Nutrition Failure

Getting old is no fun.  That's what I've come to conclude on the eve of my 39th birthday.

I've been biking for years, but there's no hiding the fact that my biking would improve greatly if I:

1. Biked more often
2. Cut my pizza, burger, and beer intake

#1 I'm always trying.  #2 just isn't going to happen.

Whoops! Wheat Brew

My wife loves wheat beers.  When I say she loves them, I don't think that really does her love for wheat beer justice.  She really loves wheat beer.

At least a couple times a year, I brew a wheat beer for her.  In August, I wanted to get a wheat beer fermenting for her, since we were running dangerously low on homebrew.  I decided to do an extract for the simplicity and because I was doing it during the week, it's much quicker and easier to cook and clean up.

Niche Brewing with Fun Ingredients

I recently had the pleasure of attending a beer tasting fundraiser that a friend of mine, Tanya, held for the Mid-Michigan MS150 coming in July.  She's an amazing person who does an astounding job of fundraising (to which you can donate here).  Actually, while she does do great fundraising, what's really astounding is her ability to inspire others to raise funds as part of her team, thereby multiplying her impact. (This is Tanya and her dad who rides with her.)

I've tried fundraising many times before and its no easy task, but what's even more difficult is being charismatic and energizing enough to get other people to follow your vision and not just donate, but commit the time, energy, and passion to raise money as well!  That's the piece that I always struggled with, and that's something Tanya excels at.

ESB on tap!

My pal Pete and I started brewing together last fall, and we have several batches under our belts now. Being that we're both fans of hoppy beers (IPAs, ESBs), we've been focusing on those.

In March, we took on an ESB that has turned out terrific (we also did a pilsner at the same time that is ok, but not outstanding). Actually, we brewed a double batch of the ESB (one for Pete, one for me) and we decided that one of these we would dry hop with extra hops (more on that in a moment). We have been doing extract brewing, simply because its easier and faster and I'm kind of lazy.

Solving my Kegerator Problems (Hopefully)

I picked up a kegerator off of craiglist for $100 a few months back.  It had some cosmetic problems, but it got cold and seemed to be in good shape mechanically.  It included a gas cylinder and a beer faucet.  However, it's starting to fall under the "you get what you pay for" category.  The unit is a Beverage Air Model QM20, and since most Beverage Air kegerators run about $400 or more (lots more), I was feeling pretty smug about it.

I got it home and decided to pull off the plastic top because it was cracked in several places.  This wasn't too much of a problem and I replaced it with a plywood top that I painted then covered with plastic coating. 

I then replaced the beer line and the gas line (previous owner had apparently never cleaned them... ewww), and picked up new connections for the smaller "corny" or soda kegs that I'm using for homebrew.  This came to about $40 in parts.

So, with the top replaced, new parts installed, and beer in the fermentor, I moved it into place in the basement.  However, while doing this, I broke one of the welds that held one of it's casters in place.  D'oh.  Oh well, easy fix with a block of wood in the back corner.

I plugged it in and put a glass of water in the fridge with a thermometer in it.  Most beer needs to be 36 to 38F when served, so I wanted to make sure that it was getting that cold.

At about this time, I started to research how to turn this into a two-tap unit.  Unfortunately, I found that it is an old 2.5" tower (the metal tube that has the handle on it), and there is not room inside that tower to add another faucet.  This little change will require a new 3" tower (about $65) and of course, the new faucet, beer lines, and CO2 gas lines ($20 for the faucet, probably about $5-10 for beer lines, $30 for multi-port gas distributors).  This is starting to sound expensive.

Time to check on that glass in the fridge... the good news is as tested before buying it, it is getting cold.  However, I quickly learned that the thermostat was not working on the unit and it froze the glass of water completely solid within 2 hours.  I remove the block of ice, chip out the thermostat.  Get out another one, and turn the thermostat to the off position and learn that it will still freeze the water in the "off" position.

Now I've moved the Hefeweizen into a keg awaiting the kegerator... so, I decide let's just tap the thing, and unplug the fridge to make sure it doesn't freeze.  Of course, almost immediately after drinking beer one night I forget to unplug the kegerator.  This freezes the beer lines and pops the faucet open.  I don't notice this when I unplug it and about a half hour later, I've got beer pouring out all over the floor!!  NOOOO! 

The other problem with this solution is that tapped beer is very temperature sensitive.  Higher temps require less CO2 gas pressure, lower temps require more - basically this means huge head on the beer as the keg warms up.  Additionally, once the beer drops to about 34F (or lower) the CO2 gas gets trapped in the beer and will provide very little head and leaves a flat taste to it.  So, obviously, I have to get the temperature issues resolved.

I contacted Beverage Air and found out that they do not think they have ever built model QM20.  I provided all the details I could, but they just recommended I contact a certified service company to look at the unit.  So, I then went to parts suppliers and found they also claim Beverage Air never made a model QM20 and they can't send me a thermostat for it.  Someone suggested that I take out the thermostat and see if its got any part numbers on it, but of course it doesn't.

The solution that I've come to is to buy an external temperature controller and let it control the temperature.  These are about $65, so while my kegerator remains a good deal, its not looking like the bargain I originally thought.

Total price so far: $205 and some change.  Still have another $125-$130 or so more to add the second tap.  Though I have had (some) fun trying to figure all this stuff out.

Beer is better than Water

Here's the proof that we've all been looking for: Researchers at Granada University in Spain reveal that beer hydrates you better than drinking water immediately after exercise.

I ran across this, and thought, "well duh! I've been doing that for years!" And now, I finally have some scientific data to back up my assertions that sitting around drinking beer after mountain biking is good for me.

Garzon said that the rehydration effection in those who were given beer was "slightly better" than those who were given only water. He also believes that the carbon dioxide in beer helps quench thirst more quickly, and that beer's carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion.

Since this is a scientific study, so I'll assume there is statistical significance behind that "slightly better" assertion.

I see they recommend that men drink 500ml, which is about 16.9oz (sorry ladies, only 8.5oz are recommended for you).

However, knowing that

The average person loses around 1 liter (33oz) of water for every hour of exercise in sweat.

Doesn't that imply that I should drink at least 33oz of beer to replace it? I guess there is a reason I'm not a scientist.

When is Bad Branding Good?

On Monday, Detroit's NPR station had a story about one of the terrific Michigan microbreweries, Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville. They are bidding on a new contract to produce and sell a new beer for ... ugh... Kid Rock. As Rex Halfpenny of the Michigan Beer Guide points out, these kind of celebrity brews are a bit of a folly: "Remember Billy Beer, capitalizing on a past president? There’s been Grateful Dead beer, sports stars, Lenny Bruce, Thelonius Monk, Cole Porter... Elvira had a beer." But hopefully Bobby Mason (owner of Michigan Brewing Company) gets that this celebrity brews won't be his golden goose, but the contract may work to finance expansion. Especially thanks to Michigan providing tax breaks that will allow Mason to "invest about seven million dollars to buy the equipment and hire the people [160 people] he needs to brew the beer at his 76-thousand square foot facility."

Here's a link to the audio of the story

This is interesting (and perhaps good) way to finance expansion, if (and this is a big, fat, bold if) he's got an outstanding plan in place to capitalize on this publicity stunt. Because let's face it, that's all this is. It's got branding implications, but its publicity. The contract may be big enough to build the brewery and sustain it for a year or two, but what then? Does Mason have a plan to leverage this publicity to increase distribution or increase awareness? Will the folks pounding the Kid Rock Beer really make the move to another MBC beer?

I hope so, but even more, I hope Mason has a plan and not just a hope.

Photo (c): CelebrityRoyale.com

Keeping your market small

I brewed another batch of beer on Sunday. This time I decided to do a stout for the winter. I love the process of brewing beer, but the experience of buying the supplies was yet again very, very annoying.

First off, I do not care for the homebrew stores that are closest to me. I do not care for them at all. They are dirty, have terrible customer service, and are difficult to navigate. So, my expectations going into the experience were low. Very low, actually, because I called ahead to find out that they did not have everything I needed. The only store that had everything was over an hour drive away. I decided not to make the drive and set out for the store closest to me prepared for disappointment.

I my expectations were actually exceeded. Here's what I don't get:

• I don't get why they can't just simply sweep the floor. Buying grains means there are grains on the floor. Simply sweeping a few times a day would do wonders. Perhaps this is too much to ask, but I don't think so, since the guy behind the counter was watching videos online at the counter until I interrupted him with a question.
• I don't get why staff can't be (even mildly) helpful. I have been brewing for about 10 years, but I'm still learning. I asked what I thought was a simple question about brewing with fruit (which I've only done once with no success) and got a response so convoluted and filled with brewer's jargon that I was in worse shape than before I asked. When I asked for further clarification, I got a big sigh and referred to a book.
  
• I don't get why product can't get replaced in a timely fashion. The grains sit in big tubs in this particular shop. When the grains are gone, in theory, these get replaced from the sacks of grains in stacks on the floor behind the tubs. Of the 5 types of grains I needed, I found 2 were out. When I asked for these grains, I was told that they'd restock them "soon". Their "soon" must have a different reference point than my "soon" since there was no activity in that particular direction. I found the bag for one, opened it and took what I needed, but couldn't find the other.
  

On top of all that, I went home without everything I needed, because I already knew they were out of one of the hop varieties I needed, and as mentioned I couldn't find all the grain I needed.

And that was all just from one visit.

Ok, so I recognize that this particular shop is probably particularly bad. But having been to 5 different shops around the Detroit area, I can tell you that this is the norm, not the exception. Most people will say something like "Oh, its because homebrewers are such a small market" or "its just not viable as a standalone business in this market."

Sure that may be, but with "service" like this, is there really any question why?

Brewing for Festivals

On July 30, 2008, the Michigan Senate passed a couple bills that change the rules for brewpubs in Michigan (slightly). Under the current (well, now old) rules, brewpubs could not take their beer to beer festivals because the Liquor Control Code does not permit companies with a brewpub license to sell their beer off premise. It has to be sold at the licensed property for consumption on or off premise. The new law allows a non-profit (such as Michigan Brewers Guild) to obtain a special license that will permit brewpubs to sell off premise at beer festivals.

This may seem like a somewhat obscure rule, but it should actually make a substantial difference to brew pubs when it comes to building their brand. It will have an impact in a couple different ways: first, it will give brewpubs easy access to a substantial and very targeted audience - passionate, craft beer drinkers; second, it gives brewpubs more control over their product (more on this in a moment); and finally, it should give more access to competitions for brewpubs as well.

Some of you may be thinking that you've seen brewpubs at festivals and won competitions. That's true. But, under the old rules, brewpubs had to have their beers contract brewed at a microbrewery (a different license) to participate in festivals. This means that their beer was not brewed on their equipment by their brewers. Basically, this took away control of their own product for festivals - imagine a winning beer that wasn't actually brewed by the brewer at the brewery! Crazy.

I did discover that there is another license that brewpubs could have purchased prior to this rule to be able sell product off premise:

"The LCC application form for a special license for on-premises consumption, however, indicates that beer may be purchased by the licensee from either a licensed wholesaler or a specially designated merchant (SDM) (a person licensed to sell beer and/or wine at retail for consumption off the licensed premises). Apparently, some brewpubs have an SDM license for the retail sale of beer in addition to their brewpub license."

I am not familar with this license, but my guess is that expensive (and of course, would require new packaging equipment to take advantage of it).

While retail sale is an entirely different animal than a brewpub, the access to beer festivals is a substantially improved law for those brewpubs looking to increase their profile with consumer advocates.

Space Beer!

From BrandWeek:

Earlier this year, Andy England was deposed for eight hours by the Department of Justice. The CMO of Coors Brewing was one of many top-level executives grilled about a variety of potential antitrust issues leading up to the merger of MolsonCoors and rival SABMiller.

Amid the proceedings, an unusual document came to light. The female justice slid a memo from one of England's senior technical people across the table. "Are you familiar with this? Do you remember receiving this e-mail?" England recalled her asking him.

The subject of the memo: "Space Beer." The ploy of sending yeast into orbit on a space shuttle and bringing it back to Earth was one of the literally thousands of ideas England and his team had come up with since he joined the company in February 2006.

"They were very amused. She had to know if we'd done 'space beer,'" he said. England's team never did get around to brewing any cosmic Coors.

I wonder if space beer tastes any different than earth beer. I'll bet not, but I also bet it would have been marketed and priced much, much, differently. Heck, I'd pay a premium for the novelty of it... once. I wonder how difficult it would be to get yeast into space and back so that I could brew a batch....