SAMblog

New Brewpub coming to the East Bay

2011-08-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

El Cerrito will have its own brewpubb in mid-August. Located on San Pablo Avenue next to the historic El Cerrito Theatre and a block from BART. We're looking forward to checking it out!
http://www.bayareacraftbeer.com/beer-news/new-brewpub-opening-in-the-east-bay/

Keg Line Length Balancing

2011-07-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a great article found at http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2011/07/14/keg-line-length-balancing-the-science-of-draft-beer/

Keg Line Length Balancing – The Science of Draft Beer
...
So how does one design a draft beer system to maintain proper balance at the tap? The pressure drop depends on resistance in the beer line. Beer lines have two types of resistance – one due to elevation change (i.e. the keg being higher or lower than the tap), and a second due to the beer lines themselves which generate friction as the beer flows through the lines.

Lets look at resistance first to keep things simple. Here are some sample resistance ratings for various popular beer lines:

3/16″ ID vinyl tubing = 3 psi/ft
1/4″ ID vinyl tubing = 0.85 psi/ft
3/16″ ID Polyethylene tubing = 2.2 psi/ft
1/4″ ID Polyethylene tubing = 0.5 psi/ft
3/8″ OD Stainless tubing = 0.2 psi/ft
5/16″ OD Stainless tubing = 0.5 psi/ft
1/4″ OD Stainless tubing = 2 psi/ft

Oyster BBQ April 23rd

2011-03-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Because the last Sun in Apr is Easter, Chuck the Czech can't make it that day ... so we're happenin' on Sat the 23rd instead - same time & place. $12/ea for Malt & 1 guest; $15/guest thereafter; kids under 12 & non-oyster eaters $6.

Bring beer, drinking vessels, an appetizer/salad/dessert, and your own flatware & plates if you want to be really eco-friendly. We'll have plates/napkins/flatware.

Contact Mark Kornmann to reserve - We'll collect at the door.

Oregon back

2011-03-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

An annoying vestige of prohibition killed the Oregon homebrewing buzz last year when it was discovered that taking homebrew outside of your own home was illegal.

Home brewers and amateur winemakers throughout Oregon should lift a glass to the Oregon Senate this week, which unanimously endorsed a bill that would rewrite state law to allow homemade beer and wine to be transported and consumed outside the makers’ homes.

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/opinion/25935704-47/brewers-state-beer-homemade-oregon.csp

Exoplanetary Zymurgical Experimentation Underway

2010-09-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

What will humans think of next? Assuring ample tasty beer for astronauts, of course.
Astronauts4Hire, a nonprofit space research corporation, will conduct the tests on an Australian beer that has been brewed specifically for easy drinking in microgravity environments.

http://www.mnn.com/food/beer/stories/space-beer-headed-for-zero-gravity-bar

New Napa Homebrew Comp

2010-09-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Napa Bungbrewers have announced a new homebrew competition. It will be held at the Calistoga Inn on February 12, 2011. Paul Keefer will be the Head Judge for the competition.

There will updates and details posted at their website starting in October. http://www.bungbrewers.com/

The 32nd Annual California State Homebrew Competition

2010-09-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Bryan Gros writes: The 32nd Annual California State Homebrew Competition will take place on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at Stern Grove in San Francisco. We hope you will consider entering the competition. Please see the attached files, or the website for all of the details. We have reorganized the categories this year.

http://www.nchfinfo.org/state-comp

that last thursday thing

2010-08-25T20:43:00.001-07:00

Is happening again at Pi Bar tomorrow night (8/26). See below for more details...

Homebrewing and Drug Detox Tips

2010-08-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Home brewing is one of the oldest traditions when it comes to the brewing of various beverages....is how it begins, and it just gets weirder. Every square inch of this page is collectively the product of several robots working together to issue some transcendent demon spam.

Just beer-themed "all-your-base-belong-to-us"-style weirdness. Yes, it is the end of the world as we know it, so have a homebrew, and you'll feel fine!

Click if you dare.

Homebrew contests in Oregon illegal!

2010-07-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Note the telling statement quoted at the end here. Apparently the freedom to be an amateur artisan presumably isn't sufficient to eliminate blatant stupidity.

Earlier this spring, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission was contacted by a licensee to see if they could include home brewers in an event on their licensed premises.

At that time, the OLCC requested a Department of Justice legal opinion to see if there was any legal way to allow this under the current statute (ORS 471.403). The resulting legal interpretation was that under the current statute, home brewers lost their exemption to brew without a license once the product left the home.

Searching for solutions that would allow home brew and wine competitions to be held this summer, the OLCC asked DOJ to take a deeper look at this issue. After consulting DOJ general counsel, we have reached the unfortunate conclusion that no practical alternative exists to allow the home brew competitions legally within the framework of our existing statutes.

“We were really hoping that we could find a legal alternative for this summer’s events,” says Rudy Williams, OLCC Deputy Director of Public Safety Services. “We know that these contests serve as a springboard for professional hopefuls. That is why we are committed to providing our full support to the Legislature to find a permanent fix for this issue in 2011.”

http://www.ktvz.com/news/24370570/detail.html

Critical Mash

2010-06-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday a bunch of Malts gathered at Pi Bar on Valencia near 24th in SF where a lovely beer selection resides for your quaffing convenience. (but don't be a few minutes late ordering the daily pizza and beer special as I was, (it ends at 6:28) it appears the owner was the commandante in charge of a concentration camp in a former life and will have zero sympathy for your pleas for leniency regardless your pitiable reasons or the impressiveness of your association with a table full of hefty beer-world-intelligentia. Kein Verständnis!;)

The suggestion was made to make the last thursday each month a regular event there at Pi, and the suggestion to dub it Critical Mash has sealed the plan with a nifty play on words, and furthermore, encourages attendees to avoid the infernal conveyance known as the Death Monster to attendees of this new event's inspiration. In other words, drink and don't drive!

Hope to see you on July 29th!

Brewing TV

2010-05-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

Lifehacker
Vimeo channel.

48 down, 2 to go

2010-05-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma, the place of my birth, legalized homebrewing a few days ago. (I can finally move back.) The last two holdouts are Alabama and Mississippi. Jon Abernathy reports.

Anchor Brewing sold

2010-04-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Big news today, Anchor Brewing Co. has been sold to Griffen investment group.

Read it and let's hope we don't weep!: Google news articles.

German Firm Wins Right to Make Beer Called 'Fucking Hell'

2010-03-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Har-dee-har...and they better hope they make it smuckers good, or it will become the symbol of bad beer everwhere. "this tastes like fucking hell"!

: Der Spiegel

Oyster BBQ April 25th

2010-03-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Again with the endless oysters! This year the passing of our friend Rick Hendricks will inspire a toast, perhaps with some special beers from days gone by. Contact Kornmann for details.

Alcohol substitute in development

2009-12-31T00:13:00.000-08:00

From the UK Telegraph:
An alcohol substitute that mimics its pleasant buzz without leading to drunkenness and hangovers is being developed by scientists.
The new alcohol is being developed by a team at Imperial College London
The new substance could have the added bonus of being "switched off" instantaneously with a pill, to allow drinkers to drive home or return to work.
The synthetic alcohol, being developed from chemicals related to Valium, works like alcohol on nerves in the brain that provide a feeling of wellbeing and relaxation.
But unlike alcohol its does not affect other parts of the brain that control mood swings and lead to addiction. It is also much easier to flush out of the body.
Finally because it is much more focused in its effects, it can also be switched off with an antidote, leaving the drinker immediately sober.
...

Winter Brew Fest Jan 30

2009-12-17T16:04:00.001-08:00

The Brewing Network hosts its first annual Winter Brews Festival, January 30, at Linden Street Brewery-Oakland.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/ontap

SFBW10 Brewfest at the Beach Chalet

2009-12-16T14:10:00.001-08:00

Aron Deorsey, Brewmaster at the Beach Chalet Brewery writes;

As you may know SF Beer Week is coming up in February.We were sitting around one day brainstorming on what events to do for SFBW10. At first we planned on doing a beer fest and invite other local breweries. But then one of the owners had a great idea: Instead of inviting other breweries, why not invite local homebrewers to showcase their wares?
The event would feature, but not be limited to:

-Tables of homebrew beer available for tastings

-Homebrewed beer competition

-Homebrewing 101-how-to demonstration

-Some brewing tips and supplies for sale etc.

-BBQ available a la carte

Give him a call if you'd like to get involved!
Aron Deorsey 415.386.8439

Beach Chalet Brewery

1000 Great Hwy

San Francisco, CA 94121

Rick Hendricks

2009-12-14T19:09:00.001-08:00

We lost a Malt, an amazing musician and dear friend Rick Hendricks on December 7, 2009. He died after a year long battle with cancer. The news came during a huge gathering of his fellow musicians and friends at the Amnesia Club in San Francisco all gathered to pay tribute to Rick.

Cheers to you Rick, you will be missed.

edit: Here's a video of Rick and clips from the tribute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qs7YtsCE_c

2009 California State Homebrew comp results

2009-11-10T09:19:00.001-08:00

Best of Show: Rick Reineman English Barleywine
Anchor Homebrew Club of the Year: Bay Area Mashers
Sierra Nevada Homebrewer of the Year: Mike Mraz

full results are in this .pdf: http://www.nchfinfo.org/StateComp/2009Winners.pdf

mark your calendars for Saturday, November 6th, 2010, for the 32nd
competition. Start brewing now!

Craft Beer Personality Profile

2009-11-02T15:28:00.001-08:00

This group is more likely to spend time thinking about beer rather
than work. They are more open-minded than most people, seek out
interesting and varied experiences and are intellectually curious.
Craft-beer drinkers also skew as having a lower sense of responsibility
—they don't stress about missed deadlines and tend to be happy-go-
lucky about life.

Of course they don't even attempt to pigeon-hole the home-brewers...a
real rogue's gallery ;)

http://adage.com/article?article_id=140106

Tapped out: SF Brewing Company

2009-10-29T22:37:00.001-07:00

SF Brewing Company is closing its doors after 24 years.

Allan Paul has sold the place to Absinthe, but they will not be brewing, so the equipment is for sale. The place will be open as SFBC until they run out of beer or whenever escrow closes.

You can make really good sake says Fred Eckhardt

2009-10-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Beer Here blog talks about brewing sake, the other white beer: http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/2009/10/fred_eckhardt_decrees_the_seas.html

Guinness i-phone app

2009-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, you can get an app for pretending to drink a beer, that's old news, but a much more practical i-phone app has appeared allowing you to:

• “Locate a Pint” – Gives you the name, address, telephone number and directions to over 5,000 pubs that serve Guinness Draught, by using the iPhone’s built in GPS. The App allows you to invite friends from your address book in just 1-touch.

• “Know Your Pint” – Keep your bartender on his toes. This App settles how to pour the perfect pint once and for all. Follow the 6 step tutorial to creating the perfect pint, which includes a pint head ruler to make sure every pint is up to official Guinness standards.

• “DrinkIQ” - Important facts and tips to help you make responsible choices about drinking.

The new Guinness Pub Finder App uses the iPhone built-in GPS locator to find the closest pubs that serve Guinness Draught. Unique 1-touch invites make it easy for your friends to join you! The application costs $1.99 and can be purchased on itunes.

this tip brought to you by the 2beerguys blog: http://www.2beerguys.com/blog/2009/09/27/guiness-iphone-ap/

excuse me, 2 bucks? it's an AD for chrissakes!

Free beer gas!

2009-09-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

-longtime San Andreas Malt, Jack Dawson, takes brewing on the cheap to the next level;

Now you can have… free beer gas !

A couple years back, my sister sent me an Omaha Steaks Gift pack for Christmas. Amid the cow-cicles was a large slab of dry ice in protective plastic. After I chucked it, I began wondering if I could somehow find a way to capture it.

There were two factors driving this process. The first is my frugal nature. Friends have occasionally referred to me as a cheap bastard but it seemed a shame to waste all that potential beer gas. The second was the hassle of getting a CO2 tank refilled in San Francisco. The city council, in their infinite wisdom, passed a law years back stating that CO2 under pressure can only be transported in open bed vehicles. The last time I bought beer gas I had to grovel in order to be allowed to put a refilled 10 gal tank in a friend’s trunk. Since the hydro test date on that can now qualifies it for inclusion in a Smithsonian collection, and since I don’t own a car and can’t get outside of SF easily, I was forced to conclude I was S.O.L.

But back to cheapness.

I have now successfully harvested dry ice from an Omaha Steaks delivery in mid-June and converted it into beer gas. As of today (September 13th,) I have pumped dry the two 5’s which were in the fridge then, a full 3 and 5 gal. keg, and am pushing 2-5 gal. kegs through now with that same dry ice I collected in mid June. I still have some of that gas and expect to completely pump the 2 kegs I’m currently tapping, plus. This is also my 2nd attempt and builds on mistakes and observations made during the first.

But first a legal disclaimer…Don’t do this at home! I am not suggesting anybody try this. There’s probably several dozen ways I could have, (maybe should have), earned a Darwin award doing this but…ignorance is bliss and goes very well with a homebrew.

The overall concept is, you put the dry ice in a dry, clean, sealed 5 gal Cornelius keg. As the dry ice melts, you connect another dry, clean, sealed keg to that one to capture the gas. Sounds absurdly simple…right? NOT!

First off, dry ice is incredibly cold stuff and you have to be careful working with it. I didn’t weigh the block I used but I’m guessing it was 2-3 lbs. It’s really dense stuff too. you will need way more kegs than you think because dry ice expands big time. I used oven mitts and a large screwdriver handle to break up the block into small pieces and dump them and the dry ice snow into the “mother keg” Do this in the sink, because the stuff is brittle and will shatter and go everywhere. Seal the keg. My keg began to scream and moan for a minute or so as, first the draw tube, and then the skin rapidly chilled. Within a few minutes I could see first solid frost, and later an inch thick coating of rhyme ice covering the bottom third of the keg.

You’ll need one, preferably two, special-use hoses with ball lock fittings at both ends to transfer gas. I have both an out-to-out, built originally for transferring beer between kegs, and a gas line which came with my first CO2 system meant to screw to a regulator, with a ball-lock gas fitting on that making it an in-to-in configuration. This is the one I use to pressurize the beer kegs with captured gas. You will also need several clean dry sealed kegs. Besides the mother keg I had 1 additional 5 gal. and 3 more 3 gal. kegs waiting to accept gas. I needed them all and only had to vent a minimal amount of excess gas. How much you get is determined by the storage capacity you use but remember also that a beer keg maxed out with gas is not available for beer.

I connected one keg each to the in and out sides of the ‘mother keg’. Almost immediately, I begin pulling the relief valve on all 3 kegs at intervals. I wanted to vent all the air in the kegs and only have (mostly) CO2. I did this for about 5 minutes. At intervals I swapped out kegs and moved others in so I could keep the overall pressurization even, doing the same early venting to purge air. As the kegs fill they get harder to work with as the hoses become harder to connect and disconnect. Eventually, as the kegs reach their design limits, the release valves will start to hiss on their own. This is where it’s important to release pressure in the mother keg, then the full keg, (just a short blast on each), and swap in lower pressure cans. As time passes and you check the mother you will hear the ice become slushy liquid as it melts. You’ll know you’re almost done when you shake Mom and don’t hear any slush or ice and the rhyme ice starts to melt from the top down. This whole thing takes a couple hours, and I was in a well ventilated place.

When I was done I had 2-5 gal and 3-3 gal kegs pressurized to just short of the keg’s design limit. What I should now ideally have to dispense the beer gas, is another special-use hose with an inline regulator. I dispense directly from one keg to another in my beer fridge using the “in to in” gas hose described above. This means I must be very careful when transferring gas to the beer keg as there is no regulation. I’ve learned to dribble gas in but occasionally I’ll tap a beer that tries to blow through the bottom of my beer glass and gives me a refreshing head-to toe shower. This can make drinking a homebrew an even more exciting experience and one I highly recommend. And free beer gas is almost as good as free beer.

2009 State Comp

2009-09-11T23:00:00.001-07:00

The 31st Annual California State Homebrew Competition will take place
on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at Stern Grove in San Francisco. Please
visit the website for updated information over the next few weeks: http://nchfinfo.org/StateComp/StateComp.html

The Beer Hacker: Brewing on the cheap

2009-07-18T10:17:00.001-07:00

The prospect of brewing your own quality beer for far less than what
you've been paying retail has huge appeal, particularly these days.
But is it true? There's been some debate lately over whether brewing
your own beer is truly cheaper (in the long run).
http://beertastingleague.com/the-beer-hacker-brewing-on-the-cheap/503/

May 7, National Homebrew Day

2009-05-06T23:07:00.001-07:00

Cheers!

Alameda County Fair entries due May 23rd

2009-05-03T21:30:00.001-07:00

2009 Alameda County Fair Homebrew Competition entries are due May 11 thru May 23rd.

This is a BJCP sanctioned competition.

Guidelines and entry details online:

* under the <Competitive Exhibits Adults> link at the
Alameda County Fair site:
http://www.alamedacountyfair.com/2009fair/contests/index.php?row=0

* or at the Draught Board homebrew club website along with
bottle label generator:
http://draughtboard.org/babo/2009Announcement.htm

Final judging will be at the Alameda County Fairgrounds on June 6th.

BJCP certified and experienced judges please contact me if you would
like to judge.
Also let me know if you'd like to steward,
Roger St. Denis,
BABO organizer.

lofty, soaring tribute

2009-04-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Craft brewers are feeling their barley on this one:>

""I Am A Craft Brewer" is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media...and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg's Keynote Speech entitled "Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion." As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale "Audacity of Hops.""

Oyster BBQ

2009-04-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again to pig out on oysters & chase them with great beer!

Sunday 4/26, Noon-6 at the usual spot (San Pedro Park in Pacifica - Linda Mar east from 1 to its end; turn R, then immediate L into the parking lot). Bring BEER & a side dish/dessert to share, & since we'd like to be as "green" as possible, a drinking vessel, & flatware (plates optional; we'll have backup to cover the "slackers").

Oyster-eater prices remain $12/ea for Malt & 1st guest, $15 for additonal guests; non-oyster eaters & kids under 12 are $6; we'll have grills available for meat.

Send me your attendee list NLT Thurs 4/23 - I'll be doing check-in & collecting $$ at the door (no mail-ins to our PO BOX, please!) until it's time to grill oysters. MJK

Draft Dodgers

2009-03-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

For DIY brewers, Prohibition lasted until 1978. But once unleashed, they revolutionized the industry. www.reason.com/news/show/131411.html

...In places with a somewhat more permissive culture than Middlesboro, Kentucky, a semi-public home-brew movement began to emerge. The Oregon author Fred Eckhardt was spreading the gospel via his influential 1969 book A Treatise on Lager Beers. Charlie Papazian was teaching home-brew classes to aspiring beer makers in Colorado. Clubs with names like the San Andreas Malts were meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area to share tricks of the trade and taste each other’s brews.

something about Utah...

2009-02-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

Home-brewers still won't need a license according to legislation the state House of Representatives passed Wednesday, as long as they don't make too much.

The SAM blog is born

2009-02-26T23:33:00.000-08:00

Testing testing...