So we mentioned a few days ago about the president sharing White house beer with the people. Now imagine if you worked at the White House and were told that you are now responsible for brewing White House beer! I mean talk about a party ice breaker... "Yes you heard right, I brew beer for the president. Yep, I get a paycheck every two weeks from the government for brewing beer". Talk about a dream job.

I guess the next best thing to brewing for the president would be to brew the recipes. The problem is, like with all government requests, is that the government doesn't like to release information unless forced to... even beer recipes! So what's the best way to force the government to do something? Submit a petition. That's right, one user on the social media website Reddit submitted a petition to release the president's White House Honey Ale.

The petition, like all petitions, requires 25000 votes to be eligible for review. So far there's only a little over 2500. So, I think it's time for beer lovers to unite! Go here to [Read More] and sign the petition. Your country is counting on you!

Candi sugar is a Belgian sugar commonly used in brewing, especially in stronger, Belgian beers such as the dubbel and tripel. It's a great source of fermentables and flavor and you can make it at home by following the intructions in this article.

It is probably best added toward the end of the boil, but a portion of the sugar can be added to the fermenter as well, just be sure that it was stored properly and you are confident that it's sterile. 

Boiling sucrose for a while in water causes some of the disaccharide sucrose molecules to split (invert) into the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. Some recipes call for the inclusion of an acid to aid the inversion process, but the importer assured me that the only ingredient in his product is refined beet sugar (sucrose).

Once some of the sugar is inverted holding it at around 285 presumably allows some of the newly created fructose to caramelize (caramelization temp of 220), while the more robust sugar molecules glucose (caramelization temp of 300) and sucrose (caramelization temp of 340) remain intact and more importantly fermentable.

The final addition of water allows the finished sugar to remain liquid at room temperature, making it much easier to add to a beer than lumps of solid sugar. 

Check out the following link for step-by-step instructions and pictures. [Read More]

(Credit goes to The Mad Fermentationist for the original research and providing the information above)

Check out this nice representation of the standard reference method (SRM). The numbers on the right show us which SRM value corresponds to each beer color on the chart.

Courtesy of ladolcevita on LoveInfographics

If you haven't heard yet, the term craft beer has just been added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Is this a battle won for the popularity of our favorite hobby?
I don't know, let's break it down.

Through the late nineties and into the 2000's, many of my friends didn't know what to call them and some of us said microbrew while others naively referred to it as "dark beer". Today I think most people realize that there are many different styles of beer.

The first time I heard the term craft beer, it was meant to distinguish itself from the large corporate brewers like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. After all, their products were made to appeal to the masses and tended to be watered down, low alchohol, light colored lagers that looked or tasted nothing like these other beers. I've recently heard a more tangible idea for separating players in the craft beer market. To qualify, production of craft beer should remain below 6 million barrels of beer per year.

So then what happens when these large companies add products to compete with all of the small to mid-sized breweries? Wheat beers like Shock Top and Blue Moon are popular examples of this. I would have to call them craft beer if judged by taste.

Personally, I'd like to think it has more to do with the attention to detail in recreating a style, or pushing boundries to create something new and interesting.

Then there's our beloved homebrew. I can't say that every batch I brew is the greatest...certainly not, but there are many that turn out just as good as commercial craft beer examples. Does this mean I can call my beer "craft beer"?

I think so.

At the end of the day (or the bottom of the glass), I guess we have to judge each beer on it's own and decide if it deserves to be called "craft beer".

Finally, here's how the dictionary describes it, like it or not:

Definition of CRAFT BEER: a specialty beer
 
produced in limited quantities : microbrew

First Known Use of CRAFT BEER 1986

Many love him, others don't, but regardless of your feelings on his policies, I think we can all agree that it would be fun to share a few pints of homebrew with President Obama and chat about our hobby or the day's events.

A recent article posted on the popular Washington food blog Obama Foodorama talks about the White House Honey Ale.

"President Obama is such a fan of the White House chefs' homebrewed beer that he's carrying a special payload of the stuff tucked away on his fancy black bus as he rolls through Iowa on his three-day tour. On Tuesday morning, during a "surprise" stop at the Coffee Connection in Knoxville, the President gifted a local man with a bottle of the very special brew. It's made at the White House by the Obamas' chefs, the first to ever do so in the history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"

"While greeting patrons outside the coffee shop, the President was asked about the White House homebrew by a man in the crowd, a campaign aide said. After the President described the beer, the fellow requested a bottle.

The President "sent out to Ground Force One and gave him one," the aide said." 

[Read More]

I really like this beginner tips article from an older issue of byo magazine. They asked their suppliers to open up the ol' noggin and dispatch some advice for new brewers. Topics covered are listed below and you can check out the full article here.

• Cleanliness
  
• Record Keeping & Research
  
• Ingredients
  
• Fermentation and Temp Control
  
• Boiling and Steeping
  
• Chilling
  
• Follow Procedure and Get Feedback
  
• Bottling
• Keep Oxygen Away

If I could add something to their list, it would just be to relax and don't worry if things don't go perfectly during a brew session. Try to define a process that can easily be followed and stick to it. As long as the equipment is clean & sanitary and fermenting temps are relatively consistant, beer will almost always turn out great!

The folks at Real Simple have a nice idea for summer picnic organization.

Set up your tables with ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, or any other picnic essentials by reusing six pack containers.

Not to mention your significant other will wonder where her "real" man went because we could normally care less about the salt & pepper shakers and flatware.  

Did I just say flatware??   Ugh

Toasting oak cubes can give a beer interesting flavors that cannot be obtained any other way. Using this chart, determine what kind of flavors you want and at what temperature they come out. The y-axis shows the amount of each flavor produced at a specific temperature.

Additional toasted oak information:
Toasting of the oak creates melanoidins:

• Heat breaks down carbohydrates into sugars in the wood

• Heavier toasts create maliards and charring, also confectionary compounds (custard/caramel/butterscotch flavors)

Does wood character remain stable or deteriorate over time?

• It does lessen to some extent, it is slow though

• Tannins (good body and mouthfeel) can come from wood

• Oak chips last about 2 weeks before tannins start to leach into the beer (body/complexity tannins) too long and it can become astringent (bad tannins, sour puckering). Can also add to dryness of finish

• “Doing it right” requires slow dosing of your beer over the course of months

• Higher alcohol beers possibly draw out more compounds form the wood.

Preparing your wood for the beer:

• Usually just throw the wood in (no sanitary steps)

• Some people put wood in water in microwave (steam)

• Some people boil water, throw chips in, shake a little, let cool, throw juice and wood in 
  fermenter. (Jamil sometimes pressure cooks his wood)

• Usually only sanitize for long aging beers (never any chemicals like starsan, iodophor)

• Brett (and other sour critters) can live in wood (takes a long time to become problematic)

• You can pasteurize the wood at 170 F for 5 min.

How much oak is used for a 5 gal batch?
Cubes: (impart flavor much slower) for aging after primary (in keg) use about 1-2 oz in 5 gal for 5 months to 1 year

• The longer the beer sits on the cubes, it penetrates deeper causing a variety of flavors

• The more oak you apply, the shorter amount of time it takes to show itself

• The flavor is different depending on amount placed and time left

• The flavors that come out first from the oak only become more defined with age

• It takes 3-4 weeks to notice flavors are melding (especially with cubes)

• Vanilla and caramel are first, then spices and cloves later on

• Toasted coconut for lighter toast oak

• Oak cubes will dissolve to “little nubs” after 1½-2 years of keeping them in a keg (Jamil did this with an English Barleywine, which became an award winning beer)

• Too little oak for too long creates bad tannins

• Too much oak does not create complexity of flavors before it becomes overwhelming (varies between different styles of beer)

I stumbled on this project over at LabJack and had to share it.  I'm talking about a table with sensors that determine whether a drink requires cold or heat or nothing at all.  You can check out all of the details on how to build your very own here.

I think I'd have to sit my bare ass on it when noone was looking.
What would that do?  Hmmmm.

I love any kind of beer day and especially one that coincides with football. This one is an August 5 celebration founded in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California. Since its inception, International Beer Day has grown from a small localized event in the western United States into a worldwide celebration spanning 207 cities, 50 countries and 6 continents.

Specifically, International Beer Day has three declared purposes:

1. To gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer.
2. To celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer.
3. To unite the world under the banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations together on a single day.

Personally, we will be celebrating this day by catching some preseason football!

Read more about International Beer Day right here.