February's Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 28th at the Fort Street Brewery. As usual, the thirsty hardcore who want dinner will start arriving around 5PM, people will drift in for an hour or so, and we will start our meeting around 6PM.The Brewery is located at 1660 Fort St. Lincoln Park, MI 48146 SW Corner of Fort St. & Warwick - 2 blocks N of Southfield Rd. Meeting in the dining area (5:30 pm - 7:00 pm) Homebrews in the brewery area only!!!!!!!! Phone 313-389-9620 http://www.fortstreetbrewery.com/index.html

A message from our president, Mike Krawczak concerning the billing at the Fort Street Brewery for our meals.

" I have met with the management at Fort Street Brewery and we have come to the agreement that we will have one dedicated waitress for our service, all food will be on one bill and all drinks will be cash purchase only. No mandatory tip will be implemented and it will remain as it is now - each individuals responsibility commensurate with service. Please be prepared to have the necessary cash available to contribute your portion to the bill total. Lets try to make this as easy as possible on all parties involved. "

Competition Results

We have no results to report. This month's competition is an AHA Club competition, American Ale, BJCP Category 10.

Beer News

Message from the President

Mike Krawczak

I would like to thank everyone who attended the January meeting and I apologize for the unplanned events that occurred during our meeting. I have been informed that this will not be an issue at future meetings. Moreover, the issue of our food ordering and paying practices has been brought to the forefront by the owners of Fort Street Brewery. They are not happy with the current arrangement and have suggested changes. I will be meeting with them to discuss the alternatives and will keep you informed as appropriate.

Our February meeting tentative schedule of events is:

• Presentation on the AHA (Chris Frey).
• Water Chemistry 101 (Mike Krawczak)
• The "Wit" Experiment Tasting (One 10 gallon Wit, split into five batches with five separate yeasts)
• Building a carbonation cap (Step 2 - The carbonation cap)
• The Clone Wars (Episode 2)

Our March meeting tentative schedule is currently open for any topics of interest.

Wit Experiment

This experiment was designed to identify the nuances of using different Wit yeasts against a single 10 gallon base beer split into five two gallon batches. I purposely brewed this batch slightly darker and with more bitterness than is standard for the style as follows:

The ingredients for this beer included the following:

Grain Bill #1

Pale Malt (6 row)
Flaked Wheat
Flaked Oats

Grain Bill #2

Pilsner Malt
Munich Malt

Grain Bill #1 utilized a multi-step mash from 104 -> 122 -> 154 -> Boil and then added to Grain Bill #2

Grain Bill #2 single step mash of 154 for 1 hour

Spices utilized included marmalade, coriander and chamomile

The purpose of the ingredients and parameters as listed above was to highlight any differences in color, bitterness or flavor due to the yeast used.

The yeasts utilized in this experiment included the following:

White Labs

400
Slightly phenolic and tart, this is the original yeast used to produce Wit in Belgium.

410
Less phenolic than WLP400, and more spicy. Will leave a bit more sweetness, and flocculation is higher than WLP400. Use to produce Belgian Wit, Spiced Ales, Wheat Ales, and Specialty Beers.

Wyeast

3463
From old Belgian brewery for production of wits to classic grand cru. Phenolic profile with subdued fruitiness. Well balanced estery profile.

3944
A yeast with complex flavor profile which produces a spicey phenolic character with low ester production. Phenols tend to dominate most flavors and dissipates with age. Ferments fairly dry with a finish which compliments malted and unmalted wheat and oats.

Brewtek

900
A top fermenting yeast which produces a soft, bread like flavor and leaves a sweet, mildly estery finish. Lends its delicious Belgian character to any beer, it is best when made with Belgian Pils, and finished with Coriander and orange peel.

Raise a Glass to Beer

relayed from Kevin Mueller

Kevin received this from his father-in-law. The article came from "Bottom Line's Daily Health News"

Beer drinkers tend to get the short end of the stick. While wine connoisseurs are thought of as chic and sophisticated, beer drinkers are routinely portrayed as slothful, pot-bellied creatures planted in front of TVs. In one memorable news exposé several summers ago, beer drinkers on working-class Rockaway Beach in New York City were arrested (no open containers please), while the mayor sat comfortably ensconced among wine sippers at a philharmonic orchestra concert in Central Park.

But now there's good news for beer drinkers -- it turns out that by and large alcohol is alcohol, and socioeconomic stereotypes aside, the health benefits of beer are not all that different from the benefits of wine. Of course the key word here is moderation -- most experts advise no more than two alcoholic beverages a day for men and no more than one for women. So what's so good about beer?

HERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH

An increasing body of serious research backs up beer's benefits...

• Bone protection. According to a medical team at Tufts University in Boston, beer may help prevent bone-thinning osteoporosis. Dietary silicon in grain products such as beer appears to reduce bone loss and promote bone formation. Beer contains silicate, a highly absorbable form of silicon that works by facilitating the deposit of calcium and other minerals in bone tissue. Margo A. Denke, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, cautions that excessive alcohol intake is a risk factor for bad bones, perhaps because calories from nutrient sources are replaced with calories from alcohol.
• Lower risk for cardiovascular disease. Like wine, beer has well-documented heart-healthy benefits. Regular moderate drinking has a protective effect in both men and women against cardiovascular disease, confirms Meir J. Stampfer, MD, DrPH, chair of the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. He told me that moderate alcohol consumption in any form has an equivalent benefit -- "Wine is not better than beer, red wine is not better than white and spirits in moderation are also associated with lower risk."
• Better heart attack survival. A study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston noted that moderate drinkers (who consumed more than seven alcoholic beverages a week) had a 32% lower risk of dying from a heart attack than those who drank no alcohol. Light drinkers (less than seven drinks weekly) had a 21% lower risk. Like other alcohol, beer acts as a blood thinner to help prevent clogged arteries. Other research links moderate alcohol consumption with improved blood circulation in the brain and lower risk for stroke.
• Improved cholesterol levels. In her research, Dr. Denke discovered that people who consumed one to three drinks daily had higher levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol. She also found that regular moderate intake of alcohol resulted in lower blood insulin levels. In a related US Department of Agriculture (USDA) study, women who drank one alcoholic beverage daily lowered their LDL ("bad") cholesterol and levels of harmful blood lipids known as triglycerides.
• Sharper brains. In the long-term Nurses' Health Study, Dr. Stampfer and his colleagues found that moderate consumption of alcohol seemed to preserve the mental abilities of older women. From 1995 to 1999, more than 9,000 women between ages 70 and 79 were interviewed regarding their alcohol use, and seven different tests of mental function were administered. Moderate drinkers scored better on five of seven tests, and on total overall scores.
• Healthier kidneys. At Harvard Medical School, Tobias Kurth, MD, ScD, assistant professor of medicine, and his colleagues examined data from 11,023 men enrolled in the long-term Physicians' Health Study. Over a period of 14 years, the participants reported their alcohol consumption and underwent regular physical exams and blood tests. Researchers found that men who consumed seven or more drinks a week experienced a 29% lower risk of developing kidney problems. (Read more about this study in Daily Health News, January 17, 2006.)
• Antioxidant effect. Japanese scientists have found that antioxidants such as polyphenols in beer may offer protection against cancer-causing chemicals. This echoes earlier research conducted in Portugal, which suggested that antioxidants slow the proliferation of breast cancer cells. According to Dr. Denke, isoflavonoids in beer are phytoestrogens that mimic the activity of the natural human hormone estrogen. In laboratory experiments, isoflavonoids have also been shown to inhibit the growth of breast, prostate and colon cancers.

Promising as all this research appears, talking about alcohol always requires special caution. It's all too easy to slip over the line from healthful consumption to overconsumption and physical damage, warns Dr. Denke. Yes, regular moderate consumption can benefit the heart, kidneys, bones and more... but by the same token, drinking too much alcohol can seriously harm vital organs and processes in the body. While we all think of beer as having more than its fair share of calories, in fact it is not significantly higher than other forms of alcohol. As always, moderation in all things is the best path to follow.

Forest City Brewers

Kevin Mueller

Kevin attended a meeting of the Forest City Brewers in January too.

In early January, I saw a post on the AHA TechTalk from a member of the Forest City Brewers in Rockford, IL (http://www.forestcitybrewers.org/). It happened that I was going to Rockford on business the next week, so I replied and asked if there were any beer related events happening for the days that I was going to be there.

I received back an invitation to the club meeting on Jan. 18 by the club President, Ryan Cooper.

The meeting takes place in a good sized, back room of the bar at a local bowling alley. Their club format includes a welcome and business update from the President, then a presentation by a club member. Afterwards there are two competitions, one is an open style, and the other is a defined style. Judging is done by everyone at the meeting who chips in $2 for a cup and 2 poker chips, and a favorite is picked by dropping your chip in a paper bag behind your favorite. The winner of each competition gets 50% of the money collected.

That night, I receive a nice welcome by everyone in the club that I interacted with. There were three other “newbie” members there who were checking out the club for the first time. I assume that they had as good of a time as I did.

The presentation was about Ben Franklin (Poor Richard), and the defined beer style for the competition was the published Poor Richard’s Ale recipe from Zymurgy. I learned a great deal about Ben, he was one hell of an interesting guy!

For the defined style competition, there were 5 entries. It was pretty interesting comparing beers that were brewed with the same recipe, but by different people. Each one was obviously similar, but definitely different. It was a cool experiment that I’d love to see the FORD club do!

The open competition had 2 meads and 3 different beers. Each had its merits, and it was difficult to decide which my favorite was. If I recall correctly, the meads took the #1 and #2 positions.

Overall, it was a great experience to visit another club and see how they conduct their meeting. Of course, it’s always a good time when brewers get together! If you have the opportunity, I’d recommend searching out the local brewers during your travels!

Next month's style is Extract Beers Categories #1-23. Extract must make up more than 50% of fermentables

Beer Events, Meetings & Competitions Bob Barrett