CRAFTconditioned

Homebrewers that enter or participate in competitions likely know that the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) released new Beer Style Guidelines in May. I had the opportunity to test run the new guidelines a few weeks ago in a “summer beer” competition associated with the county fair. Here are my thoughts. Continue reading

A couple of months ago, J and I decided to turn our life on its head, pack up everything, and head west to Colorado. We were in search of a better quality of life, greater job satisfaction, and an affordable housing market. Neither of us ever moved cross country. It’s been a real learning experience.

Brewing system set up in the garage

After nearly a month of living out of suitcases, our belongings finally arrived. We took one night this week to unpack and set up the brewery. Everything appears to have arrived safely, but we’ll conduct a hot water test in the coming days to be sure.

Here are some of our lessons learned in case they help you in your next move:  Continue reading

Over the next couple weeks, many homebrewers (and beer lovers) will be figuring out how to best travel with beer (of both the gift and souvenir varieties). This topic came up as a discussion thread on the Facebook page for MyLHBS recently, and I thought it was worth further discussion here.

TSA has no restrictions for transporting beverages under 24% alcohol other than it needs to be stored in checked luggage. Because I seldom bother to check luggage, I have less experience flying domestically with beer than I do flying internationally. But I compiled tips based on my own experience and some research.  If you have your own stories or recommendations, please share!

*  Wrap it right and wrap it well. Anyone who has worked (or witnessed) ground crews can tell you that checked luggage gets manhandled. If you’re going to travel with beer, wrap it appropriately. At very least, I wrap bottles in a plastic bag and towel in case the bottle breaks. Socks, then Ziploc bags, then dirty clothes seem to be popular combination. Bubble wrap is also a convenient approach – TSA can open it and retape it, as necessary. Another pricier suggestion is Bottle Armor (or similar tools). Whatever you wrap bottles with, be sure to position them in the middle of your bag for additional padding.

*  Pick the right bottle.  Traveling with homebrew will cause the yeast to re-suspend, but a worse fate is the risk of explosion. Even with pressurized luggage holds,  a bottle may explode if it’s already under pressure from over-carbonation. Keep this is mind when choosing which beers to pack. You may even consider traveling with newly bottled beer, before the pressure and trub build up. Since no one’s wardrobe benefits from beer stains and glass shards, remember that good wrapping will help to minimize the damage, so take the extra time to do it right.

*  Presentation. I haven’t had any issue traveling with unmarked bottles, but I also don’t travel extensively with beer. It doesn’t seem unlikely for an agent to start asking questions about an unmarked bottle. A simple label may help here. Or reusing commercial bottles with labels still attached may also help to avoid questions. It’s reasonable to believe you will always run the risk of bottles being confiscated or opened during inspections, though.

*  Customs. When traveling internationally, I have worried about getting caught up in customs to answer questions about yeast strains or other ingredients that may prove to be contraband. I once had a bag of trail mix confiscated by Australian agents because the dried banana slices contain seeds, but they didn’t raise an eyebrow at my bottle-conditioned homebrew. I imagine this is a country-by-country concern so I wasn’t able to find much information on it. Perhaps you have some experience with this?

Sometimes, just shipping bottles may prove to be the best option. The money you save on checked luggage can go toward the shipping costs. Of course, this approach comes with its own complications – different states have different rules and USPS won’t ship any alcohol.  Billy Broas covers the topic of ordering online well, and he pointed me to Jamey Barlow’s good tips on shipping it yourself.

However you choose to transport and share your favorite beverages this holiday, I wish you safe travels and plenty of cheer!

A [franken]storm’s brewing, which means it’s time to prepare to hunker down, assuming a worst case scenario. Preparing over the last week has been a two-step process. First, I needed to customize my emergency plans for the new house, then I needed to make sure I’m ready for this particular event — hurricane with possible flooding and power outage. I’ve discovered that brewing supplies have come in handy when preparing for emergencies.

Disclosure: In addition to coming from a family of worriers, I’ve done work for the American Red Cross over the last few years, so I have a particular interest in preparedness.

Since I moved this summer, I haven’t taken the time to update my emergency plan and supplies for the new location. Hurricane Sandy was good motivation. I’ve had a nagging to-do list in the back of my head since September, National Preparedness Month, so it’s just been a matter of taking the time to get stuff done.  This involves

•  Building a kit: I refreshed the supplies in my first aid kit and my “go bag”, including cash and updated copies of important documents.
•  Making a plan: I customized my plan with new evacuation routes from both my home and my neighborhood. I also updated my contact plan, coordinated with my housemate, family, and friends.
• Staying informed: I signed up to receive emergency alerts through email/SMS and pulled out my crank-powered emergency radio.

Since I expect to be hunkering down at home for this event, I made sure to have the supplies I might need on hand. I now live in an fairly wealthy, urban area where storms are seldom debilitating and the neighbors’ idea of preparing is apparently stocking up on gourmet cupcakes and wine. I didn’t see the run on standard groceries and supplies that are more common in the suburbs. This stage is where brewing supplies particularly come in handy.

• Potable water: Not only does a good emergency kit include a 3-day supply of water (1 gallon per person per day), an emergency water supply is also important for drinking and cooking, or even bathing and flushing toilets, should the main water supply get disrupted or contaminated. I’ve found that unused carboys or fermentation buckets are great for storage purposes. I made sure to fill a few in advance of the storm.
• Beer supply: Water is important, but having beer (or wine or booze) on hand provides another hydration source and helps to calm nerves. Booze can also be used to sanitize in a pinch. My homebrew supply has been depleted since the move, so I made sure to pick up a few commercial beers.
• Food supply: I usually have a kitchen full of ingredients. But it’s important to have some fast, non-perishable, no-cook foods on hand in emergency situations. Items high in protein are particularly important. For this event, I stocked up on instant-y meals, soups, chili, peanut butter, protein bars, soy milk & cereals, etc. Even if I don’t need these foods for this storm, they also come in handy for quick lunches at work or when I’m sick.

Now that I’m ready and just waiting on the storm to hit, there’s nothing left to do but kill some time brewing the first batch of beer in the new house! I’ll report back after the storm clears.

Tomorrow, I celebrate and enjoy the great breadth of autumn beers at an enormous beer jamboree, Snallygaster. A good festival calls for a good plan of attack. My typical approach is 1. make sure I can get in (advanced ticket) 2. make sure I have enough time (show up early and stay late) 3. drink what I like (which may require being selective) 4. remember moderation (eat and stay hydrated). Given the extensive and impressive beer list cultivated by Neighborhood Restaurant Group Beer Director Greg Engbert, however, I may need to outline a more specific plan. The survival guide posted by BYT includes insight from Greg, making it a great reference for mapping the festival.

I love that the large beer lists at many NRG bars are broken out not by beer styles but by flavor profiles. Knowing whether a beer is crisp, fruity, hoppy, malty, sour, etc helps any beer drinker, even newbies, to make a good selection based on what they like or what they want. I use this same technique when making beer recommendations to someone new to craft beers and beer styles.

Greg organizes his festival recommendations in much the same way as his beer menus. Flavor profiles are a great tool for mapping which beers you’ll drink and in what order. The rule of thumb when sampling a variety of beers (or other food and drinks like wine, sushi, chocolate, etc) is to start with lighter flavors and work your way up to heavier, more complex flavors. For festival goers, this could look like crisp lagers > hoppy beers > maltier Oktoberfest beers > smoked beers > sour beers > bigger, desserty beers. Of course, because of festival crowds, you can’t always be choosy about what you drink when. And of course, there are those rare beers that you’ll just need to grab while supplies last….

Tonight, I’ll identify the beers that interest me most out of the list of 150. Those are the ones I’ll try to prioritize tomorrow, maybe even in an order my palette will appreciate. But the most important goal of tomorrow, as always, is to have fun talking about and enjoying beer with other enthusiasts.

Do you have any other tips for how to tackle, survive, or enjoy beer festivals?