Update: Added new beers from East Side Brewers and A-B Homebrewing Club.

Evan Benn at the Post-Dispatch has a rundown of all of the commercial beers available at this year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival. Edit: Looks like Evan linked to the list of all these beers.  But think of this as me saving you an extra click. But there are a group of homebrewers from the St. Louis Brews and Garage Brewers Society that put together some great beers for you to sample as well.

It’s important to note that all of the beers listed below will be on at random times during the festival.  There is no set schedule for releasing these beers.  Here’s a list of the homebrew and the brewers that brewed it:

American Wheat

• Bryan Clauser (GBS)
• Scott Hespen (GBS)
• Scott Hespen (GBS)
• Tim Hayes (GBS)
• Tim Hayes – Peach Wheat (GBS)
• Jim Yeager – Raspberry Wheat (GBS)
• Jim Yeager – Centennial Wheat (GBS)
• Adam Greminger – American Honey Wheat (GBS)
• Adam Greminger – Dustin Brown’s Wedding Wheat (GBS)
• Steve Dahl (GBS)
• Steve Dahl (GBS)
• Brad Mock (StLBrews)
• Paul Murphy – Murphy’s American Wheat Ale (StLBrews)
• Paul Murphy – Nat.’l Homebrew Day Amer. Wheat Ale w/Wyeast 1010 (StLBrews)
• Paul Murphy – Nat.’l Homebrew Day Amer. Wheat Ale w/Schlafly’s Yeast (StLBrews)
• Michael McCoy (StLBrews)
• Andrew Bretz (StLBrews)
• Kerth Stocker (StLBrews)

Red/Amber

• Scott Walters – Irish Red (GBS)
• Scott Walters – Irish Red (GBS)
• Jeff Britton (GBS)
• Dave Harnett (GBS)
• Tim Cochran – American Amber (StLBrews)
• Nic Zimmer – Irish Red, 4 gal (StLBrews)

APA

• Ted O’Neil (StLBrews)
• Dan Stauder (StLBrews)
• John Mitchell (StLBrews)
• John Mitchell (StLBrews)
• Mike Walters (StLBrews)
• Gary Burke (StLBrews)
• Gary Burke (StLBrews)
• Christopher Horn – Rye Pale Ale (StLBrews)
• Kally Gehly – Rye Pale Ale (StLBrews/GBS)
• Kally Gehly – Single-Hop Pale Ale w/Sterling (StLBrews/GBS)
• Kally Gehly – Single-Hop Pale Ale w/Sterling (StLBrews/GBS)
• Scott Walters (GBS)
• Kent Critchell (GBS)
• Jim Leabig (GBS)
• Shawn Mitchell (GBS)

IPA

• Bryan Clauser (GBS)
• Tim Hayes (GBS)
• Jim Leabig (GBS)
• Dennis Stroup – “Virgin Nectar” IPA (GBS)
• Kevin Tierney (StLBrews)
• Rick Haynes (StLBrews)
• Rick Haynes (StLBrews)

Stout

• Bob Brandt (GBS)
• Doug Howell (GBS)
• Jim Yeager – Oatmeal Stout (GBS)
• Phil “O” – Milk Stout (GBS)
• Jerid Saffell – American Stout, 7.5% ABV, 60 IBUs, Magnum, Ahtanum, & Simcoe hops (GBS)
• Bridget Doherty – Breakfast Stout (StLBrews)
• Nic Zimmer – Sweet Stout, 2.5 gal (StLBrews)

German Hefeweizen

• Rick Haynes (StLBrews)
• Rick Haynes (StLBrews)
• David Roesch – Bavarian Hefeweizen/Heritage Festival Beer (StLBrews)
• David Roesch – Bavarian Hefeweizen/Heritage Festival Beer (StLBrews)
• Joe Orsa – Bavarian Hefeweizen/Heritage Festival Beer (StLBrews)
• Sean Sweeney (StLBrews)
• Gary Reynolds (GBS)
• Jerid Saffell – 5% ABV, 12 IBU, Magnum hops (GBS)

Fruit

• Bob Love – Raspberry Cream Ale (GBS)
• Bob Love – Cherrywood Smoked Wheat (GBS)
• Dave Blue – Lemon Coriander Wheat (GBS)

ESB

• Tim Fahrner (StLBrews)
• Kevin Tierney (StLBrews)
• Kally Gehly – gal (StLBrews/GBS)
• John Sutton (GBS)
• Scott Hespen (GBS)

Blonde Ale

• Scott Hixson (StLBrews)
• Kerth Stocker (StLBrews)
• Christopher Horn (StLBrews)
• Steven May (StLBrews-affiliated)
• John Grady (GBS)
• Jerid Saffell – American Blonde, 4.8% ABV, 25 IBU, Summit & Ahtanun hops (GBS)
• Jerid Saffell – American Blonde, 4.8% ABV, 25 IBU, Summit & Ahtanun hops (GBS)

Kolsch

• Tim Hayes (GBS)
• Kent Robertson – Bonn-Bonn Kolsch (StLBrews)

Porter

• John Grady (GBS)
• Jim Yeager – Coconut Vanilla Porter (GBS)
• Tim Hayes – Chocolate Porter (GBS)

Cider

• Peter MacKercher (StLBrews)
• Paul Murphy – Hard Apple Cider (StLBrews)

Scottish Ales

• Kevin Tierney (StLBrews)
• Nic Zimmer – 80-Shilling, 4 gal (StLBrews)

Cream Ale

• Dan Stauder (StLBrews)
• Dan Stauder (StLBrews)
• Dan Stauder (StLBrews)
• Jeff Britton – Cream Ale (GBS)
• Andrew Wall – Coconut Cream Ale (GBS)

Miscellaneous

• Michael Doherty – Belgian Quad (StLBrews)
• Michael Doherty – Belgian Quad (StLBrews)
• Trish Thomas – Saison w/fruit (StLBrews)
• Trish Thomas – Belgian Triple (StLBrews)
• Chris Rahn – American Brown Ale (StLBrews)
• Jack Baty – Tart Cherry Beer, Aged 9 months (StLBrews)
• Sean Sweeney – Maibock (StLBrews)
• Sean Sweeney – Pennsylvania Swankey (a historic American beer w/star anise) (StLBrews)
• Kally Gehly – “Teddy Grahams” Ale (GBS “Ironman” Comp. Beer; StLBrews)
• David Nitzche – “Mystery Hops and Malts Ale” (StLBrews)
• Gary Burke – Maibock (StLBrews)
• Jerid Saffell – Cerveza-style (GBS)
• Chris Buchanan – Jalepeno Ale (GBS)
• Tim Hayes – California Common (GBS)
• Jerid Saffell – Belgian Pale Ale, 4.8% ABV, 30 IBUs, Kent Golding & Saaz hops (GBS)
• Scott Walters – “Fest Bier” Octoberfest Lager (GBS)
• Scott Walters – “Fest Bier” Octoberfest Lager (GBS)

Update:  The East Side Brewers and the A-B Homebrew Club will also be serving up some of their beers as well:

East Side Brewers

Greg Bridwell(Imperial Pilsner)

• Greg Campbell( Kolsch )
• Jeff Harbaugh(California Common)
• Toni Yager(TBD)
• Joe Mansker(TBD)
• Ben Cowan(Belgian Double)
• Andrew Sanders(Brown Sugga)
• Gary Burke(TBD)

A-B Homebrewers Club

• Greg Campbell (dual member – East Side Brewers & A-B) (Indian Spiced Ale)
• Steve Schick (Amber Ale)
• Steve Schick (Amber Ale)
• Tom Seiff (Saison)
• Mark Vance (APA)
• Mark Vance (Dunkelweizen)

Many of you who have talked to me in person over the past year have probably heard me talk a bit about my new homebrewing stand.  Well, I’m happy to say it’s pretty much completed.  (Let’s be honest, is there ever going to be a time when you stop tweaking things on projects you’re working on?)

So here’s the rundown of the system:

• Single Tier Brutus 10 Frame Design
• Direct Fire HLT (Hot Liquor Tank) and Boil Kettle
• 130k BTU Propane Burners
• This is a HERMS (Heat Exchanged Recirculating Mash System)
• PID controls the temperature of the mash as it recirculates.
• 16 Gallon Boil Kettle
• Polysulfone quick disconnects
• Soon to be added: Stainless Steel Hopback.

The external exchange is probably one of the biggest differences from most HERMS systems.  I got the suggestion from my friend Pat Reddy who showed me Dennis Collins’ external heat exchanger (his site is currently down, here’s the Google cache.)

Why an external exchanger?  Because it’s more efficient.  By using your HLT as the exchanger, you’re forced to heat and monitor 10-12 gallons of water at a certain temperature.  This external exchange only uses 1.5 gallons of water, which makes heating and cooling the water much quicker.

I also only have a single pump on this system.  Why?  Because I’m broke.  Plus, I can pour my runnings into a bucket and pick the bucket up and just pour it into the boil kettle.

Also, I want to thank Mike Leahy for his big help on this project.  Mike did all of the welding and construction on the frame and kettles.  There is no way I could have done that on my own, so I really appreciate everything he did.  If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Update: Willie Nordmann had a few questions, thought I’d post the answers here as well:

Why Polysulfone QD not brass? Worried about lead?
Wanted something I could handle with hot liquids. They’re a little more expensive, but it’s nice to know I can grab something without being burnt.

Hows the burners? Can they be adjusted to a low temp?
They put out a lot of heat. I mean, a lot. Yeah, I can get them to a low temp without a problem.

Is the an electric starter on the burner?
It was. It melted away. Again, a lot of heat.

So the PID controls the Electric heating element on the HERMS?
Correct.

The pump is controlled by plugging it in and moving around the QD?
Correct.

Is the heat exchanger also the chiller?
No, I have a separate immersion chiller for that.

When are you brewing next?
When it gets slightly warmer. I’m hoping some time in March. Still have a couple of tweaks to make to the system.

Ah, it’s that time of the year again. Time to break out your mash paddle, fire up the burners and teach someone how to homebrew! According to the American Homebrewers Association, “Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day is an international event to introduce people to the homebrewing hobby and establish relationships with local homebrew supply shops.”

Each year on the first Saturday in November homebrewers get together and gather up some friends and teach them how to brew beer. It could be possible that your friends may not ever brew a beer again, but I think it’s very important that if you love beer, you understand how beer is made.

But what if you don’t know a friend that homebrews? Well, you always have a friend in Drew Huerter, Jerid Saffell and Mattingly Brewing, as they’re hosting a homebrewing demonstration on November 7th starting at 8AM:

Anyone who would like to come down and brew or learn how to brew, Mattingly will be hosting again this year. This upcoming Saturday 11/7. I will be doing an all grain demo. If you plan to brew, please try to be there and set up between 8-10 am. I will have plenty of hot filtered water and cold chilling water around. Depending on our brew cycle I may have some yeast available as well. I can also mill your grain if you need such service.

I received two press releases this week from breweries that announced that in the near future we would no longer be seeing their beers with twist off bottlecaps and would be moving to a pry off bottlecap.

It got me to thinking, does it really matter that much?  I mean, the obvious benefit of the pry off is that they can be reused for homebrewing.  There is even talk that pry off caps provide more of a barrier against oxygen.

But according to Steve Harrison, vice president of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, in the tests they’ve done “they found a slight difference, but not enough to have a significant effect on the beer.”

One of the other big benefits for pry offs is that the equipment is cheaper for craft brewers to purchase, and with the price of beer nowadays, cheaper equipment is always better for the overall cost of beer.

Ask a group of beer nerds for a bottle opener and I’m sure they’re going to produce three or four openers so fast it’ll make your head spin.  But what if you forgot your opener that day?  How then do you open your bottle?

Then there are twist off caps.  Their biggest benefit is that they can be opened at any time without an opener.  But do twist off caps hurt the image for a craft beer?

What are your thoughts?

If you’re one of those people who’s always wanted to get their homebrew on, but never knew where to start tomorrow is your best opportunity to learn how to turn grains and hops into beer. May 7rd marked the 30th anniversary of National Homebrew Day and to celebrate homebrewers are going to do what the do best, brew beer!

Each year on the first Saturday in May, homebrewers unite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate National Homebrew Day, joining with thousands of homebrewers from around the world in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast at noon Central Time.

You may be asking yourself, “Hey Mike, we’ve already passed the first weekend of May!”  And you’re right, but with Microfest going on last weekend, the St. Louis homebrewing clubs decided that they were going to hold off a week to make sure there wasn’t competing events on the same weekend.  So, National Homebrewing Day will take place this Saturday, May 9th in St. Louis.

Locally the two biggest homebrew clubs will be celebrating in two different locations. The Garage Brewers Society will be celebrating the event at O’Fallon Brewery while the St. Louis Brews will be brewing up a storm at Worm’s Way. Both locations will be offering up great food, great discussion and of course plenty of homebrew.

This past January, the Garage Brewers Society held a Chili and Homebrew Competition and Bryan Clauser won Best of Show with his hopped-up American Amber.  As part of the Best of Show win,  Dave Johnson took Bryan’s recipe and scaled it up to brew at  Buffalo Brewing Company.

The beer is now available to enjoy over at BBC and to celebrate the GBS is having a release party at Buffalo Brewing Company tonight, Thursday April 23rd from 7 – 9. Make sure to stop by and congratulate Bryan for his accomplishment.

For those of you that don’t know, Dave Miller is probably most famous for writing one of the most referenced and influential homebrewing books in the past 30 years, Dave Miller’s Guide to Homebrewing.  But Dave, who had been instrumental in getting Missouri’s laws changed to allow microbreweries to exist, was also Schlafly‘s first Brewmaster.

Time moves on and now Dave has decided to reitre from brewing.  Knowing that, Dan Kopman and Stephen Hale conspired to throw Dave a surprise retirement party using the guise of the Pre-Prohibition Festival Party.  Using this opportunity, they had a chance to roast Dave and also retire his signature plaid shirt.  I’m sure hombrewers will know what the numbers mean.

If you weren’t able to attend, please enjoy some photos from the evening.

[View with PicLens]

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