BABB's News
Volume 36, Issue 10
www.babbrewers.com
October 2013
Brewmaster:
Deputy Brewmaster:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Chief Steward:
Webmaster:
Librarian:
Kris Domagala
Angus Rich
Alex Hyde
Mark Davies
Dr. Daniel Angus
Ed Schache
Howard Mullins
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
News Editor:
Dr. Jason McDonald
[email protected]
BABBs at Archive
October Meeting
The next BABB's meeting will be
held this Thursday, October the 24th.
by Kris Domagala
This month we have seen our
American Brown Ale Mash Paddle
finalists on tap at Archive Bar in
West End. Angus Rich's Apollo 13
was up first, and despite a couple of
non-trivial changes from the recipe
(including substituting its namesake
hop!), Angus was happy with how
the beer turned out. My own notes on
the beer from when I caught up with
Angus at the bar was that, despite
coming across as a touch sharp on
the bittering at first, it didn't take
long at all to become very drinkable,
living up to his goal of brewing a
session beer.
Over the next two weeks, Colin
Wright's Bomber Brown Ale and Tim
Rayfield's Swamp Donkey went on.
Both brewers were very happy with
the rendition of their beers, and so
far, I've found them to be the most
similar of the three. Both had a really
The meeting will feature the final
mini-comp of 2013, for Lagers and
Pilsners. This is your last chance to
gain points towards the year's Most
Consistent Brewer title.
interesting rose water character up
front; presumably a combination of
hop aromatics and esters against a
malty backdrop that left a hint of
coffee in the aftertaste along with the
desire to have another mouthful.
From all accounts Archive have been
happy with the response from the
public, which hopefully means they
will be on board again for next year's
competition. If you have any thoughts
on a theme for next year, get in
contact with the committee.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward
to heading in this week for Chuck's
Brown and hoping it lives up to my
memory of the original beer. I'll be in
at Archive on Wednesday and Friday
evenings, so if you're in the area, I'd
love to catch up over a beer.
BABB's News
October2013
At time of entry, beer must be
nominated into BABB's beer classes:
2.1 Australian Lager, 2.2 Australian
Premium Lager, 2.3 Pale Continental
Lager, 2.4. Munich Helles, 2.5.
Dortmunder, 2.6 Classic American
Pilsner, 2.7 German Pilsner (Pils),
2.8.
Bohemian
Pilsener,
2.9
Oktoberfest/Märzen, 2.10 Vienna
Lager, 2.11 California Common Beer,
2.12 Munich Dunkel, and 2.13
Schwarzbier (Black Beer).
Swamp Donkey Brown Ale
Page 1
QABC Wrapup
by Angus Rich
This year saw an unprecedented
number of entries into the Queensland
Amateur Brewing Championship with
a record 348 entries, which is a jump
of around 100 entries on last year. It is
a testament to the healthy growth in
homebrewing, craft brewing and beer
appreciation in general. Extra days
had to be scheduled for the judging
which kicked off on the long weekend
of the 5th October with the main
judging happening on 13th October at
Craftbrewer.
This year was good for BABBs with
more entrants than last year. We saw
fifteen club members put in a total of
65 beers which was the biggest
representation of all the Queensland
clubs. The quality of the BABBs
entries
was
excellent
with
approximately 75% gaining a medal!
With this strong representation,
BABBs succeeded in winning the
club of the competition in front of the
IBU from Ipswich.
Kris Domagala (the man with the
golden braumiester!) came in a close
second for champion brewer, only one
point behind Russell Carpenter from
the Righteous Brewers of Townsville
(RBT) club.
A special mention goes to the two
new kids on the block, Martin Rudge
and Colin Wright who joined BABBs
this year and this was their first time
entering into the QABC. Martin
picked up champion beer for his
Dortmunder and a first for his Robust
Porter which had him tied for third in
the overall champion brewer category
– bloody great effort! Colin wasn’t too
slack either, picking up two seconds
with an American IPA and a Bo Pils
with both scoring greater than 40
points. Great effort fellas and keep it
up.
BABB's News
QABC judges and stewards hard at work at Craftbrewer on October 13th.
Full results can be viewed at the
QABC website:
http://qabc.chad.id.au/files/results/q
abc_2013_results_zip_16109.zip
Thank you to everyone involved,
from organisers to judges and
stewards to entrants. Special thanks
to Ed Schache and Mark Davies
who joined David Clarke and Kris
Domagala to judge on all three days,
making the big day more
manageable. Ed and Kris also
helped Dave get all the AABC
entries sorted. And a huge thanks to
David Clarke and Howard Mullins
for all of the ongoing effort put in to
the competition.
October2013
Thanks also to all the sponsors who
have provided funding and in-kind
donations to allow the event to
happen and providing the transport of
the winning beers to the AABC which
will be held on 1st – 2nd November
in Canberra and a special note to Ross
for letting us use the Craftbrewer
premises and cold storage for the
competition.
Let's see if Queensland can repeat the
success of last year at the AABC and
pick up the Champion State! With the
strong turn out this year at the QABC
we have a fighting chance.
Page 2
QABC 2013 Summary
Class 11: Stout – 19 entries
Champion Brewer
A summary of the QABC results
appears
below,
with
BABB's
members shown in bold.
1 Ryan Felstead
2nd Rob Callin
3rd Andrew Clark
1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
3rd
Class 01: Low Alcohol
1st Rob Callin
2nd Graeme Starke
3rd Adam Pike
38.50 Silver
38.00 Silver
36.50 Bronze
Class 02: Pale Lager – 11 entries
1 Martin Rudge
2nd Greg Hooper
3rd Ernie Butler
st
43.00 Silver
40.50 Silver
39.00 Silver
Class 03: Pilsener – 17 entries
1st Ernie Butler
2nd Colin Wright
3rd David Colville
43.00 Silver
42.5 Silver
41.00 Silver
st
40.00 Silver
39.75 Silver
39.50 Silver
Class 12: Strong Stout – 13 entries
1st Dean Tummers
41.00 Silver
2nd Tony Brown
39.25 Silver
3rd Anthony Henderson 38.00 Silver
Class 13: India Pale Ale – 25 entries
1st Spiro Zantiotis
2nd Colin Wright
3rd Craig Daniels
42.50 Silver
42.00 Silver
41.00 Silver
Class 14: Strong Ale – 14 entries
1st David Clarke
2nd Adam Pike
3rd Stephen Staples
40.00 Silver
39.50 Silver
37.00 Bronze
Class 04: Amber & Dark Ale – 20 entries
Class 15: Belgian Strong Ale
– 16 entries
1st Kris Domagala
2nd Jason Kienzner
3rd Mark Davies
1st Matt Thompson
2nd Stephen Staples
3rd Russell Carpenter
37.5 Bronze
37.25 Bronze
37.00 Bronze
41.50 Silver
40.00 Silver
39.50 Silver
Class 05: Strong Lager – 6 entries
Class 16: Wheat/Rye Beer – 19 entries
1 Kris Domagala
2nd Russell Carpenter
3rd Rodney Lock
1 David Colville
2nd Tony Brown
3rd David Clarke
st
39.00 Silver
34.00 Bronze
33.00 Bronze
Class 06: Pale Ale – 20 entries
1st Andrew Mahoney
2nd Craig Daniels
3rd Andrew Clark
38.00 Silver
37.50 Bronze
36.50 Bronze
Class 07: American Pale Ale – 27 entries
1st Spiro Zantiotis
40.00 Silver
2nd Anthony Henderson 39.50 Silver
3rd Ralph Devoil
39.00 Silver
Class 08: Bitter Ale – 27 entries
1st Ashley Leask
2nd Russell Carpenter
3rd Adrian McAsey
41.00 Silver
39.50 Silver
39.00 Silver
st
40.00 Silver
38.00 Silver
37.00 Bronze
Class 17: Farmhouse Ale & Wild Beer
–-12 entries
1st Russell Carpenter
2nd Ryan Felstead
3rd Nathan Semmens
39.50 Silver
39.00 Silver
35.50 Bronze
BABB's News
Champion Club
1st BABB's
2nd IBU
3rd PUBS
4th TooSOBA
(Non-QAAWBG clubs
23 points
20 points
9 points
1 point
17 points)
Treasurer's report:
September 2013
Income:
(cash/chq)
Subscriptions:
Raffle:
$ 162.00
QABC Fees:
$2112.00
QABC Sponsorship:
BJCP Exam:
(dir. dep.)
$ 595.00
Sub-totals:
$1135.00
$2274.00
Total Income:
$ 20.00
$ 400.00
$ 120.00
$3409.00
Expenses:
Rent:
Food & Drink:
Club Badges:
Mini-comp costs:
Library:
Raffle:
Club Wars costs:
(cash)
Sub-totals:
$
$
$
48.00
21.00
$
19.00
88.00
Total Expenses:
(cheques)
$ 70.00
$
48.00
$
$
30.00
45.00
$ 193.00
$ 281.00
Profit/Loss:
1st Andrew Clarke
2nd Tony Brown
3rd Ben Kendall
Bank Reconciliation for September 2013
41.50 Silver
41.25 Silver
40.75 Silver
Champion Beer
Martin Rudge – Dortmunder
$ 3128.00
Opening cashbook balance:
Add Profit/Loss:
Closing cashbook balance:
$14846.06
$ 3128.00
$17974.06
Bank balance @ 30/Sep/13:
Add outstanding deposits:
Less outstanding cheques:
Reconciled bank balance:
$15848.06
$ 2186.00
$- 60.00
$17974.06
Drinking Wisdom
40.5 Silver
39.50 Silver
39.25 Silver
“Abstainer: a weak person who
yields to the temptation of
denying himself a pleasure.”
Class 10: Porter – 29 entries
1st Martin Rudge
2nd Scott Eckford
3rd Rodney Lock
8 points
7 points
6 points
6 points
6 points
Class 18: Specialty Beer – 25 entries
Class 09: Brown Ale -- 32 entries
1st Greg Hooper
2nd Grant Gilmore
3rd Kris Domagala
Russell Carpenter
Kris Domagala
Spiro Zantiotis
Tony Brown
Martin Rudge
41.00 Silver
38.00 silver
37.5 Bronze
– Ambrose Bierce, American
satirist, 1842 – 1914
October2013
Page 3
Daniel Angus and Gavin Lovett carefully evaluate the flight of dry-hopped beers.
Dry Hop Sensory
Analysis Experiment
by Troy Parker and Angus Rich
Earlier in the year I came across a
dry hop experiment by Anchor
Brewing which featured on Podcast
#933 of the Brewing Network. This
same experiment was later trialed by
Bertus Brewery which became the
basis for the BABBs educational
night.
As always we felt it was pertenant to
do a few trial runs to find any pitfalls
in the process. Those of you that
tried the trial bottles in the August
meeting are well aware we found
some.
Even though the bottle dry hop was
effective it was really hard to
separate from the beer when placed
directly in the bottle. This is where
the expertise of tincture master
Angus Rich came to the fore!
One valid technique for extracting
aromas is the use of ethanol. In fact it
is used commonly in cosmetics and
food additives for that purpose. What
makes ethanol a great solvent is that
it is both polar and non-polar so it is
BABB's News
able to dissolve both polar and nonpolar substances. Water is a polar
solvent, hence why oil doesn’t mix in
water. Our assumption is that most of
the aroma compounds in hops are
oils so the ethanol in beer when dry
hopping is the active solvent for dry
hops oils.
There are also other compounds that
are water soluble, such as
polyphenols (which add astringency)
and glycerides which are a two part
molecule that has a sugar attached to
an aromatic compound. Glycerides in
hops have no aroma but do release
aroma compounds when the bond is
broken.
We used a 40% ABV vodka for the
solvent for the hops. Vodka is a good
candidate being clean flavourless
ethanol mixed with distilled water
giving us the best of both worlds. We
targeted a dry hop regime of 1-2g/L
as a common ground for most
standard dry hopped beers. Next we
decided that any 330ml bottle was to
be dosed no more than 3mls to limit
any impact the additional alcohol
would add to the base beer. The next
assumption was that 10mls vodka/L
would be used for dosing rate which
would require ~1.5-2g hops/10ml of
vodka. 30ml tinctures were used so
these were loaded with 5-6g of hop
pellets and topped off with 30ml of
vodka.
The timing chosen was to let the hop
martini infuse for 2 days after
searching the web with people
offering advice from all sorts of
methods and timing. One thing was
noticeable how differently the
different hop pellets swelled up some
completely filled the glass tincture
and absorbed the vodka!
The hop infusion was filtered using
coffee filter paper and we were able
to get one 30ml tincture of extract
from two tinctures of the hop
solution.
What was interesting was the
addition of the hop extract to the base
beer and how much the base beer
Upcoming Events
October:
24th
October Meeting – Pilsner & Lager mini-comp
26th
AHB Pub Crawl
28th
Mash Paddle Competition winners announced by The Archive
November:
1st-2nd
AABC Judging, Canberra
28Th
November Meeting – Christmas Breakup
December
Note: No meeting in December
January:
23rd
January Meeting
October2013
Page 4
characteristics influenced the hop
perception. The first choice was to
use a Corona but it soon revealed that
the other characteristics of the malt
and bitterness were also important.
These samples tasted harsh and the
hop oil and resin stuck out like a
shag on a rock. So off to the bottle
shop and after trying four or five
different beers the Burleigh Helles
provided the best back drop for the
hop extract being an all malt beer
with a reasonable supporting
bitterness.
The other interesting thing to note
was how much additional bitterness
the dry hop added to the base beer in
a side by side. This can also be tasted
by having a neat sample of the hop
martini! This may be caused by the
astringency form the polyphenols,
but there is also the belief that
humulinone may be present in the
hop that is more water soluble than
humulones and does have some
bitterness.
Tinctures were made using Simcoe,
Centennial, Cascade, Zythos, Galaxy
and CTZ. Each table was given one
bottle of each hop alongside an unhopped bottle. Members were not
told which hops where in which
bottle and asked to guess after a
certain “evaluation time”.
Another unforseen issue was noticed
once we had begun this part of the
experiment – the hops hadn’t mixed
well with the base beer.
The
members who were given the first
portion of the altered beers were
noticing massive and amazing hop
flavours and aromas while those who
got the last were wondering why their
senses were so bad! Next time we
need to make a more concerted effort
to agitate the bottles.
There were definitely some close
guesses to the correct hops but the
main outcome was confirmation that
BABB's News
using tinctures or extracts was a valid
and interesting way to add something
more to your beer.
The use of vodka for doing extracts
can also be extended to many other
aroma opportunities. I have used it
for spice extracts and making
homemade natural nut extracts. It
gives the brewer great control of the
final beer by being able to dose some
samples to find the best amount to
add to for your taste. It could provide
an interesting complexity by being
able to add ½ the spices etc to the
end of the boil and then using a
vodka tincture to add the other half.
It could also be used to add some
more hop character to give an older
beer a lift.
So grab your vodka and your
hop/spice/herb/fruit/whatever
of
choice and try this at home!
August Minutes
Brewmaster Welcome.
————————
Previous minutes: Approved.
————————
QAAWBG: Clubs to take turns in
"hosting" an event. First event will
be 16th November. Will call for
numbers at October meeting.
————————
ANAWBS and QABC: Judges and
stewards have been filled but if
anyone is keen to help please contact
David Clarke. Check QAAWBG on
Facebook and QABC on Twitter.
QABC sponsors are all supporting
the club, please consider visiting
their respective businesses. Listed in
the August newsletter.
AABC Assistance with stewarding in
Canberra 1st-2nd November. Please
contact Kris. Kris and Mark are
travelling down to Canberra.
October2013
————————
Club brew: On the cards again. Still
selecting a brewery. Each member
can buy a cube at a reduced cost,
everyone ferments it out using a
different strain of yeast. Aiming for
February/March next year.
————————
Barrel Project: New beer has gone
into the barrel. Needs to be bottled
by November, preferably after the stte
comp. Will be looking for volunteers
to assist bottling.
————————
Mash Paddle beers: Going on tap at
Archive, starting on September 30.
————————
AHB Pub Crawl: 26th October.
————————
Oktoberfest at the German Club:
4-6 October.
————————
Treasurer's report: Reminder to pay
subs, cut off is the end of September.
————————
Secretary's
report:
contribution reminder.
Newsletter
Providore position: Harry Roberts is
set to retire from this position at the
end of the year.
Please see
committee for info.
————————
Librarian's report: Brew Your Own
and Zymurgy. Water – Palmer.
————————
Webmaster's report: Anyone who
stops receiving the newsletter should
advise the Webmaster.
————————
Chief Steward's report: Next month
is the Lager and Pilsner mini-comp.
Page 5
US Shutdown closes
tap on new beers
Trevor Hughes, Tucson Citizen, 9 Oct 2013.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The
federal government shutdown is
giving some folks one more reason to
cry in their beers: An obscure but
powerful arm of the Treasury
Department has stopped approving
new brews.
All new beers that get bottled or
canned to be sold across state lines
must be approved by the Alcohol and
Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau,
known in the industry as the TTB.
Federal workers must approve the
label, as well as the recipe if it uses
non-traditional ingredients, which
many seasonal beers contain.
While the TTB as stopped approving
new recipes and labels, workers there
are still collecting brewery taxes.
Any delays in approvals create a
“domino effect,” said Carla Villa, a
spokeswoman for the New Yorkbased Brooklyn Brewery, which has
several new labels pending: “It’s this
one thing that then affects all these
other things. We can’t launch beers
on time, which means our
distributors can’t sell it, which means
our customers can’t buy it.”
The TTB shutdown is a hot topic of
conversation for brewers gathering in
Denver this week for the Great
American Beer Festival. Among
those attending Wednesday was Jim
Koch, founder and brewer of Bostonbased Samuel Adams.
In an email, Koch said that while it’s
important to keep the focus on how
ordinary people are being hurt by the
shutdown, “we will quickly see the
downstream effects on businesses and
industries. … In short, new breweries
cannot start up and new beers cannot
be sold.”
BABB's News
Mini-comp #4 – Strong Ale
The June 2013 mini-comp was an occasion for big beers and some
impressive statistics. The brew that impressed the judges the most was
Nick Barnes' Black Death. Many thanks to Nick for sharing his recipe.
Name: The Black Death (V3)
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Gravity Before Boil: 1.075 SG
Original Gravity: 1.097 SG
Final Gravity: 1.025 SG
ABV: 9.7%
IBU: 78.6
Volume Before Boil: 33.00 l
Volume After Boil: 22.00 l
Volume Transferred: 21.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 21.00 l
Volume Of Finished Beer: 20.00 l
Total Water Required: 44.28 l
Grain:
6.000 kg of Australian BB Pale
3.000 kg of Australian BB Traditional Ale Malt
500 g of German Carafa III
500 g of German Carafa II
480 g of US Flaked Barley
400 g of UK Pale Chocolate Malt
400 g of UK Chocolate Malt.
Mashing:
Allow the temperature to stabilize at 66 C. Allow to rest at this temperature
for 90 minutes.
Raise the temperature to 77 C over 10 minutes and mash out.
Add 5.22 l of water at 77 C, mix and run off.
Add a further 16.50 l of water at 77 C and mix.
Run off to collect a total of 33.00 l of wort.
Boil:
50 g of US Warrior (15.8% AA) (90 Min From End)
6 g of BrewBrite
Fermentation:
Pitch 02 pack(s) of Wyeast 1098-British Ale and ferment at 18 C
Also add 100g of Cacao Nibs at 90% of FG (approx 2 weeks) and leave in
beer for 10-14 days.
The shutdown doesn’t affect existing
beers, like New Belgium Brewing
Cos.’ popular Fat Tire, or AnheiserBusch’s Budweiser. But it leaves Fort
Collins-based New Belgium awaiting
October2013
approval of five new labels and three
new beers, including a spring
seasonal.
“We have a lot of pieces in play, so
Page 6
when things go sideways, that’s a
problem,” New Belgium spokesman
Bryan Simpson said. “We aren’t
delayed yet, but there will probably
be a backlog. Beers that haven’t been
approved don’t get to market.”
Simpson said New Belgium worries
that a lengthy TTB delay could mean
the brewery’s fall/winter seasonal
offerings will run out without a
spring seasonal to replace them.
Simpson said the brewery faces
having to pay extra to rush labels
through the printing process when
they’re eventually approved.
“We won’t rush the beer,” he
promised.
The growing backlog of TTB
approvals will “inevitably” delay
offerings from Deschutes Brewery of
Bend, Ore., said marketing manager
Jason Randles. “The shutdown is
affecting us just like everyone else.
We have labels that aren’t getting
approved.
The TTB closure doesn’t affect some
smaller breweries like Equinox in
Fort Collins, which sells only one
bottled beer whose label has been
previously approved and doesn’t
change from year to year, said
founder Colin Westcott.
“For us, it’s just business as normal,”
he said. “And of course they’re
continuing to collect taxes.”
Sixth Grader Wins
Approval to Brew
Beer in Space
by Samantha Riley, abcnews.go.com,
2 Oct 2013.
Astronauts may be one step closer to
kicking back with a cold one in
space. And they may have a sixth
grader to thank for it.
Michal Bodzianowski, 11, recently
won a national competition to
perform an experiment that involves
brewing beer in microgravity. While
it’s unlikely that this will lead to keg
parties on space missions, the
proposal states that the objective of
the trial is in preparation for a “future
civilization, as an emergency backup
hydration and medical source.”
“He [Bodzianowski] came up with
this idea all on his own,” said Sharon
Combs, teacher and sponsor at the
STEM School and Academy in
Colorado,
which
focuses
on
instruction in the sciences. “He got a
book for Christmas that was about
weird facts and explains how in the
Middle Ages they used to drink beer
because it was purer than water.” The
benefits for bringing beer into space
are for “both medical and survival
reasons, and it is fairly easy to
conduct
with
limited
human
interactions,”
according
to
Bodzianowski’s proposal.
The National Center for Earth and
Space Science Education sponsored
the competition as part of the Student
Spaceflight Experiments Program. Its
goal is to inspire the next generation
of
America’s
scientists
and
engineers. Eleven proposals, out of
744 submitted by 3,900 students,
were selected for the flight and
include a range of students from
grades 5 to 11.
Michal’s got the natural curiosity of
people who go after science. He’s
very talented.”
Bodzianowski will receive a real
research mini-laboratory that is
scheduled to fly on the International
Space Station within the next few
months from Cape Canaveral. The
experiment is prepared in a small
tube by Bodzianowski on the ground.
Once it is launched into space, an
astronaut
will
combine
the
substances and execute the plan,
according
to
Bodzianowski’s
instructions. Simultaneously, he will
also run the experiment on the
ground to see what differences may
arise. Both Bodzianowski and Combs
both hope to travel to NASA for the
launch.
While Bodzianowski was the
“Principal Investigator” of the
experiment, the school helped
provide the $21,500 that will cover
the cost of the launch to participate
in the program. Combs and other
faculty gathered sponsorship from
parents and local companies,
including Subaru, Raytheon, and
OtterBox.
The future of brewing in space could
depend largely on how this 11-yearold’s experiment results. “You never
know how some of these experiments
can be a stepping stone to something
else,” Combs said. “That’s how
science works!”
“I never expected it to be one of my
sixth graders,” Combs said. “But
BABB's News
October2013
Page 7