Club Posts

September Minutes

September 21, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

September 20, 2018 @ De Kleine Duivel

  • Introductions

  • Guild Update - Nate

    • Christmas Party Charity Vote
      The Guild is holding a vote for the beneficiary of their Christmas Party. Our vote is due by Sunday. We will post a poll on the website.
      The Christmas party venue is still in flux. More information to come. Raj is interested in coordinating a Baltibrew theme/table. If anyone knows businesses that would be interested in donating items for the silent auction, let Nate know.

  • Bylaw Revisions Update

    • Officer Reductions
      The e-board is recommending eliminating the Secretary and Brewmaster positions and merging their duties into the other officer positions. The specific verbiage will be circulated for discussion. This change is mostly due to the reduction in interest in formal group brews and the recent active member count.
    • Election Timeline Changes
      The e-board is recommending changing the officer term to coincide with the calendar year and streamlining the election process. This would move nominations to October, Stump Speeches to November, and elections/acceptance in December.

  • Discussion of Baltibrew Events

    • September 29th/30th - Sensory Panel Reschedule
      Jon still has spots open for his tasting panels. This will be the last year he will coordinate them. Barrel flavors will be on the 29th, flaws & flavors on the 30th. The cost is $20 for 1 session, $35 for the pair. Greg recommended that Baltibrew reimburse any non-covered cost that Blair might incur as a result of the lack of interest. Jon will provide cost information for later action.
    • October 12th - Chilibrew XII!!!!
      • This years beneficiary is the Teachers' Democracy Project (https://www.tdpbaltimore.org/).
      • Competitor signup is closed.
      • General Ticketing (https://chilibrew.yapsody.com/event/index/293111/chilibrew-xii)
      • Volunteering - A volunteer ticker is available on the yapsody page. It’s a great way to attend for free and help out with this awesome event.
      • Baltibrew Table - Kris will spin up an email thread to coordinate. We will try to run a new set of business cards to hand out.
      • Anyone who knows a business that may be interested in donating items for the silent auction, get in touch with Jacob. The idea of donating some "learn to brew events" was suggested as a way for the club to encourage attendees to pick up the hobby.
    • October General Meeting
      As many people are wrapped up in beer week events and attendance in October is normally light, the meeting will be held at Jon’s house and be informal.

  • Social/Event Updates

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • Nepenthe Brewery Update
      Construction is continuing. The homebrew shop will be accepting online orders soon. The roof doesn’t leak and electricity has been run. They are shooting for a November opening!

  • Iron Brewer Call for Challengers - Current Iron Brewer - The Reeds

    Jon challenged the Reeds to an IPA battle in December. Bring your entry!

  • Ed Topics

    • Yeast Capture Update - Tasting!
      5 different samples of Baltimore yeasts were distributed for tasting! Becky and Max’s capture from Riverside Park produced an extremely fruity aroma with a very clean taste. The Locust Point Flower capture yielded a mild-spicy phenolic profile. Anyone with tasting notes is encourage to email Kris!
    • Brut IPA Tasting!
    • Baltimore Brewing History
      Christophe is helping with a project to extract information from a book on the history of brewing in Baltimore. Watch out for more information.

  • Homebrew Swap!

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September Meeting @ De Kleine Duivel

September 13, 2018 by lpbrewer

As a reminder our September meeting will be at De Kleine Duivel next Thursday, September 20th @ 8PM!

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Baltibrew Yeast Capture: May I have your attenuation, please?

August 31, 2018 by lpbrewer

Back when we started our journey to wrangle some wild local microorganisms the biggest question we faced was not if we could capture yeast, but if we could capture yeast that would make beer.

Now we find ourselves at a crucial juncture. We need to measure the attenuative properties of our yeast isolates to determine if any of the samples can ferment the more complex sugars in a malt based wort.

Yeast is everywhere in nature, living in places like flowers, fruit, and tree bark. It grows by converting sugars into the energy it needs to multiply, producing ethanol as one of its coveted byproducts. All yeast can consume simple sugars like sucrose, glucose, and fructose.

Over the centuries many cultures developed rich traditions of fermented food and beverage. Before humans discovered the organisms responsible and assigned them names, people had already modified these lifeforms by reusing material from pleasing results. Brewers yeast, with its ability to ferment the maltose that makes up the majority of wort sugars, has been under heavy selection pressure throughout the course of human history.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, SEM image

The packs of dried and liquid yeast available to modern homebrewers are the culmination of years of brewing study and science. We are fortunate to be able to choose from a variety of proven yeast strains (and other organisms) when crafting our recipes.

The beers produced from this panel would have no such advantage.

Our project began in April when we prepared and distributed capture kits to our members.

In June, we triaged the results and jumped into the lab to plate and examine the captured organisms.

Baltibrewer Becky set to work this July, isolating and culturing up quantities of 6 strains of budding yeast. We decided the quickest way to find out what we had was conduct to a survey of 1 quart samples. The finished fermentations would be checked for specific gravity and pH drops.  If any results were pleasing we’d bottle a 12 ounce sample. Yeast cakes would be saved for future use in larger batches.

Becky stepped up the cultures in the lab over the course of a few weeks and tested the samples for purity. On August 9th we met up with our yeast for a brewday!

Our yeast isolates!

For simplicity, we used Briess Light Dry Malt Extract and distilled water for our wort. We added a single charge of UK Sovereign hops for a bittering addition at 30 minutes.

Original Gravity (Brix) IBU pH
1.051 (13.2) 20 5.26

While the wort chilled we sanitized jars and airlocks. Given the lack of headspace in our tiny fermenters we added a few drops of Ferm-Cap-S as we portioned the wort 7 ways (one extra jar for a US-05 control). We pitched our samples and to our pleasure within a day or two we were off to the races!

It begins!

Some jars showed more vigorous activity than others. We observed action in the airlocks of most. Given the homemade nature of our airlock fixture it was certainly possible our seals were not perfect. We decide to wait at least 2 weeks before checking the results. On August 29th, we gathered to investigate.

Getting down to the business of bottling.

We processed the beers one at time. A single jar was briefly opened and a sanitized pipette used to remove liquid for a Brix reading. After we assed attenuation, we moved on to a quick smell evaluation. Any interesting results were bottled and the finished pH noted. The rest of the sample would be transferred a smaller container and stored cold.

It was time! What would we find!

To our amazement, 5 of 6 samples showed a significant drop in gravity and pH! The threat of commercial contamination loomed in our heads as we recorded tasting notes from the uncarbonated beer.

To our pallets the cultures produced distinct flavor profiles in the fermented products, some quite notable! Between the variety of results, the different levels of activity and flocculation, and the fact that one culture did not attenuate well at all, we’re very hopeful these fermented beers represent true isolates from wild captures and our coolship barrels!

 

Sample Final
Gravity
(Brix)		 pH Apparent
Attenuation		 ABV Notes
US-05 1.012 (6.6) 4.07 76.4% 5.25% Did not save the yeast cake, tasted like a simple beer consistent with US-05
Caiti 1.013 (6.8) 4.42 75.1% 5.17% Pleasing phenolic/spicy aroma, malty sweet taste
Riverside Park 1.015 (7.5) 4.43 70.9% 4.88% Fruity aroma, clean flavor profile with low esters
Kwanzan
Cherry		 1.015 (7.5) 4.40 70.9% 4.88% Pleasing but more assertive phenolic/spicy aroma, mild phenols on the front, with a mild dry/tannin finish
Little Barrel 1.031 (11.2) 4.69 40.0% 2.80% Did not bottle, smelled like baby diapers
Big Barrel
(Dark Purple)		 1.016 (7.8) 4.42 69.0% 4.76% Malty sweet aroma with phenols, sweet estery taste with more noticeable body
Big Barrel
(Light Purple)		 1.014 (7.2) 4.40 72.7% 5.01% Cinnamon/earthy spice aroma, sweet and dry taste with a peculiar spicy phenol during the finish

We buzzed with excitement as we cleaned, dreaming of things we could do with the saved samples! But as we looked to the future, we also reflected on the road to this point. Capturing this many strains of yeast that could complete a fermentation was somewhat unexpected. How did we end up here?

Was our capture medium with its low OG, IBU, and pH a sufficient filter for the small amount of malt friendly yeast to take hold? Did the large number of initial captures followed by aggressive triage of moldy and failed samples set us up for a better success rate once we got into the lab? Were our expectations set too low to begin with? We’ll continue to reflect on the project as we wait to taste the carbonated samples at our next meeting.

With fall on the horizon we are eager to continue our quest to make beers with native strains of Baltimore yeast. Cheers and happy homebrewing!

A big milestone in our project: bottled beer and saved yeast from successful fermentations.

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August Minutes

August 17, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

August 16, 2018 @ De Kleine Duivel

  • Introductions

  • 501c7 Application/Bylaw Revisions Update

    • Nothing more will happen on the 501c7 application in 2018.  We will revisit this in 2019.

  • Discussion of Baltibrew Events

    • September 8th - Fall BBQ & Brew @ Jacobs
      The original event was scheduled for the holiday weekend so the event has been rescheduled to September 8th.
    • September 29th/30th - Sensory Panel
      Seats are still available, contact Jon if interested.
    • October 12th - Chilibrew XII!!!!
      • We have one sponsor so far and are seeking a few more. Anyone with a lead on an interested business should reach out to Jacob.
      • Competitor Signup Open we have 17 so far and are hoping for about that many more.
      • (https://chilibrew.yapsody.com/event/index/286756/chilibrew-xii-competitor-ticket)
      • General Ticketing to follow.
      • Volunteering is a great way to attend this event for free.  Caiti will be the volunteer coordinator. Reach out to her if interested.
      • Kris is going to chair the Baltibrew Table, if you are interested in brewing for the table, please reach out.  We are looking for 4 brewers to rep our club at the event.

  • Social/Event Updates - Jacob

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • Nepenthe Update - Things are as busy as ever! They are hoping to open their doors by November!

  • Iron Brewer IPA

    • The Reeds took home the Iron Brewer trophy with their New England IPA!  Congratulations!

  • Ed Topics

    • Yeast Capture Update!
      Becky grew up six yeast isolates from the group captures and they are currently fermenting in one-quart batches.  We will take gravity and pH measurement next week to see how well these solo organisms ferment.
    • May I Have Your Attenuation, Please!
      A discussion on attenuation and the new Brut IPA style.

  • Homebrew Swap!

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July Minutes

July 20, 2018 by lpbrewer

Baltibrew General Meeting

July 19, 2018 @ Nepenthe

  • Introductions

  • 501c7 Application/Bylaw Revisions Update

    • No new news on the 501c7 application as yet.

  • Discussion of Baltibrew Events

    • Sensory Panel Update - Jon
      Seats still available. Contact Jon if you are interested.
    • August 4th - August Brewery Trip - Greg/Jacob

    • August 16th-18th - MASHOUT

    • September 1st - Fall BBQ & Brew @ Jacobs

    • October 12th - Chilibrew XII!!!!
      If you are interested in brewing for the ChiliBrew table contact Carian.

  • Social/Event Updates - Jacob

  • Other New Business/Member Announcements

    • Thank you to Nepenthe!
    • Upcoming Monthly Meeting Locations
      • August & September - de Kleine Duivel

  • Iron Brewer Call for Challengers - Current Iron Brewer - Will

  • Homebrew Swap!

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November 3, 2018
  • Mead Day
    Location: Snyder's Apiaries, 4747 Norrisville Rd, White Hall, MD 21161, USA

Baltibrew is a collective of homebrewers dedicated to the art and science of beer.
baltibrew@gmail.com

Join us every third Thursday at 8pm.