CHICKEN. NEXT MEETING: City Built 820 Monroe Ave NW Suite 155 Competition 6:00 / Meeting 7:00 July 19, Summer Beer Musings.

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1 The RUBBER CHICKEN NEXT MEETING: City Built 820 Monroe Ave NW Suite 155 Competition 6:00 / Meeting 7:00 July 19, 2017 Summer Beer Musings SUMMER APPEARS TO BE HERE NOW. As I write this, my forearms slide across my desk, slick from a thin film of sweat. Hold on, I need something cold... there we go, much better. I recently participated in a conversation about beer fads. Specifically what could be the next one? By beer fad I mean a sudden sharp increase in the interest and popularity of a specific type of beer or flavor profile. There have been many over the years. I am not saying that any of these beer styles that experienced a spiking trend in popularity have disappeared, just that interest seems to have cooled or become the new normal. This gave rise to the Gose, and less so, the Berliner Wiesse. Everybody had to have a Gose in their line-up. Last summer was the summer of the Gose. I m not going to lie, I like Gose in the summer too. I m drinking an Anderson Valley G&T Gose right now. Low Alcohol, quenching, cold. It helps me cope with the sweating. Sours, can t forget the sours. Maybe this was more a product of market differentiation. Established breweries starting sprouting sour programs like politicians do excuses. What would you rather swallow, a meticulously crafted justification for a miscreant s misdeeds, or a Wild Ale. The spring/summer this year seems have started off with this New England IPA haze craze. More hops never goes out of style, just don t boil them anymore. I do struggle with the haze. It goes against everything I have tried to do in my beer since I started brewing. So...another beer later, what could be the next big thing in the beer world? In light of the ongoing animosity towards Big Beer, how about Independent Beers? With the news recently of the Independent Label identifiers that the Brewers Association is rolling out, this could be a thing. Remember the hop craze at the beginning of the craft beer boom? When brewers would solve all their problems by piling in more hops. This gave rise to the Double IPA, or the Imperial IPA. Possibly as a result of the awakening in the beer drinkers palate. Joe Sixpack discovers flavors in his beer so Joe Sixpack decides to find out how much flavor he can get in a beer. Bring in the hops! Then there was the barrel revolution. Damn, this is good beer, you know what would make it better? Put it in a barrel! There are still people that espouse this philosophy. Whale hunters still line up for days for a beer they would not otherwise give two shits about. Founder s Breakfast Stout, so passe. Founder s Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Oh my gawd I just lost my mind! Along came the session IPAs. People want to have their cake and eat it too. Full flavor, less accountability. What they ended up with was an off-balance hop mess that gives a head-ache before a buzz. It s as if all those beautiful pilsners, dry stouts, saisons, or English bitters had never existed and the only other low alcohol beers were the fizzy yellow ones your dad drank. How about Tie-Dyed beer? Or Psychedelic beers? No not hallucinogenic beers, but brightly colored beers. Blue, Green, Bright Red, Orange, or Purple beers. I don t know how this would happen, but it could be cool. Maybe Beer Cocktails. I know this happens a little already with Radlers, Shandys, and blended beers. I m not talking about Boilermakers, Snake-Bites, or Car Bombs. What if a brewery made 4 basic beers and blended them to mimic other styles or flavors. I know I have done this to get rid of a homebrew that was bad on its own but was drinkable when blended with a better one. Even try to blend in other juices or wines. This could even work into the crazy colored beers category. Add fruit juices to create vibrant colors and fun flavor pairings. Add enough blueberry juice and you could have a Purple Drank Session IPA. I said it first! I think it is about time the Lager had its day. No, not yellow fizzy alco-pop. Often misunderstood and misrepresented, Lager beers have a broad offering of flavors and styles. They do not need to be light bland beers. Malty Marzens and Bocks. Dangerous Dopplebocks. Hoppy Pilsners or India Pale Lagers. How about a Multigrain Beer sporting rye and wheat additions but fermented on a clean lager

2 strain. This could be interesting. BA Dopplebock for you line standing lemmings out there. Think about it. What beer craze would you slap your chest and throw poo at a wall for? Strike up a conversation with someone and post your comments on the Facebook page or webpage. Speaking of that, now on to some current events. The Facebook Page. Primetime Brewers has had a group page on Facebook for a long time now. We have never had an easy way to contact and converse with only paid members. While we are an inclusive club, sometimes we need to address just the actual members of the club. We decided to make a Primetime Brewers Page. A Facebook page differs from a Facebook group in that it is public, and easier to access by anyone than a group. A group we can make private and only allow paid members access. So with this, we ask everyone to like and follow the Primetime Brewers Page ( PrimeTimeBrewers). At the end of July, the facebook group, PTB Members ( PrimeTimeBrewers), will be going private. Anyone not on the current roster of paid members will be deleted from the group. Again, everyone please like the page, Primetime Brewers. This will be the main source of news for the club. Some upcoming events to be aware of: July 15, PTB Summer Brewday at Greg Barnhardt s house. 10am at 844 Scott View Dr NE, Comstock Park, MI July 19, PTB Meeting at City Built Brewing. Emily Gieger from Craft Cultures will be sharing about yeast and Best of Cellar Beer Comp. July 22, 276th annual Beer, Brats, and Bocce at Applegarth s. 2-7pm at 2362 Meadowglen St. NE GR. Bring beer. Sign up on the webpage to bring a keg. July 6-Aug 15, O Connors Homebrew Competition entry window. Second chance to get into the 2018 Beer City Pro -Am. REPRESENT! July 7-21, Michigan Beer Cup drop off window. REPRESENT! August 3, Thursdy Thirstday 6-9pm B.O.B. downtown. August 18-20, Michigan Homebrew Festival PTB Campsite. REPRESENT! ALL OF THIS INFO IS ON THE WEBPAGE! BETWEEN TWO BEERS BY DICK THUNDER The Hop Head My next victim is a newer member, and a newer brewer than some of the past articles. A self-proclaimed hop head, you may know him from his recent contributions to the Rubber Chicken, the Pursuit of Hoppyness. The sometimes hapless, but always eager and passionate about beer, Matthew Moss. The Taxman hails from the culturally significant Marshal, Michigan. His career choice seems to run counter to his history as a jock and a ladies man. He was that guy in his riced out Honda Accord with the dangerous stereo system. How he went from that to an employee of the IRS, is probably a story for another time. He played football in high school and then afterwards, got into to hockey. He loves Griffins games at the VanAndel, but really wants to be one of the midgets in the circus when it comes to town. Matthew Tissy Poo started brewing almost 3 years ago when his brother talked him into trying it out. Since then, he has almost died, almost maimed himself, and nearly flooded his basement with beer. It seems every time I have been around one of his brew days, something goes wrong. One cold March day, his promising brewing career was nearly cut short. He was shut up in his brew shed with a new burner. Mossy was unaware that his new burner s air mix needed to be adjusted. He couldn t figure out why he was getting light headed and his kettle was covered in black soot. That night, with a massive head ache, he laid in bed and realized his brush with Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. He has had hoses freeze and burst with enormous pressure, soaking him in the dead of winter while brewing outside. Hypothermia was barely thwarted that day. He has had barrel bungs nearly implant themselves in his face. This one also caused a geyser of beer to issue forth from his maple syrup barrel. He had put a beer into the fresh sticky barrel that then started to re-ferment. After a while of building pressure in the un-vented barrel, Matt went to remove the bung and got a surprise beer fountain in his basement. If you have ever brewed with him at a group brew day, you know he usually forgets or breaks some integral part to his system. He broke his burner hose at Iron Brewer 2016, forgot his screen at Big Brew on Calder 2016, and at that same Calder brew day, tried to break my screen because he didn t have his to break. Not to be deterred by these setbacks and discouragements, Mossimo always seems to maintain his eager pas-

3 sion for Homebrewing. He loves hoppy beers. He is constantly honing and perfecting his IPA recipes. He credits Bell s Two Hearted Ale with awakening his palate. It really showed him what was missing in all the beers he drank. If he could only ever drink one commercial beer for the rest of his life, it would All Day IPA by Founder s Brewing Co. their colleagues have been studying the genomes of culinary yeast species. Given that humans started brewing beer around 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt, western Iran and northern China, the researchers expected that ancestors of modern brewing yeasts would date back thousands of years. He joined Primetime Brewers a few years ago when he fell in love with President Emeritus, Eric Fouch. Yes, he has a man crush on Fouchypants. 2Mossy says that Eric chatted with him about Homebrewing at his local brewery, Railtown Brewing Co. and invited him to a PTB meeting. Things were never the same. Fouch drew him in with his masculine wiles, and inclusive nature. Matt stayed because of the comradery and monthly respite from the rigors of family life. Primetime seems to be the place were Matt can enjoy his fantasy of being with Eric, Beer, and no one else. When Matt is not fiending for hops, he sips Mojitos and wishes he was funny. If he could, he would like to be invisible. He thinks that would be a very useful skill. Look out Fouch. All in fun, all in fun. Matt may not be funny but we have some good laughs any way. Happy to have you on the team Matt. --DT The Domestication of Beer Yeast By John Moorhead, AHA Competition Coordinator Farmers know that if they want to increase crop yields, they need to breed their best-performing plants. The same goes for cattle ranchers who breed their largest cows with their biggest bulls. This holds true for pets, livestock, crops, and brewer s yeast. Microorganisms can also be selectively bred. Humans have exploited the capacity of yeasts to ferment food and drink for centuries, and archaeologists and historians have argued that early craftsmen may have unknowingly selected for yeast strains that give beer its foamy, boozy power. According to research published in the scientific journal Cell in September 2016, humans have been domesticating beer yeast since the 16th century. That means we had been breeding yeast for desirable beer characteristics for over a century before scientists discovered microbes in the middle of the 17th century. Steven Maere of the University of Ghent and Kevin Verstrepen of the University of Leuven, both in Belgium, and Instead, the team estimates that humans domesticated beer yeasts starting in the 16th century, coinciding with a period in Europe when beer-making moved from homes to pubs. And as brewers moved around Europe and to the New World, they took their yeasts with them. For example, US ale yeasts are closely related to British strains. Today s brewers have intimate knowledge of yeast, and they choose strains that improve their product and impart particular flavors. Until the work of Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who identified microscopic organisms in the middle of the 17th century, followed by Louis Pasteur discovery of yeast s connection to fermentation in the 19th century (prior to that, many believed fermentation to be a magical process sometimes referred to as Godisgood), nobody knew microorganisms existed. However, brewers used a technique called backslopping in which part of an old batch of beer yeast and all was used to inoculate a new batch. Brewers took from a batch of beer they liked and continued using it, not realizing they were fine tuning favorable yeast strains to their liking, effectively domesticating them. Maere and Verstrepen suspected that regular backslopping would have caused yeasts to develop traits that helped them thrive in human environments but struggle to survive in the wild. Working with a team from White Labs, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 157 different strains of yeast used to make beer, wine, spirits, bread and bioethanol. The process by which brewers have chosen specific yeast strains over time has caused brewer s yeast to grow more distinct from its feral cousins than have microbes used for other commercial fermentations. Two major lineages of beer yeast were identified, one of which had been domesticated from wild species. The beer yeasts showed signs of human influence they ve become quite dependent on brewing to survive, with many strains losing their ability to reproduce sexually. This is important because, during times of trouble, yeasts send sturdy spores out into the world to find somewhere to continue their genes. Beer yeasts have lost the genes for sex and have instead put their energy into beer. Many strains that had lost their genes for sex maintained multiple copies of genes that allow them to grow on wort sugars. The yeasts used for other fermentation drinks, like wine and spirits, have more in common with related lineages and show that they continue to frequently mix with wild strains. We compare [yeasts used for wine or sake] to cats, while beer [yeast strains] are really more like dogs, Verstrepen laughs in an audio clip of the study. Beer is made all year,

4 and so these yeasts are fed all year, they re really quite spoiled, and they wouldn t stand a chance outside. And wine yeasts have to survive in an environment without human help. Yeasts for wine arrive on grape skins but only are necessary for a brief period of the winemaking process. These wine strains may come and go as they please, while beer yeasts have been intentionally trained for our pleasure. So what does this all mean for Maere, Verstrepen and their teams? They are trying to make better beer yeast just by breeding. And while the team of researchers owes a lot to brewers who have trained yeasts to make better beer, they now know which genes create specific traits and can begin combining properties of one yeast with those of another to make entirely new yeast strains that deliver what the consumer wants. Exploring the German Technique of Krausening It s a day or two after the yeast was pitched in your most recent homebrew and there are signs of fermentation in the form of foam called krausen. A few days later, the rocky froth nearly fills the headspace of your fermenter as the yeast work through their busiest period, known as high -krausen. German lager brewers traditionally took highkrausen wort from a newly fermenting batch and added it to a fullyfermented batch of the same recipe. This process, known as krausening, introduces healthy, new yeast to pick up where the primary yeast which went dormant due to the layering temperatures left off. The Uses of Krausening Carbonation: Because of the German beer purity law (the Reinheitsgebot), use of sugars not derived from malt was not allowed, so alternative means were needed to supply a small dose of sugar for the yeast to convert and ultimately carbonate beer. The solution was to add high-krausen wort of the same recipe to an already fermented batch to provide the sugar needed for bottle carbonation. The same technique can also be implemented when naturally carbonating in casks and firkins. Some brewers will add non-fermented wort called speise as the priming sugar, but the addition of active yeast from krausening was essential in carbonating lagers. (Re)Start Fermentation: While all instances of krausening are technically activating fermentation, the process can be used for various instances of either starting or restarting fermentation. Using the krausening technique to initiate fermentation is essentially the same as making a starter, where the entire contents of the starter would be added to the wort at the height of its activity. If you are experiencing stuck fermentation or need to finish off a high-gravity beer, krausening adds more healthy yeast that are up to the task. And, as was the case in traditional brewing, krausening can be used to add more yeast to a finished lager ready for conditioning and carbonation where the initial yeast has gone dormant due to the chilly fermentation temperatures. Cleaning Up Green & Off Flavors: While carbonation was the primary goal of krausening in traditional German lager brewing, it was also recognized as a way to clean up some of the green qualities found in young beer by aiding the maturation process. It can also be used to help with flaws such as diacetyl and acetylaldehyde. Adding more yeast through krausening is also said to help reduce oxidation in batches that may have been unintentionally aerated. May Meeting Notes: Treasury Report: $1,600ish There were 10 entries for the June beer/food competition. Juicy IPA w/ paprika chicken (1st) Porter w/ beer marinated venison/steak Pale Ale w/ blackberry bread pudding (3rd) Brown Ale w/ Bison meatballs Oat Pale Ale w/ carrot cake Milk Stout w/ cupcakes Belgian Golden Strong w/ smoked spam Californial Common w/ pork spareribs Robust porter w/ Italian meatballs Oat Pale Ale w/ quinoa jambalaya (2nd) Thursty Thirsday start times have been moved back to allow more people to attend. Start times will now be 6:00, & we may adjust time as needed, depending on the venue. Also, the November & December locations have been updated. For the 11th annual BB&B at John s, the club jockey box will be there. Please bring beer! MI Beer Cup registration for entries is now open. New club T-Shirts are available. $15 for standard sizes. The next club brew day is July 15, at Greg Barnhardt s place. 844 Scott View Dr NE, Comstock Park, 10am Katesse have volunteered to be the food meisters for the club. July & August are covered. If you re interested in helping out, see one of them. At the July meeting, Emily Geiger from Craft Cultures will be the special guest. Don t miss this meeting! Discussed the MI Iron Brewer. Only 4 teams from the west side of the state. This should be interesting as there were 4 special ingredients. Sea salt, Pink Himalayan sea salt, smoked cherry malt, & smoked beachwood malt. Send PayPal payments to: primetimebrewersmi@gmail.com

5 PRIMETIME BREWERS COMPETITION PAGE 2017 Club Competition Calendar January Pale American Ale (18 A & B) February Belgian Ale (24 A, B & C) March Extract (any style, steeping grains allowed) April Best of Cellar Cider (all) May American IPA (21 A) June Beer & Food Pairing July Best of Cellar Beer (all) August European Sour Ale (23 all) September Dark European Lager (8 A & B) October Baltic Porter (9 C) November Best of Cellar Mead (all) 2017 Brewer of the Year To Date Jessie Colclasure 40 Jeremy Gavin 36 Chad Zomerlei 32 John Applegarth 12 Kathy Troxell 8 Jeff Carlson 8 Brent Zomerlei 4 Steve Naylor 4 Paul Curran 4 Non-PTB Competitions can be found at: First Thursday Destinations Jan Harmony Hall Feb Knickerbocker Mar Hideout Apr Cellar BC May Rockford BC Jun Cedar Springs BC Jul HopCat Aug BOB s Brewery Sep Schmohz Oct White Flame Nov Thornapple Dec City Built SAVE THE DATE(S) Future RC or Food contributors: Greg Barnhardt Ian Purvis Club Officers President: Jeremy Gavin V. P.: Ric Brown Treasurer: Jeff Carlson Sec & RC Editor: Chad Zomerlei (jabrews@gmail.com) (ricbrown67@gmail.com) (carlsonj@gvsu.edu) (zomerlcp@gmail.com) July 6-Aug 15, O Connors Homebrew Competition entry window July 7-21, Michigan Beer Cup drop off window July 10 Off flavor Siciliano s July 15 Club Brew Day July 22 Annual Beers, Brats, and Bocce August MI Homebrew festival at Camp Agawam in Lake Orion, MI. August 19 MI Beer Cup awards ceremony at Camp Agawam in Lake Orion, MI. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS THEY SUPPORT US!! Welcome our newest sponsor! Other events at: Primetime Brewers Facebook page June Beer & Food Club Competition Results: 1st Jessie Colclasure 2nd Jeff Carlson 3rd Paul Curran

6 ACME CIDER CO FOUNDERS 235 Grandville Ave SW (616) BIER DISTILLERY 5295 West River Drive Suite 100 Comstock Park (616) GAVIN LEGAL PLLC (616) B.O.B. S HOUSE OF BREWS 20 Monroe NW (616) GRAND RAPIDS. 1 Ionia SW (616) BREWERY VIVANT 925 Cherry SE (616) GRAVEL BOTTOM Craft Brewery & Supply 418 Ada Dr Ada (206) HARMONY BC 1551 Lake Drive SE CELLAR BREWING COMPANY 500 E Division, Sparta (616) CITY BUILT BREWING COMPANY 820 Monroe Ave NW COLDBREAK. 81 N Main St NE Cedar Springs (616) (616) And HARMONY HALL 401 Stocking Ave NW (616) HIDEOUT 3113 Plaza Dr NE (616) H & H Hobby Shop 4244 Kalamazoo SE Kentwood (616)

7 HOPCAT 25 Ionia SW (616) And lots of other locations OSGOOD BREWING 4051 Chicago Dr SW Grandville (616) JADEN JAMES BREW- ERY 4665 Broadmoor Ave SE (616) PAULY S Fulton East Lowell (616) MICHIGAN HOP ALLIANCE PO Box 1843 Traverse City PERRIN 5910 Comstock Park Dr Comstock Park (616) MITTEN 527 Leonard NW (616) PIKE Chicago Dr Hudsonville (616) NEW HOLLAND BREWING 66 E 8th St (616) & THE KNICKERBOCKER 417 Bridge St NW (616) PILOT MALT HOUSE th ST SW Byron Center (616) NORTH CHANNEL 86 Washington Street Manistee RAILTOWN BREWING Co th St SE Dutton (616) O CONNOR S HOME BREW SUPPLY 619 Lyon St NE (616) RISHI S INTERNATIONAL BEVERAGE th St SE (616) and 6859 Cascade Rd SE (616)

8 ROCKFORD MPANY 12 E Bridge St Rockford (616) SCHMOHZ BREWERY 2600 Patterson SE (616) UNRULY BREWING CO 360 W Western Ave Muskegon (231) VANDER MILL Cleveland St Spring Lake (616) & 505 Ball Ave NE (616) SICILIANO S MARKET 2840 Lake Michigan Dr (616) WHITE FLAME th Ave Hudsonville (616) THORNAPPLE BREWING th St Cascade TRAIL POINT MPANY 6035 Lake Michigan Dr Allendale (616) TWOGUYS BREWING 2356 Porter St SW, Wyoming UNCLE JOHN S CIDER MILL 8614 North US 127 St Johns (989)