FOOLCiRCLE

Just finished the November Issue of BeerAdvocate Magazine, check out the ‘The Device’ on the cover, pretty cool.

BOOM! Page one there’s a picture of Ron Jeremy and the BA Bros, I love their sense of humor, ahhh. Per usual the articles in this issue are pretty tight and pretty short and don’t necessarily follow a full on theme, but at the same time they are informative and entertaining, just about what a magazine should be. First thing that is really worth note for me is the 9 Steps to Beerdom again, this time with Adam Avery from Avery Brewing Company in Colorado. Avery reminds me of DFH in some ways in that they started with one line-up of beers as there foundation, have progressed to a newer line-up of beers, plus have really pushed the boundary of high alcohol “extreme” beers. His story is very similar to a lot of the brewers stories that I’ve read: started as a homebrewer, became a broke-ass pro-brewer running there own deal, go big or go home, find your nitch and evoke the passion there, and always keep progressing.

Next was the cover story, or at least the story about the picture on the cover, ‘The Device’. ‘The Device’ is the brain-child of John Carnett a photographer and DIYer for Popular Science. Basically the idea came about to build a small-scale device that could showcase beer from conception to consumption.  So you can brew beer, ferment beer, and serve beer all from this one device, sweet! He says that he tells his wife that it cost $4500 to make, so I’m sure it was a nice bit more than that. Fortunately it seems for him that this thing has been a huge success for him and he is now in the design phase to help develop similar devices both on the homebrewing level and the professional level, very cool. Ironically when asked how the first batch turned out he never got to try it! He accidentally left a hose clamp loose and went away on a trip only to return to the beer no longer in the device but everywhere else. The only thing I would want to change immediately to this device that could be easily remedied is the fact that it can only brew extract batches, no all grain. Neat idea!

There was later another long article on homebrewing (not really normal for this magazine) that was like seven pages long and was very broad. The time-line at the bottom of the pages was neat, it covered the modern history of homebrewing from the mid 1500s to present day. After that the article was very general to me, like a showcase to bring in new homebrewers. Some of the topics included: online resources, required reading, basics, “advanced tips”, award-winning tips, and a piece about brew-on-premise places. Kind of weak overall, but glad to see homebrewing get such a big showcase in BA Magazine.

And of course there were like some reviews, or something.

The Big Lagers! issue, huh? Well, we’ll have to see about that one . . .

 

Looks like BYO couldn’t hold up the good quality they were carrying last issue, they totally dropped the ball. I didn’t hit an article that held my attention until page 30, an article on chocolate malt. Don’t get me wrong, I read every page up until page 30, it was just either about topics I didn’t care for or non-informational. Anyway, the chocolate malt article was OK talking about the characteristics, how it is made, how to use it in a recipe and then how it is used in commercial examples. It was then followed by four clone recipes that included chocolate malt with two of them actually being about beers that are good: Alaskan Smoked Porter and Rogue Shakespeare Stout.  In the middle of the article was a great (and cheesy) ad for the Sabco Brew-Magic System with Sam Calagione from DFH. I still think it is amazing that DFH started on a ten gallon homebrew system, amazing!

Next was the main article about “reiterated mashing, multiple mashing for massive brews” by Chris Colby (my favorite 🙄 ). It’s funny, it is an interesting article to listen to what he does, but at the same time he writes as if it is a break through technique. It’s true, I may not have heard of anyone writing an article about it, but I have definitely thought about doing and have heard of others doing it on-line. The worst part is the timing of the article. He talks about using two or three+ mashes to make one massive beer, cool, but with the prices of beer ingredients about to go through the roof this is just ridiculous at this point, pure gluttony. A neat idea that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to “afford” to experiment with.

There was another article by Chris Colby ( 😕 ) a little bit later called Practical Porter. Didn’t I read this article in the November/December issue of Zymurgy? Whatever . . . anyway, he goes on to talk about more than the history which is what Zymurgy was really talking about. He talks about the differences of dark grains chocolate malt, black patent, roasted barley, and brown and what kind of attributes one can look for from each malt and how to use them while formulating a recipe. Then he goes on to talk way too long about water chemistry. I know it is important to brewing, but he could have wrapped it up in a paragraph not a page. One good thing that I think he stressed more than once is that the beer known as Porter covers a vast spectrum with a large “sweet spot” and it is really a beer that should be brewed to your liking and not so much to style guidelines, my style.

Later there was one of the few “Projects” articles that I thought was helpful. It was how to turn your immersion chiller (what I have) into a recirculating immersion chiller on the cheap, nice. I actually had this idea a long time ago and posted it on one of the beer boards I go on and it was well received, but I never followed through because of the price of the pump more than anything. Also, this is how Garrett chills his wort, but he uses the “more expensive” route with the hard-core march pumps. This is a similar set-up as I have discussed before, but with a cheap effective pump, he suggests a pond pump or sump pump. I think a pond pump could be the way to go, but I have never priced one out.

The mag ends on a fun little article that a guy sent in about making homemade root-beer.  I have always wanted to make homemade root-beer, I even have the ingredients down stairs, but I have always been hesitant because of the problem this guy ran into: bottle-bombs! Yikes! I had that problem once, with my fifth batch back in 2000 and it is something that still scares me. One day, one day . . .