Educating the masses

[Gymrat]

Almost all of my facebook friends are people I work with. A number of them in the past have talked to me in person about home brewing. Asking me what they would need to get started etc. So I did the following post on my facebook page

Today is brew day. For the sake of the friends I have on here who are interested in home brewing here is a little home brewing 101.

I am doing a SMaSH brew. That stands for Single Malt and Single Hop. That means I will be using only one grain, in this instance 2 row, and one hop, today Amarillo. SMaSH brews are learning tools. Just like you can't create a recipe cooking without knowing what your ingredients taste like, you can't formulate a beer recipe without knowing the end result of the ingredients you use.

Last time I did a SMaSH I used Munich Malt and Sterling hops. I used just enough hops to balance the brew, and a clean fermenting yeast ( S 05), as I wanted to know what Munich Malt tastes like after it is fermented.

This time I want to know exactly what Amarillo hops taste like. So I will be hop bursting and doing a hop stand. A hop burst is where you don't do any bittering additions. All of your hops are added with 20 minutes or less to go.You let your flavoring additions do the bittering. These beers are really good when they are young but as they age and the hop flavoring fades they become sweeter and sweeter. I will be mashing at a low temperature, 150F, for 90 minutes so the sugars will be highly fermentable to showcase the hops. I haven't decided on the hop schedule yet. I am thinking an ounce with 20 minutes to go in the boil and an ounce at 10 minutes to go, then cool the wort to 170F, dropping 2 ounces in, letting it stand half an hour before restarting my chiller. This should produce primarilly flavor and aroma while leaving the finish smooth if not a little on the sweet side.

On the yeast I am still trying to decide between Danstar Nottingham, which will attenuate much further leaving me with a thinner dryer beer, thereby showcasing the hops more, or BRY 97 which is a West Coast American Ale yeast, It won't attenuate as far, leaving a little more body, but could possibly obscure my hop flavor some.

[Inkleg]

That's good information Roger. The only thing you could add would be "The doors open, please feel free to stop by. First home brew's on me".

[FedoraDave]

A tantalizing look at the world of homebrewing. To someone unfamiliar, yet curious about the "mysteries" of making beer in your kitchen, you've done a remarkable thing; you've cleared up some of the mystery (mostly the idea that it's difficult/complicated/requires a PhD in chemistry), and yet you've added some more mystery (SMaSH? Hop schedule?) to heighten the curiosity and entice them even more.

Well done.

[Gymrat]

Thank you Dave.

Inkleg I have given everybody who talks to me about brewing a standing invitation to come over anytime I am brewing. And I do sometimes have guys stop by after posting on facebook that I am brewing. But you are right a direct invitation would be a good idea.

[Brewbirds]

Gymrat invite everyone on facebook to his house for free beer.

Gymrat has free beer.jpg (25.29 KiB) Viewed 188 times

[Gman20]

sounds interesting.....i might try this sometime