Homebrew Korea

So after a combination of sitting at work with literally nothing to do and the talk of calculators and the like on the forums, I decided to install BrewBlogger.  It’s a free, open-source “blog” that allows for recipe creation.  It has all of the major malts, hops, etc (descriptions included) as well as several tools needed for the brewing process.  It also has detailed descriptions for each beer style.  One of the most important features (I think) is the fact that it can import/export BeerXML files.  Check it out and share your thoughts and feelings on the forums in the BrewBlog: Recipe Creation on Homebrew Korea thread.

I have yet to add any recipes (as I’m at work), but have a look around…Homebrew Korea BrewBlog.  You can sign up here.  My appologies for having to signup/login twice.  It doesn’t integrate with the forums software.

Cheers.

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Did I really need another reason to drink beer?!?  Ya gotta do, what you gotta do!!  Right??

Research of the past few years has shown that silicon, which is present in beer, is key to bone density and overall bone health.  Apparently when we were drinking all that milk for the calcium we had it all wrong.  Silicon is where it’s at.  Vegetables are a good source of silicon, but the benefit of getting it from beer is that it is more easily absorbed from beer.  And the best part is that of all the beer styles, my favourite (IPA’s), has the highest concentration of silicon with around 41ppm versus ales at 33ppm and lagers at 24ppm.  I knew there was a reason I’m not a big fan of lagers!!!

See source article below:

Lager or Ale? Consider the Silicon Content of Beer

Drink that beer ladies, it’s good for your bones?

Youtube video:  

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I came across two more programs for designing beer recipes:

BrewTarget:

Brewtarget helps you brew beer. It is a beer calculator for brewing beer. Available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Compatible with BeerSmith. Generates instructions for you from the recipe! Hit all your targets with brewtarget.

Brewsta:

Brewsta, design, store and edit beer recipes. Cross platform home brewing software.

I haven’t used them, but they appear fairly decent.  If you are looking to a free alternative to BeerTools and BeerSmith, these are a few more options for ya.

Software brewing, Recipe, Software

Our friends at BeerSchool have just received a shipment of hops.  Instead of the usual three or four kinds of hops, we now have access to EIGHTEEN different varieties of hops.  Browse to their hop listings and have an eye.  It doesn’t say, but i’m guessing that they are pellets.  The average price for an ounce (28g) is around 5,000won with some hops going for around 10,000won (Northern Brewer: 10,000won, Simcoe: 10,000won Amarillo: 9,000won, Fuggles: 5,500won, Cascade: 5,000won).

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RateBeer.com has added up the results and released a list of the best beers in the world reviewed by people from all over the globe.

From the RateBeer Best 2010:

Nearly 2 and a half million times, RateBeer.com beer reviewers worldwide have raised a glass to review a new beer. The RateBeer administrators have tallied the scores and presented them in the their annual RateBeer Best competition results.

They have sorted the results into three categories: Overall best beer, by style category, best brewers in the world, and best beers by country (see the RateBeer Best 2010 link above).  Here are a few of the results:

Top Five Beers:

1. Westvleteren 12
2. Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter
3. Cigar City Bourbon Barrel Aged Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout
4. Three Floyds Oak Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout
5. Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout

Top Five Breweries:

1. Three Floyds Brewing Company
2. AleSmith Brewing Company
3. Cigar City Brewing
4. Founders Brewing Company
5. Bells Brewery

It’s too bad we can’t get any of them here.  I’d love to sit down one afternoon and sip away on the top ten!!  It’s looks as though S. Korea unfortunately didn’t make it into the top 100.  Maybe next year OB and Hite!!!  Hahaha.

Post mirrored on the Homebrew Korea Community Forums.

General 2010, RateBeer

There are times when introducing oxygen into your beer is essential to successful brewing but there are also times that doing so can have unwanted effects on your beer.

A key period in the brewing process where we do not want to introduce oxygen into our beer is when the wort is hot.  This is called ‘hot side aeration’.  Vigorous stirring of your mash or allowing the wort to free fall from your mash-tun to your boil pot are to key things we want to avoid.  Introducing oxygen into the wort when its hot is unwanted as it can oxidize the polyphenols (also known as tannins) which lead directly to the darkening of the wort.  The oxidation of polyphenols as well as the melanoidins in the wort can also contribute to stale flavours in your beer.

So when do we want to add oxygen into the mix??  The only time in the entire life of the beer where we want to add oxygen is after the wort has cooled, but before fermentation.  Oxygen is key to the successful reproduction of yeast cells.  The time after you add yeast to your wort until it is actively bubbling away is when the yeast cells are reproducing and oxygen is essential during this period.

So, how do we aerate our wort?  There are several ways one could do this, but two or three possibilities come to mind.

Personally, I let the wort free fall from counter height into the fermenter.  This allows the wort to splash and mix in the fermenter and will under most circumstances introduce enough oxygen into the wort for successful fermentation.  I have used this method for 2 years and have never had a problem.

Another method that some people use is an aeration stone and oxygen tank.  I have never done this but most homebrew shops carry a 2 micron aeration stone.  When this is hooked up to a tank of oxygen via a hose and inline air filter the wort can apparently be totally oxygenated in as little as a minute.

Lastly, you could stir and splash around your wort in the fermenter with a sanitized spoon or if you are feeling especially strong you could pick up your fermenter and shake it around.  Either way, you’ll probably need to do it for around 10 minutes.

So that’t it.  Oxygen is essential to the beer making process, but it can also have unwanted effects at certain points in the brewing process.  This is a fairly easy, yet important part of home brewing to think about and keep a handle on.

Happy brewing!!

This post is mirrored on the Homebrew Korea Community Forums.

General aerate, aeration, oxygen

This is pretty cool.  A wire 6-pack bottle carrier by OOMS, a Dutch company.

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General bottle rack

Bill, a friend that lives in Seoul, sent me a link this morning to Beer America TV.  It’s an interesting videocast featuring beer and brewpub reviews, discussion about different beers and styles, etc.  They just released their ‘2009 Craft Beer Picks’.  Three beers that sounds truly delicious and unique in their own ways.  Ohhh how I wish I could try them.

Thanks for the link, Bill.

General video

Just wanted to mention a new ‘tool’ for brewers out there: BrewAdvice.com.  It’s not your tradition forums or blog, but a purely question driven site.  Someone asks a question and other answer it.  I took a look around and questions range from ‘What makes my mashtun smell like vomit’ and up.  So it seems like anything goes.

General

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas with friends and family. I know I will. The day is bound to be full of delicious food and beer.

Cheers and Merry Christmas,
Rob

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