sweet yeasty, a bit more to it, less foam, different mouthfeel.

Facto Says: Who says beer isn’t good for you? Ever had a beer for breakfast? Kill 2 birds with one stone, your nutritional needs and that nasty hangover all in one! (Greasy breakfast supplement recommended)

Sample 2- Yeasty, autolysed (autolyzed yeast)
Aroma: Not bad, bread, yeast, a bit of canned cat food (Good catch Destiny)
Flavor: Beef bullion (the cubes) soy sauce.

Facto Says: Interesting, very interesting..


Sample 3- Ethyl Acetate (ethyl acetate 100ppm)
Aroma: Rubber, solvent, astringent, more hazy in appearance.
Flavor: Solvent, astringent, just slightly sweeter on the back end

Facto Says: I have no idea what this stuff is. Nor do I want to, nor do I want it in my beer.. ever.. again..


Sample 4- Iso amyl acetate (Iso amyl acetate 6ppm)
Aroma: Banana Runts.
Flavor: Bit more fruity and sweet, slicker mouthfeel.

Facto Says: This chemical is also used in flavoring banana candy. It really did smell like those banana runts.


Sample 5- Ethyl hexanoate (Ethyl hexanoate 0.6ppm)
Aroma: A bit of star anise, licorice
Flavor: More anise, similar to the aroma, sweet

Facto Says: Yes obviously this is ethyl haxanoate, haven’t you ever heard of ethyl hexanoate? What the hells wrong with you?


Sample 6- Infected (diacetyl 100ppb + acetic acid 300ppm)
Aroma: Rancid butter, microwaved buttered popcorn sour cream
Flavor: Basically echoing the aroma. Rancid butter and sour cream, mouthfeel becomes butter and less assertive

Facto Says: Diacetyl might be the one chemical I absoloutely cannot stand in beer. It will drive me mad and possibly be the end of me. In vapor form it is a carcinogen (causes cancer (boo)) but don’t worry in its solid non-vaporous form its harmless. Except for the fact that it freakin’ wrecks the beer.

Lots more to come, I promise.

Update:

I know its been awhile since I’ve posted something so I’ll try and make this a good one. Regarding me personally, learning is taking place. Test scores are good. Better than any grades I got in college. My brain is so crammed with information I sometimes confuse myself, not that that’s the hardest thing to do without all the information.. The “American” or “theory” part of the course is coming quickly to an end. On October 27th 30 of us will be boarding a plane on the way to Munich, Germany, where the rest of our “formal” education will occur. This will include 3 weeks at the Doemens academy, where they actually have a small scale brewery we will be working on (and formulating/designing our own beer)

The final 2 weeks will conclude with a “European Brewery Tour”. This will include 5 countries including Belgium. Cantillon here I come!

Still no reply on the hop utilization yet. I will post when I hear something.

Cheers,

Matt

The grind.. (that is school)

My apologies for not updating this more frequently, but I'm busy, really busy. The work is incredibly complex, and we go through it VERY fast. We do only have 7 weeks to cover everything under the sun in the brewing world. This goes from raw ingredients (we spent almost 3 days alone on the malting process) and everything is covered by experts who, I'm pretty sure could take the entire 7 weeks to themselves and still have more to say. Its really quite amazing.

The brewing equipment is of particular facination to me, having never worked in a "full scale" brewery its all quite new to me.

Today was a very interesting discussion on hop utilitzation. This came to a massive crescendo (right before lunch) in which our teacher explained that addition times have nothing to do with IBU contribution. Now I understand that not everyone reading this is a homebrewer or pro., so I will explain a little in "laymens terms".

-Hops bitter beer, they are small green cones that smell quite fantastic when fresh. The aromas range from spicy and earthy to citrusy and fruity. I gotta stop using "y's" at the end of all my adjectives. We measure how much bitterness is in a beer (and how much hops contribute) in IBUS (International bitterness units). To give you an idea your average American lager ranges right around 15IBU's. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Now a more bitter "pale ale" such as Sierra Nevadas pale ale are higher, around, lets say 60 IBUS. Still with me? Good.

Brewers add hops at different times during the boil (the process of boiling the wort (unfermented beer)) at different times. Traditionally the bittering hops are added first, at the start of the boil. Then the aroma hops about halfway through the boil, finishing in the flavor hops, added towards the end of the boil. There are other additions used but lets stay with these for now. I (and many homebrewers/beerknurds) always preceived that adding hops at 60 minutes would contribute more IBUS than the later additions (such as the aroma and flavor additions). Now our teacher absoloutely BLEW MY MIND when he said it really doesnt matter. That if you added ALL the hops at the start of the boil, you would end up at around the same IBU number as if you added them in order (at 60, 30, and 15 minutes). To those who are wondering what I'm talking about you will just have to read more. For those who are homebrewers and the like know how big of a statement this is. Its huge. My brain still cant get around it. Probobly wont for the rest of the day. Though being damn tired isnt helping.

On a finishing note, got my first quiz back. Not bad, but a few points under the class average. Overall I'm pleased and will continue to work hard at improving this score. Dont worry, I'm passing with room to spare. Took my second one today and it blew me away. I think I did "ok". Up and coming classes concentrate more on styles and sensory (my strong(er) suit, and away from Chemistry and Microbiology (which I know nothing about)

If you enjoy reading this leave a comment, let mek now that people are reading this and it will encourage me to post more and more.

Cheers!

Matt

The first week.

The first week is a day away and I am completely blown away. We have spent the entire first 3 days, 21 hours in the classroom learning about nothing but barley and the process of changing it to malt. Its amazing. The classroom is literally inside Goose Island and the walls of its classrooms are amazing. Hopefully theres a little room for me.


On its walls are many a great brewer, see anyone familiar?




Today we started with hops, and a little "hop rub". 7 varieties, along with 2 different kinds of pellet hops. Very cool.


Well a test tomorrow and I'm off to study. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

A week ago...

The Chicago Blog-

So not moments after arriving to my new living arrangements I thought to myself "This isnt normal". It wasnt normal. It least not for me. Now up 17 floors I went, did I mention I'm not a big fan of heights? Into my aparment and I smile. "Hey this is pretty nice". Cool. Its 3 rooms, with a good sized closet and a small but functional and clean bathroom.



My first day was spent waking up early, VERY early by my standards. 7:00am. By 8 I was out the door and into the city, the giant black spire of the Hancock building overshadowing me, making me feel about as large as an ant. A quick walk 4 blocks away and I was on the EL headed to my new classroom/dining hall/hangout for the next 7 weeks. Goose Island. Goose island is north of downtown just a ways and only 5 minutes off the redline, I've been here once and loved it.



The main reason I went to Goose Island, and not one of the other 10000 places to grab a beer and bite to eat in Chicago was something of infinite beauty and a true culinary delight. The Stilton Burger. The Stilton burger is a half pound burger pepper encrusted with whole cloves of garlic and blue stilton cheese, all ontop of a nice dark brown bun, and this my friends, is the Legendary Stilton Burger. Yes, I know I talk about this burger alot, but with good reason, its really really good. So good in fact I've been there 3 days in a row now, and 2 of my trips crescendos into one of these great burgers, and it will continue to for the next 7 weeks, probobly more than most of you think is normal.

So my overall take on Chicago so far. Big, Fast. Clean. I dig it. It's cool, and I've only explored probobly .00001% of the city. Ok maybe a little more. So should you feel bored up there in Milwaukee (or wherever you are reading this from) come visit. And to quote a favorite Jonie Mitchell lyric "if you want me I'll be at the bar"...

Greetings!

Greetings to all!

The purpose of this blog is to keep in touch with my friends, and for those interested in following me in my pursuit of attending and graduating one of the most prestigious brewing schools in the world. I will start my education in Chicago and finish it across the Atlantic in Europe, living and studying for 3 weeks in Munich, Germany.

I will attempt to post something new everyday (though we all know how well that went with my first 2 blogs... I will post photos as well. (Not sure if I will be able to snap photos in the school/labs)

I hope you enjoy reading, any and all questions/comments are welcomed.

Cheers,

Matt