Love

Burnt' Beer, Camping at Tahquamenon

I made a batch of Milk Stout last weekend, I am in fact going to bottle it later today. 

This is the second or third of batch of beer that I have made in the 7.5 gallon, stainless steal, stock pot that I bought last year.  This is also the second time in a row that this pot has burned my brew.

This is after I had attempted to clean off some of the scale. 
I know think the bottom of this pot is to thin to prevent this from happening while still be able to boil the wort during the hops additions.
I have never made milk stout before and I am not totally sure what effect the burnt wort will have on the final flavor of the beer.  I expect the final flavor will be more harsh, and some of the fermentable sugars would be caramelized.
As for the pot I am not sure if I want get an additional piece of sheet metal to use underneath it and see if that helps prevent burning or if I just want to give up on using this pot and go back to using the smaller 5 gallon pot I used to use.

P.S.  I went camping last week for 3 days and before the mosquitos chased me out of my campground I hiked the nature trail at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan.  Here are a couple of pictures I took.

The State of Michigan is talking about legalizing a small wolf hunting season as the wolf population in the Upper Peninsula of the state is exploding.  This was a dead and stuffed gray wolf at an informational kiosk at the state park about that issue.



Enzymes used in beer, wine and spirits.

Summary

Enzymes have been of increasing interest in the field of beer and spirits.  Various enzymes are used in the brewing and fermentation processes at nearly every step.  There are some differences in the types of enzymes used for the production of beer and alcohol, but the processes of rendering fermentable sugars from a source and then fermenting them are similar.  There has been considerable work on enzyme science and the production of alcohol.  The creation of new processes to prevent deactivation of enzymes in low calorie beer production, to genetically altered enzymes that can split non-fermentable dextrins in to fermentable sugars, are two examples that will be covered in better detail later. 

In simple home brewing operations there are only two basic enzymes that are of concern, alpha-amylase and beta-amylase.  These two enzymes can control flavor, body, alcohol content, and a creamy feeling.  An entire family of enzymes known as proteolytic enzymes is capable of splitting complex protein chains in to simpler proteins and amino acids which can affect rate of fermentation, clarity, quality of the beer, and the head of the beer.  Small scale home brewers would not have to worry about enzyme concentration in most cases but as production moves to large scale manufacturing enzyme controls can give a much better control of the end product as well as speed up processes.

In other alcohol processes, wine liquor and even juice, enzymes are added to increase the yield of fermentable juices.  Most fruits and berries contain pectin which can bind the fruit juices to the cellulose of the fruit. Enzymes are used to dissolve the pectin in the fruit to improve fluidity.  Enzymes are also used to de-bitter the fruit juices before fermenting occurs. 

In industrial scale operations there has been a lot of research and development with respect to enzyme uses in all alcohol production processes.  One recently filed patent, 8334118, uses gene insertion to alter enzymes to remain active at higher temperatures.  Anheuser Bush has patents dating back to the 1970’s for the use of enzyme manipulation to produce low calorie beer.  These advancements in the use of enzymes for beer, wine, and spirits have created a new problem with the marketing of beer in certain global markets where the definition of what can be marketed as beer are strictly controlled.  Other people have worked to create enzyme supplements derived from sources that do not violate foreign market definitions for what can be marketed as beer.

            Beer, wine and spirits have been around for several millennium of human history but recent discoveries in bio-processes have begun to change the process of their manufacture.  By understanding the complex work of naturally occurring enzymes in biological systems today’s beverages are made with a new level of control that has never before been possible.  The market for low calorie beer would not exist without modern process designs that use enzymes.  Wine makers can now use enzymes to boost production from the same acreage of vineyards.  In every fermentation process enzyme activity works to improve the growth of yeast cells.

            This is a very exciting area of bio-process engineering and life sciences to get in to.  Enzymes and their uses are still being discovered and have broad implications that go way beyond beer, wine and spirits.  This particular field of interest, adult beverages, is worth getting in to since these marketable consumer goods have shown, through several recessions, to be relatively unaffected by economic downturns.  As an industry it is a very stable business climate.  Beer is also something that not every person can successfully create and it is something worth taking pride in when others, in mass, enjoy and celebrate your product.  For these reasons I find the topic of using modern science and engineering to produce a better tasting beverage very interesting.

            From the beginning there was always biological processes happening in the production of beer, wine and spirits.  Beer has always been made by steeping grains in water and then fermenting the liquid.  During the early stages of soaking the grains, the grain seeds begin to germinate.  This process of germination does a few things that all vitally important to successful beer and one unfortunate side effect.  The germination of the grain seeds increases the water content of the grain, causes the grain seed to produce its own natural enzymes, and uses some of the starch stores in the grain to begin germination. 

            Of all the enzymes needed to make good beer only one, beta-amylases is present before germination.  The others: beta-glucanases, xylanases, alpha-amylases, proteases, carboxypeptidases, and lipoxygenases are all produced as a result of germination.  The enzyme’s produced are heat sensitive and the process of terminating germination must be done carefully to prevent protein de-naturalization. The germination process is so closely controlled because the process of germination consumes the starches that are also required to produce fermentable sugars.  According to most studies best results are obtained by halting germination as soon as rootlets can be observed sprouting from the grain. 

            There are two types of barley grains that are used for malting, 2 row and 6 row.  The row of the barley refers to the size of the grain kernel.  Two row barley has are larger kernel than 6 row and can yield more weight per acre.  The 2 row barley kernel gets its larger bulk from more starch stored in the grain.  Six row barley will be able to produce more enzymes, by weight,  during the malting process but will yield less starch per kernel.  The 2 row barley will have more starch but produce fewer enzymes, by weight.

            The process of malting starts by increasing the percent of moisture content in the grain.  As germination proceeds the grains will begin to sprout rootlets.  The germination is halted by reducing the moisture content by blow drying the grains with 120F air.  Once the grain has been dried it is then roasted, malted, to the desired degree of darkening in an oven at 175F or higher.

            Because of the high temperatures endured during the malting process some activity is lost in some of the enzymes.  A recent study published in 2006 found a variation of one key enzyme used to convert starch to fermentable sugars.  Two of the enzymes primarily used to break starches in to fermentable sugars are highly susceptible to high temperatures.  Alpha-glucosidase has only five percent functionality at high temperatures but a variant of the enzyme with better temperature tolerances was found to exist in sugar beet plants.  This variant enzyme was then used as the model to create a new barley enzyme by adding the specific amino acid group responsible for the sugar beet enzyme stability to the barley enzyme.  Subsequent rearrangements of the amino acid chain for the enzyme have yielded three new barley enzymes that have improved heat resistance.

            Alpha-glucosidase is a member of a family of enzymes known as glucosidases.  Four of the enzymes in this family of enzymes are responsible for all the starch to sugar conversion that happens.  Alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, and beta-glucosidase each play important roles in splitting different bonds in starch molecules.  Each enzyme works by splitting the 1,4 bond holding together single sugar molecules, alpha enzymes attack alpha 1,4 bonds while the beta enzymes attack beta 1,4 bonds.

            Alpha and beta amylase are the two starch converting enzymes most commonly manipulated during the brewing process.  Alpha-amylase splits the 1.4 bond between chained glucose molecules at alpha 1,4 bond sites in the center of long chain starch molecules, while the beta-amylase splits the beta 1,4 bond sites on the edges of long chain starch molecules.  This duel action between enzymes makes them complimentary to each other.  The every splitting creates two ends to the starch molecule which can then be attacked by the beta-amylase.

Since both of these enzymes need to work together for maximum efficiency, during the mashing stage of beer brewing, the temperature range of each enzyme must be considered.  Alpha-amylase works best at the temperature range 149F to 153F and the beta-amylase from 126F to 144F.  Any temperature between 126F and 153F is acceptable to operate in.

“It is important that the all grain homebrewer realize that both enzymes generally work well together at temperatures between 145F to 158F.” (Papazian 247)

However, within this 27F range of operations there is a large variability in the end product.  At higher temperatures the active period of the enzymes is shorter and will lead to beer that is “heavy”, has a higher specific gravity caused my increased amounts of non-fermentable sugar.  Lower temperatures will have a longer enzyme activation period which will lead to beer that is “lighter”, has a lower specific gravity caused by fewer non-fermentable sugars and a higher alcohol content. 

            In other alcoholic beverage production this step may not be required, such as wine, when the sugars required for fermentation are not stored as starch in the starting material.  In others this step is complicated by the lack of needed enzymes to convert starch to sugar.  An example of this is vodka, which can be made from several different starting materials from potatoes to grapes.  In the instances where liquor is made from high starch materials enzymes are required to break the starch in to fermentable sugars in the same way they are used for grain brewing of beer.

            With some starting materials, notably fruit based liquor and wine, different challenges arise with the release of fermentable sugars.  Naturally occurring pectin binds the sugars of fruit juices to the inner membrane of the fruit, as in the membranes of oranges.  An enzyme also occurs in these fruit that breaks down the pectin binding these sugars but substitute enzymes maybe desired to increase the rate of pectin decomposition.

            Pectin refers to a mixture of polysaccharides that bind fruit juices to the cellulose fibers of fruit.  Polygalacturonic acid, polygalactose, and polyarabinose are the primary polysaccharides.  The enzymes that degrade these pectin compounds, pectinases, occur naturally in the fruit and are the cause of softening during ripening.  The natural pectinase enzymes partially degrade the pectin and create a soluble end to the pectin compounds.  The insoluble end remains attached to the cellulose of the fruit and increases the viscosity of the juice.  These pectinase enzymes do not act quickly enough during extraction.  During the process of extraction additional pectinase enzymes are added to increase juice yield.  Adding cellulases to the extraction process helps to break the bond between the cellulose and the pectin while the pectinase breaks down the pectin molecules resulting in better juice production and fluidity of juice.  The most common enzymes used in this process are pectin esterase and polygalacturonase.  A secondary effect of pectinase enzymes is the clarification of the juices by hydrolyzing the pectin chains and destabilizing the suspensions.  The common source of pectinase enzymes in both industrial and home scale production of wine is the fungus Aspergillus Niger

            Another important family of enzymes during the beginning mash of almost all alcoholic beverages is proteolytic enzymes.  These enzymes split up naturally occurring protein molecules that exist in the mash for the sake of creating free amino acids.  These free amino acids remain in the beer, called wort at this stage, until fermentation.  These amino acids are used by the yeast during fermentation as yeast nutrients to increase the rate of fermentation. At 113F to 122F certain proteolytic split some nitrogen based proteins in to amino acid groups, these amino acid groups are most useful a yeast nutrients.  From 122F to 140F still other proteolytic enzymes break down other protein molecules which effects character and quality of the resulting beer.  This can change the foam, texture, and clarity of a beer.

            One of the more disconcerting uses for modern enzyme development in beer, wine and spirits production is as a way to make these products from cheaper starting materials.  By identifying the enzymes required to produce quality reproducible beverages commercial enzymes can be created and used in place of naturally occurring enzymes which gives brewers the ability to use other starch sources that would be cheaper than standard grain malt.  These enzyme supplements, exogenous enzymes, are also used to speed up the brewing process, produce lower calorie beer, increase the percentage of cheap adjuncts, or reduce variability in per batch production.

BioZoom, #2 2008

            There are three steps in industrial beer manufacturing where enzymes are added to the system.  Most of the enzyme supplements are added during the initial mash to convert as many starches as possible to fermentable sugars.  The additional alpha-amylase added to the decoction vessel is an added step that is required for the use of cheap adjunct starch.  This step hydrolyses the starch molecules of the cheaper “cereals” and aids in liquefaction and viscosity.  The enzymes added to the mash tun perform the functions of splitting starches to fermentable sugars.  The beta-glucanase and xylanase are used to alter secondary characteristics of the liquid malt to make filtering in the lauter tun easier.  Filtering is required to prevent grain husks from entering the copper kettle where temperatures will allow harmful chemicals, tannins, to leach from the grain husk in to the beer.

            The copper cook pot will exceed the temperatures most of these enzymes will be able to survive as vigorous boiling typically happens at this stage.  The additional alpha-amylase added during fermentation is only done if low calorie light beer is desired as it will increase the maltose and glucose content in the fermenter.  The second addition of beta-glucanase will hydrolyze glucans to reduce the viscosity and aid filtration of the beer.  The lager tank is a special step only required for lager beers, ales will skip this step.

            The temperature control at the beginning mash stage and decoction step is the most sensitive area of control.  During fermentation the temperature ranges required for yeast survival are well below those that would inactivate the enzymes added in that stage. 

BioZoom, #2 2008

The alpha-amylase added to the decoction vessel, indicated by this temperature control graph, is a specially designed enzyme similar to what was mentioned earlier.  The particular enzyme being used here is an enzyme with alpha-amylase functionality that is sold under the name, Termamy®BrewQ and is designed for its ability to remain active at higher temperatures.

            Another purpose to for specialty enzyme additions is to produce beers that have lower levels of gluten in the beer.  By replacing traditional, gluten source, ingredients with gluten free starch sources the concentration of gluten in a beer can be reduced to levels required by market regulators to be called a gluten free beer; in the EU this limit is no more than 20 parts per million gluten.  One currently existing patent for gluten free beer lists:  buckwheat, sorghum, and millet as recommended gluten free adjuncts.  Gluten free starting materials are comprised almost entirely of starch and protein and lack the enzymes required to convert starches to ferment-able sugars.  In the patent for gluten free beer buck wheat is the sole grain used to produce the beer.  Enzyme and coloration additives are required to produce the final result, but the patent claims the end result is a totally gluten free beer.

            A final use of enzymes in beer is the effect of enzymes found in bottled beer on human health.  Recent study has shown one chemical imparted to beer by hops during the copper kettle is useful for stimulating anticancer enzymes in humans while inhibiting other enzymes that activate the cancer process. 

            Beer, wine, and spirits have been produced for several millennium but recent advances in biochemical processes have been revolutionizing the industry.  In some cases enzymes are being used to make a more reproducible product.  In some cases enzymes are being used to make a product that meets specific dietary needs.  Enzymes are used to increase process yields.  The use of enzymes has even made it possible to produce adult beverages from cheaper starting materials that just 100 years ago would not have been possible to use.  The current climate for beer and alcohol has been trending towards more complex flavors and with what we now know of the impact of enzymes on flavor, character and strength of alcoholic drinks scientifically crafted beer, wine and spirits will slowly become the norm.

US patent US 20020012718

            This patent was published on January,31,2002.

            This patent is for the process and materials used in the production of gluten free beer.  The process uses at least one gluten free cereal, named in the patent as being, buck wheat, sorghum, or millet.  The patent process examples all claim buck wheat to be the best of these options as it has natural flavors that closely resemble those of typical gluten malts used in beer.  The patent also lists as required enzymes for the saccharification of the gluten free starches, amylolytic and glucanases.

            While buck wheat has properties of color and taste that make it an acceptable replacement for barley it lacks the enzymes required to hydrolyse starch to maltose.  For this reason alpha and beta forms of both amylase and glucanase must be added to split the starch in to fermentable sugars.  It is also recommended to add 20 to 60 percent by weight of a gluten free syrup to the mixture, which adds additional fermentable sugars to the mixture.  The syrup is obtained by the hydrolysis of gluten free starches such as corn starch, rice, or potatoes.  By skipping the buck wheat and using a 100 percent syrup the enzyme saccharification step can be skipped.  The patent states that excellent results are typically obtained for 50/50 ratios of buck wheat to syrup.

            The starting mixture may also require a protease enzyme addition.  Since beer color is also an important part of beer quality caramel color may also be required.

            The resulting product is completely gluten free.  The beer produced is comparable to beer made from barley malt color, flavor, appearance and head texture.

            The procedure for the production of the beer is as follows.

·         Mix buck wheat, calcium chloride, calcium sulfate, caramel color, and water in copper kettle at 50C for 30 minutes

·         Add alpha-amylase raise to 78C over 15 minutes then hold at 78c for 15 minutes more

·         Raise temperature to boil, let boil for 30 minutes

·         Adjust pH of mash with orthophosphoric acid to about 5.6 pH

·         Transfer to mash tun and add 1 to 1 to 1 glucanase and alpha-amylase, and protease, saccharification begins at this stage.

·         Bring temperature to 72C over 15 minutes, hold for 25 minutes then raise to 76C for 10 minutes.

·         Sprague  grains with water to remove spent grains and extract remaining sugars.

·         Transfer to a cooking copper with gluten free syrup, boil over an hour with batch hop additions

·         Chill ferment and bottle by the conventional means.

US patent # 4272552

This patent was published on June, 9, 1981.

            This patent is held by Anheuser Busch and is for the process of making a low calorie beer.

            The process of creating a low calorie beer removes the carbohydrates from the beer.

            By carrying out the mash of the malt in a complete separate step at lower temperatures that inactivate microorganisms without deactivating enzymes in the malt the wort from the copper can be moved to the primary and secondary fermentors of a previous batch giving the fermenting process increased enzyme activity to help convert longer chain carbohydrates to fermentable sugars consumed by yeast giving the end product decreased carbohydrate and calorie content.

            By controlling the starting gravity of the unfermented wort it is possible to reduce the final calorie content of the beer.  This watered down beer is then added to separately mashed malt just before or during the fermentation to the desired concentration to produce a beer with the desired calorie content.  In this process each step is done by the usual conventional means.

            In a second way of controlling with ending calorie content of the beer is by simply using a concentrated fermentation process and then adding carbonated water to the ending beer.  The carbonated water is deaerated water that had the exit gases from fermenting bubbled through it.

            The patent claims that by treating malt mash at 55C for between 30 and 150 minutes the microorganisms present in the mash will be deactivated while the retaining enzyme activity in the mash.  By combining this active enzyme mash with wort headed to fermentation it is similar to direct enzyme additions in the fermentation process.  The treated mash must have all the microorganisms deactivated before addition to the fermenting wort to prevent contamination.

            The patent defines low calorie beer as being a beer between 100 and 95 calories for a 12 oz erving.

            This patent references other patents for low calorie beer for background information on the invention this patent covers.  The previous patents for low calorie beer include 3379534 which adds the enzyme amyloglucosidase to split dextrins that would otherwise not be fermented and make it in to the final product.  The patent 2223444 produces low calorie beer by boiling the wort in a vacuum at lower temperature to prevent lose of enzyme activity.  Patent 3852495 produces low calorie beer that is also low in alcohol by boiling off some of the alcohol and then introducing new yeast cultures to ferment the remaining sugars.  A final patent being referenced, 2782147 uses special hops, yeast, malt, and water with a diastase extract to produce a beer that is low in calories but high in alcohol content.

US patent #8334118

This patent was published on December, 18, 2012

This patent is held by the Verenium Coorperation and is for a specially designed form of the alpha-amylase enzyme.

            The patent enzyme alters the polynucleotide and polypeptides that encode for alpha-amylase enzymes to create a new enzyme with alpha-amylase activity but is capable of remaining active at larger pH ranges, higher temperatures, and oxidative states.

            A comparison of the different amino acid sequences being patented and the effects of each on the activity of the alpha-amylase enzyme created illustrate the usefulness of the patent.

Below these figures for the activity rates of the enzymes are shown the all the sequences being patented in the new alpha-amylase enzyme. The genetic sequences given also show the corresponding amino acid sequences below them.

            The patent claims that the new alpha-amylase enzyme is most useful in applications where the splitting of starches in to glucose, maltose, and other base sugars is required under conditions of high heat or extreme pH.  It is recommended in the use of beer making where large amounts of adjuncts are being used and require high temperatures.  The patent also suggests use of the new enzyme in bio-fuel production applications.  The enzyme is also capable of removing starch based stains and remains active in conditions typically found in detergent applications.

Drinking Beer: Hop To It, Medical Post, V42 Issue 2, Pg 19, 1/17/2006

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, 3^rd Edition, Charlie Papazian, Harper Collins 1996

Enzymes in Industry and Medicine, Gordon F. Bickerstaff, Edward Arnold, 1987

Enzymes in Brewing, Steen Aastrup and Hans Sejr Olsen, Biozoom, The Danish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2008, #2

Making a Better Barley for Brewing, Erin Peabody, Agricultural Research, V54 Issue 9, 2006

Wikipeadia.com

Enzymes in Beer, Wine and Spirits. Page 1

            Beer, wine and spirits have been around for several millennium of human history but recent discoveries in bio-processes have begun to change the process of their manufacture.  By understanding the complex work of naturally occurring enzymes in biological systems today’s beverages are made with a new level of control that has never before been possible.  The market for low calorie beer would not exist without modern process designs that use enzymes.  Wine makers can now use enzymes to boost production from the same acreage of vineyards.  In every fermentation process enzyme activity works to improve the growth of yeast cells.

            This is a very exciting area of bio-process engineering and life sciences to get in to.  Enzymes and their uses are still being discovered and have broad implications that go way beyond beer, wine and spirits.  This particular field of interest, adult beverages, is worth getting in to since these marketable consumer goods have shown, through several recessions, to be relatively unaffected by economic downturns.  As an industry it is a very stable business climate.  Beer is also something that not every person can successfully create and it is something worth taking pride in when others, in mass, enjoy and celebrate your product.  For these reasons I find the topic of using modern science and engineering to produce a better tasting beverage very interesting.

            From the beginning there was always biological processes happening in the production of beer, wine and spirits.  Beer has always been made by steeping grains in water and then fermenting the liquid.  During the early stages of soaking the grains, the grain seeds begin to germinate.  This process of germination does a few things that all vitally important to successful beer and one unfortunate side effect.  The germination of the grain seeds increases the water content of the grain, causes the grain seed to produce its own natural enzymes, and uses some of the starch stores in the grain to begin germination. 

            Of all the enzymes needed to make good beer only one, beta-amylases is present before germination.  The others: beta-glucanases, xylanases, alpha-amylases, proteases, carboxypeptidases, and lipoxygenases are all produced as a result of germination.

Enzymes and Alcohol (part 1)

This is just the introduction of my paper as I am beginning to write it.  At the moment I am having trouble finding good, useable patents that I can discuss.  (My prof wants at least 3 patents to be discussed.)

Enzymes have been of increasing interest in the field of beer and spirits.  Various enzymes are used in the brewing and fermentation processes at nearly every step.  There are some differences in the types of enzymes used for the production of beer and alcohol, but the processes of rendering fermentable sugars from a source and then fermenting them are similar.  There has been considerable work on enzyme science and the production of alcohol.  The creation of new processes to prevent deactivation of enzymes in low calorie beer production, to genetically altered enzymes that can split non-fermentable dextrins in to fermentable sugars, are two examples that will be covered in better detail later.  A secondary area of study on alcohol and enzymes has been on human enzyme mutations that effect alcohol metabolism in the body and how these differences are split by ethnic lines.

In simple home brewing operations there are only two basic enzymes that are of concern, alpha-amylase and beta-amylase.  These two enzymes can control flavor, body, alcohol content, and a creamy feeling.  An entire family of enzymes known as proteolytic enzymes is capable of splitting complex protein chains in to simpler proteins and amino acids which can affect rate of fermentation, clarity, quality of the beer, and the head of the beer.  Small scale home brewers would not have to worry about enzyme concentration in most cases but as production moves to large scale manufacturing enzyme controls can give a much better control of the end product as well as speed up processes.

MEW

Enzymes and Alcohol paper

This is just a reference dump for my upcoming paper on enzymes and alcohol.  Most of these sources are availible on the Amazon Kindle, which I totally love mine.

Enzymes in Industry and Medicine Gordon Bickerstaff.

Varitations in Alcohol Metabolizing Enzymes in People of East Indian and African Descent in Trinidad and Tobago

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Pg.242-252

Alcohol Production From Various Enzyme Converted Starches PDF file.

I have this coming weekend off, at work so I am aiming to have the rough draft pretty well hammered out by this coming Saturday evening.

MEW

Enzymatic processes in brewing and other fermentations

Later this month I have a 6 page research paper, rough draft, for a class I am currently taking in Bio process Engineering.  I am part of a 3 member team that choose to do a presentation at the end of the year on industrial enzyme production and use.  The area that I am focusing in on is alcohol and fermentation related.  My professor doesn't allow presentations on making beer, he used to but after too many people bought "Home Beer making:  The Complete Beginner's Guidebook" by William Moore Click here for the Amazon link., or other books like this, and presented their findings as a book report instead of an actual research project, he black listed this topic.  So I am only being allowed to do my paper and 1/3 of the presentation on this if I focus on enzymes and think outside of the box.

The next couple of weeks I hope to have a lot of information dumps on this blog for you to look at and even the various drafts of my paper.

At the moment I want to share some of the starting points that I have for this paper and presentation.

• Why home brewed beer is a healthier alternative to store bought beer, the mechanisms that cause higher yeast concentration in home brew to have higher levels of complete B vitamin complexes.
• Several enzymes are listed by name in section 3.6 of "Bio process Engineering, Basic Concepts" Click here for the Amazon link as useful in beer making and fermentation, so I would like to dive in to what those enzymes are doing.
• I would also like to explore how some yeast strains can produce higher alcohol content beer and what gives these yeast strains the ability to be resistant to higher alcohol concentrations.
• Finally, I recently bought an ingredient kit for Milk Stout which includes lactose and maltodextrin, how does this effect the fermentation process and what can we assume about the flavor of the end product.

Coming Out Forever

I AM GAY!  So stop assuming I am straight.

I recently switched jobs at the auto factory where I work here in Michigan.  At my previous job all my coworkers knew I was gay and only a few of them had a problem with it, and yes they were exactually the types you would expect to be homophobic.

Now I work in an entirely different area of the plant with people that I have never worked with before.  In the first week all the typical co-worker banter was brought up, "Are you married?  Do you have kids?  Do you have a girlfriend?"  It is really hard to know people well enough to know if they open minded enough to come out or if it would cause huge problems to come out to them.  They are all women and I don't think there would be a problem, but people talk and rumors fly pretty quick in that factory.

I also have a lot of reservations about coming because I know there are alot of bigots that work in this area.  These pictures all came from the handicapped stall in the men's room on this side of the plant.  There are a few racially charged comments written on the walls too.  Seeing this doesn't really make me fell better about the idea of coming out at work, FOR THE 3RD TIME.

I am 31, I have been open about my sexuality for the last 12 years but I am getting really tired of having to constantly come out to people all the time.  I know I don't really seem "Gay" but why does that mean you should immediately assume I am straight.  More importantly why does it freaking matter.

It's funny, It's been a while. (Perspectives on Alex Jones)

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything on here, if any one still checks this blog at all.   I am also sorry that this post has almost nothing to do with beer.  However with all the debate over gun control in the United States there is something I need to talk about, and specifically about the Piers Morgan interview of Alex Jones.
First of all if you didn't see the Alex Jones interview it is on youtube.&nbsp
A lot of people have had a lot to say about this interview on facebook and twitter since it happened.  The jist of it being "Alex Jones proves in 7 minutes why gun control is needed."  I agree, he loses it pretty quickly during this interview, but I have some incite in to Alex Jones.  (Did you know he has made quite a few movies.  I have seen some of them.)
So back in 2006 and 2007 I was heavily involved with a few of the anti war, anti Bush organizations that existed.  One of them, The World Can't Wait, I held office positions which included President of our local chapter.  (Latter I learned that organization was deeply entwined with The Revolutionary Communist Party.)  There was another member of our group that was always spreading the latest news to come from a website infowars.com .  This is Alex Jones' website.
This fellow protester I once stood with was always burning dvd copies of movies, "Lose Change", "Terror Storm", and "Freedom to Facisim".  The first two are both conspiriacy theroy movies made in a documentary style, suggesting that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were organized by the government.  "Freedom to FacisIm" is a movie claiming that income taxes are unconsitutional, the IRS, Federal Reserve, and the Treasury take our income taxes and pocket them, and that there is a huge banking conspiracy to rob us and our country of all our valuables.
Alex Jones made both "Terror Storm" and "Freedom to Facisim".  I do not recall who made Loose Change.  So that is who Alex Jones is, a conspiracy theorist who believes the government and banks are trying to enslave us with phony money that has no real value.
I was cleaning out my apartment this past weekend, to get ready to brew beer later this winter, and happened to come across a copy of Terror Storm by Alex Jones while I was cleaning, and that is when all this suddenly hit me.
I was drinking his Kool-Aid without question when it suited the emotions I had about George W. Bush and the Iraq war.  But now that I am not in that scene anymore and my emotions have calmmed and I can see him for the unstable scared white man he is. This is what has gotten me to thinking about what else my emotions may have clouded my judgement on and what everyone else's emotions have done to their judgement concerning the recent debates on gun control.
Emotions are running high on the gun control debate for sure, there have been a lot of horrible shooting tragedies in the news the past year and a lot of other news stories that scare us all in to feeling the need for increased self protection.  But if we could set the emotions aside and just look at the facts we would see what real problems and solutions are.
I just had a conversation with a coworker, an avid hunter and sportsman who grew up in the inner city of Detroit in the 60's.  I learned a lot from him just now about the gun control debate that makes me rethink things and some of it that I would need to look in to. What strikes me the most is that the majority of the gun control laws we need are already on the books but law enforcemnt is so under funded in these areas that these laws are uneffective.  In many other instances common sense is simply lacking on the part of gun owners.  As my coworker and I discussed if everyone that owned guns was required to safely store them in a un safe or other lockable area to prevent theft and child endangerment a lot of te recent gun violence would prevented.  We also discussed how there really isn't an effective way to track second hand gun sales, which is the way most criminals aquire guns.
So in conclusion it sounds to me like the logical solution is beef law enforcement so they can enforce the laws already on the books as well as re-educating the gun owning public on the responsibilities of gun ownership and how to safely store guns and prevent gun violence in their community.
I would like to thank Alex Jones for unintentionally awakening me to how my own emotions can cloud my better judgement and my logical thought processes.

Half an apple per acre

Making hard cider?  Maybe not this year.

It is October now.  We should be in the thick of apple cider season but thanks to the weather extermes of this year apple cider is in short supply.

There is a 127 acre apple ochard 6 miles from my apartment.  I went to pick up some apple cider, I need like 6 gallons to make a batch of hard cider, and found out that through all 127 acres they found a total of 6 use-able apples.  They have no fresh pressed apple cider this year.

There was an irregular warm spell in late Feburary early March that was strong enough to start the apple trees blooming.  Then mid March and April the weather went back to normal and destroyed the apple blossoms.  Then were was two weeks this summer of temperatures over 100 degrees and no rain.  All of this adds up to apple cider only being availble in chain stores, and for over 6 dollars a gallon.

I am now rethinking my brewing plan, Mead is now looking like the fall brew of choice.

Whiskey Barrel Stout. Yummm!

I cracked open my first bottle of Whiskey Barrel Stout and it is yummy.  Of course I am drinking this within an hour of leaving the dentist office from a deep cleaning and my lower right mouth is still numb, but what I am tasting right now tastes really good.

The whiskey flavor is definitely there but it is not so strong to overpower the typical beer flavor that one would expect from a Stout.  Of course you taste with your nose before with your mouth and the whiskey aroma coming off this beer is really nice too.  Over all I really like the way this beer has turned out and I expect I will be trying to brew another batch of this in the future.

As you can see from the picture this is a dark beer.  I would put the IBU's rating around a 20 or so I think, it is not very bitter at all.

P.S.  I am a bit of an indoor garden fan too and those are all bonsai in the back ground.

Bottling Day, Whiskey Barrel Stout.

After 4 weeks in ferment I finally got around to bottling my batch of whiskey barrel stout Monday morning.  There was an interesting cloudy film over the top of the beer when I opened up the bucket to prime the beer; I wish I had taken of picture of it so that I could actually show what it looked like.  I have never used oak barrel chips so I am hoping that this is okay.  I have also never let a brew sit in a bucket that long before, nor have I ever exposed a brew to temperatures like we have been having. I tried a small swig of the brew before I started pouring it in to bottles and thought it had an amazing taste, even warm and flat I kind of liked the little bit of flavor that I was getting.  The whiskey smell was surprisingly strong and in fact there is still a hint of that smell around, I have not yet thoroughly cleaned the bucket. 

I have also upgraded to 22 oz. bottles.  I love making beer, but I hate cleaning bottles.  So by going to 22 oz bottles from 12 oz bottles I have almost halved the number of bottles that I need for bottling and CLEANING!!!!!!!!

I am also pretty happy that 24 bottles takes up less space then 48 bottles.

I will be cracking in to one of these maybe this Saturday, so I will be updating when I know what they taste like.  I have an extended family get-together happening at the end of the month and if this beer doesn't kill, or make me sick before then I will introduce my family to this one at the end of the month.

I also recently bought the first of two 6.5 gallon glass carboys that I need to attempt hard cider this fall.  Any good recipes for that?

Catching up the blog

In an effort to make this thing a little bit more fun for me and more interesting for anyone that would happen to stumble across this blog I bought a new Nikon to start adding pictures.

June 24 I went with my sister to Chicago for the annual Gay Pride Parade, one of the original gay pride festivals in the country.

I don't know this ladies name but this is the second year in a row that I have spend Chicago Gay Pride with her and her group.  They are really nice, funny, and a blast to be around.  See even let my sister use her chair for a while and keep some of our Gatorade cool in her cooler.

Went to South Haven Michigan, a resort town on Lake Michigan for the 4th of July.  You can't tell it but just to my right the beach was packed.  I even witnessed two fights that had to be broken up by the police.

Since I am putting pictures of total strangers up here I guess one of me couldn't hurt.  This was totally an accidental shot of me while I was working out how to use this new Nikon, but what ever I am naturally ugly and this one doesn't look half bad.

South West Michigan, Beer Capitol.

I recently, about 2 weeks ago, tried two different Founders Brew's that were on tap at my most frequented local bar.  Both brews were good although neither were for the commercial beer drinker.  The first was amazing for its ability to reveal flavor in layers.  I might have the name wrong but I believe it was called Dirty Bastard.  It had a strong initial malt flavor that had hints for chocolate and coffee malt.  As the malt gave way you tasted the initial hop flavors and as the beer finally washed past the back of your tongue there was a definite final note of Cascade Hops, those being the only hops I can currently ID by taste.  The other Founders brew I tried I am even less sure of the name, but based on what I know about the beer and the descriptions on their website, www.foundersbrewing.com, it was probably Curmudgeon Old Ale.  This beer is aged in oak barrels to give it a hint of Scotch flavor.  I was totally in to this beer.  While it wasn't as complex as the Dirty Bastard it was smooth and would probably be more palatable to wider range of beer drinkers.  I would say they were good beers, but not beers that would make my top ten favorites.  (Two of my top ten favorites are beers that I make.)
Founders is based in Grand Rapids MI.......
 BUT......

In Kalamazoo MI, there is a beer renaissance going on.  Bell's brewery, by far the largest brewery in Michigan, keeps building up and getting stronger it would seem.  The have been more and more capable of bringing live music and entertainment to their Tap House in downtown Kalamazoo, acts such as The Verve Pipe and Dark Star Orchestra to name a few of the recent bands.  http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2010/04/kalamazoos_bells_brewery_inc_r_1.html

In the local news, however, there are two new breweries expecting to open up shop in Kalamazoo, one of them stating they expect to be open by this fall.  Arcadia Brewing, so named for the Arcadia Creek that runs through downtown Kalamazoo, announced they would build a second tap house on on the edge of the downtown area right next to the Kalamazoo River.  (Kings Highway and Michigan) Here is the news link to this story.  http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/06/arcadia_brewing_co_1.html

Another brewery, Boatyard Brewery, is set to come to Kalamazoo and hopes to be open this fall.  This one is a totally new brewery, we will have to see what their beer offerings are when it happens.  Here is the news link to their story.  http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/06/kalamazoo_to_get_new_brewery_b.html

Racking the whiskey beer

Holy Shit ya'll, that smelled amazing.  I transferred my beer to the secondary fermenter and added the oak barrel chips to the secondary fermenter.  The oak barrel chips have to be boiled in a small amount of water for about 5 minutes before being added, and man did that smell good.  My entire apartment smelled amazing. 

Upon checking the beer when I openned up the first fermenter it definately did have a much more vigorus fermentation than what I usually see.  The specific gravity reading was a waste of time for me because I totally forgot what its initial reading was and never wrote it down.

I am going to let the whole thing sit for another 3 weeks, the longer it sits the stronger the whiskey flavor will be, before bottelling.

The in kit instructions kept using the word Racking or Rack in reference to this step in thebrewing process and even though this is my 20th gallon of home brew so far this year and probably almost my 100th gallon over all, I still had no idea what Racking meant.  So I looked it up in The Joy Of Home Brewing.  Racking is nothing more then the process of transferring beer from one container to another.  It seems kind of stupid that, that process has it own name but for how often, no less than 3 times per brew, that is done I guess it makes sense to condense that idea down to one word.  I still don't understand why the word is Racking when Pouring, or heaven forbid Transfering would have been just as good a word and made more sense.