Weyermann De-Husked Roasted Malt provides chocolate and toasted flavors without the tannins and astringent flavors common in regular chocolate malt. If you’re looking to buy Weyermann De-Husked Roasted Malts for your next batch of beer you can pick them up at The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham. Learn more about Weyermann De-Husked, Roasted Malts below.

A vast number of brewers, not just homebrewers, haven’t even heard of the stuff so don’t feel bad if you are in that number. Originally coming from Germany, this malt is used the world over. But how is debittered black malt different from “regular” black malt you ask? Debittered black malt has some unusual characteristics that black malt doesn’t possess. Actually, it not so much possesses different characteristics as lacks them.

A good part of the character of the roasted grain is supplied by the husk. Specifically, the husk is what provides nearly all the astringency and bitterness, and when it is darkly roasted, this character increases many times. Black malt has a lot of uses in brewing. (For examples, read my November 2007 BYO article on this malt.) However, there are a lot of beers out there that can use some tasty dark character without the drying bitterness that comes with most darkly-roasted malts. So how would we get the dark character we do want without the bits we don’t want? The easiest way is to use a malt from which that husk has been removed (or reduced) from the barley. In debittered black malt, the husk has been worn down substantially prior to kilning.

Weyermann Specialty Malting Company of Bamberg probably sells more debittered black malt than anyone else on the planet. Their labels, Carafa® Special I, II and III, have color ratings around 320 °L, 400 °L and 525 °L respectively. The flavors of Carafa® Special I , II and II go from chocolate to black malt as you increase from more lightly to more darkly roasted. Weyermann also sells “plain” (husked) versions of these malts, which they call Carafa® I, II and III (no “Special”).

All Carafa® malts are made from German-grown 2-row spring barley and Weyermann describes the process of dehusking as akin to rice polishing — making brown rice into white rice — as the grain is worn down from the outside in. They do make a note of leaving about 40% of the husk intact. After much experience and research, it was found that leaving any less husk would allow the kernel to be damaged during kilning.

Visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to browse our selection of grains including our Weyermann De-Husked Roast Malt.

SRC: Learn details about Roasted Debittered Malt at: https://byo.com/bock/item/1671-debittered-black-malt

Naked Winery and Atlas Cider Co. will be joining The Hoppy Brewer for a Wine & Cider event. Naked Winery produces premium class Oregon and Washington wines and Atlas Cider Co. produces authentic hard cider fermented from 100% fresh & 100% local fruit. Join The Hoppy Brewer in a Naked Winery and Atlas Cider Co. Wine & Cider event at 6:00 pm on Thursday, October 6th, 2016. Learn more about Naked Winery and Atlas Cider Co. below. 

Naked Winery is a Family Owned Winery

The Barringer and Michalec families hooked up at the turn of the century and have since formed Naked Winery. We have both Oregon and Washington wineries located within the Columbia River Gorge. Our flagship tasting room is in our beautiful hometown of Hood River, OR not far from our Naked headquarters. Located 60 miles east of Portland it’s a quick drive along the Scenic Columbia River Gorge. You can also get Naked regularly in our other Oregon tasting rooms, Old Mill District in Bend or at our downtown McMinnville location.

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What else makes ATLAS cider different?

We are a family run company that started creating ciders simply because we were not satisfied with the variety and quality of the ciders in the marketplace. An overwhelmingly majority were either hardcore dry or cloyingly sweet, we set out to do better. In addition being based in the heart of the Northwest gives us other opportunities to improve the quality. An example is our apples are fresh pressed and fermenting within the same day. ATLAS ciders are clean, all natural, and NW Local. We are on a mission to bring out the best of the Northwest and that’s it, that’s all.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

SRC: Click to learn more about the Naked Winery and Atlas Cider Co.

Do you want to start brewing your own beer but you’re not sure where to start? Before you can brew your first batch of beer you’ll need equipment. The equipment you need to become a homebrewer can be expensive to start but necessary and worthwhile in the long run. Purchasing the proper equipment at the beginning of your homebrew venture will save you from many headaches, frustrations, and wasted ingredients.

Here’s the Equipment You Need for Brewing

• A Big Stockpot ($40-$75): A 12-quart (3-gallon) stockpot is perfect for making 1-gallon batches of beer. If you need to buy a new stockpot, this is the size I recommend (it’s also handy for making big batches of stock and boiling lobsters!). But if your current stockpot holds at least 2 gallons, that will be fine for now — start with that and upgrade later.
• Long-Handled Spoon ($5): You’ll need a spoon that can reach all the way to the bottom of your pot without putting your hand at risk of getting submerged in boiling liquid. I like ones that have a fairly large, paddle-like head.
• 10-inch Fine Mesh Strainer or 5-quart Colander ($15-$30): You’ll use this when you separate the grains from the sugary liquid you create during brewing. You want one that’s big enough to hold a few pounds of wet grains and that fits easily inside the top of both your stockpot and your fermentation bucket (described below). If you use a colander, the more holes it has, the better.
• Electric Kitchen Scale ($15): Precision is key when brewing, so if you’ve been hemming and hawing about buying an electric scale, now is the time. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something that can easily toggle between grams and ounces and can accurately measure down to 1 gram.
• Instant-Read Thermometer ($15): A thermometer is another must-have piece of equipment for accurate brewing, and I recommend getting a digital one. A candy thermometer that clips to the side of the pot would also be fine, but meat thermometers aren’t really precise enough and take too long to measure the temperature.
• Digital Timer ($10): This also doesn’t have to be anything fancy — you can use your iPhone, the timer on your oven, or anything else that will beep at you when time is up.

The Hoppy Brewer is your one-stop-shop for homebrew supplies, equipment, and ingredients. Find hops, barley, yeast, kegs, homebrew equipment, kegging equipment, a beer making kit, and even books on home brewing and beer recipes. Browse our Brewing Equipment.

SRC: Learn more the equipment you need to brew beer at: www.thekitchn.com/the-equipment-you-need-to-brew-beer-and-where-to-get-it-the-kitchns-beer-school-2015-217248

German Pilsner Malts are used commonly used in Pilsner, Helles, all lagers, most Belgian and most German style beers. These grains provide a bright, clean, and full-bodied flavor to your brew. If you’re looking to buy German Pilsner Malts for your next batch of beer you can pick up these grains at The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham. Learn more about Pilsner Malts below.

Pilsen Malt

Sometimes just called “pils,” pilsen is a special kind of pale malt that is used to make — you guessed it — pilsners. Pilsen malt is typically very light in color (anywhere from 1.1 to 2 degrees Lovibond). This malt typically tastes thinner and crisper than regular two-row, which carries over into the beer. Getting this flavor is usually at the expense of maltiness and aroma, but that’s what typifies a real pilsner. To get this flavor profile, the maltster will typically keep this malt less modified than regular two-row. Some would say it is under-modified, but that is rarely actually the case. It is modified well enough so that a single-step infusion mash presents no problems (this is the simplest kind of mashing, conducted at a constant temperature in a single vessel). Sometimes pilsner malt doesn’t have a lot of enzymatic power to spare, so it can’t convert itself and a load of adjuncts. But you really don’t want anything else in a true pilsner anyway, so it’s of little concern.

Pilsen malt is used to make one type of beer — traditional German or Czech pilsners. Those beers usually consist of 100 percent pilsen malt and nothing else but hops, yeast and water. If you have pilsen malt on hand and nothing else, you could use it to make almost any other beer style, but standard two-row would be a better choice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a recipe call for 90 percent two-row and 10 percent pilsen as the base malts. That’s a complete waste of pilsen and a complication in the recipe that makes no sense. Just use all two-row — you’d never taste the pilsen in that recipe. I’ve also seen pilsen malt called for in a lot of other German beers, like Munich. This is not a good choice. (It is more than likely an example of choosing a malt because it sounds right, rather than thinking about what the beer should actually taste like.) Use pilsen malt for brewing pilsners and that’s it.

Visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to browse our selection of hops including our German Pilsner Malt.

SRC: Learn details about Pilsner Malt at: http://byo.com/hops/item/710-grain-on-the-brain

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Grains

Brewing Equipment

Hops

 

Mead is sometimes referred to as honey wine but mead is created from fermented honey whereas wine is made from fermented fruit. Nectar Creek makes award-winning Sessions Meads using 100% raw honey. Join The Hoppy Brewer in a Nectar Creek mead event at 6:00 pm on Thursday, September 29th, 2016. Learn more about Session Meads from Nectar Creek below. 

In the fall of 2012 we produced and sold our first batches of Mead in our hometown of Corvallis, Oregon. The relationships that were developed during the time on the bee farm remain very important for us today. 100% of the honey we use is raw and sourced directly from sustainable beekeepers. Since opening we have constantly been working to produce more mead to meet demand which has given us the opportunity to grow and hire an amazing team of employees. Our goal is to push boundaries, grow a new category and teach people that mead is a beautiful, diverse and truly amazing beverage.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

SRC: Learn about Session Meads from Nectar Creek at: www.nectarcreek.com/about/

Newport hops are used for bittering and to provide an earthy, citrus and wine aroma to your beer. Newport hops are great for many ales, stouts, and barley wine. These hops are especially known for their resistance to mildew and their medium to large sized cones. If you’re looking to buy Newport Hops for your next batch of beer you can pick them up at The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham. Learn more about Newport Hops below.

Origin and Description

Newport Hops was developed by the USDA as a descendant from Hallertauer Magnum Hopscrossed with a male USDA variety. Newport was designed to battle mildew, and was done with success. Newport is 18.8% Brewers Gold, 12.5% Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, 6.3% Late Grape, 4.6% Belgium 31, 3.1% Fuggle, and 54.7% unknown.

Newport Hops was released in 2002, and is an alpha hops used primarily for bittering in beer. Newport has an alpha acid rating at 14.5%-17.0% and has a high beta acid count at 7.2%-9.1%. Newport also shares in a very high co-humulone content at 36.0%-38.0% which can add some off flavors. Of the oils myrcene is very high, and itself carries an earthy citrus blend with tones of wine sometimes balsamic. Newport is best used at the beginning or mid boil for bittering purposes in beer batches.

Newport helped pull the northwest out of disease crisis in the late 90’s. Its resistance to downy mildew and powdery mildew has helped in its success. Newport produces good yields at 1990-2250 lbs/acre of medium to large size moderately loose cones. This middle of the road grower is ideal for beer styles such as American Ales, and India Pale Ales. Its also ideal for Holiday Ales, and Barley Wines.

Visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to browse our selection of hops including our Newport Hops.

SRC: Learn details about Newport Hops Characteristics at: http://beerlegends.com/newport-hops

October is just around the corner which means it’s time for darker and stronger beer. After allowing your Oktoberfest to age all summer, the time to enjoy your homebrew has finally come. If you don’t already have an Oktoberfest recipe that you love, try Dennis Decker’s AG24 Oktoberfest recipe. AG24 Oktoberfest was awarded the best of show in the 2012 Boneyard Brew Off competition. Enjoy brewing your own batch of this AG24 Oktoberfest.

INGREDIENTS

For 10 gallons (37.85 L)

• 12.0 lb (5.44 kg) | Munich malt
• 11.0 lb (4.99 kg) | German Pilsner malt
• 8.0 oz (227 g) | Caramel Munich malt
• 4.0 oz (113 g) | Aromatic malt
• 4.0 oz (113 g) | Biscuit malt
• 1.5 oz (42 g) | Tettnanger hops, 4.5% a.a. (60 min)
• 1.25 oz (35 g) | Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops, 4.4% a.a. (60 min)
• 1 tsp | Calcium Chloride (in mash)
• 1 tsp | Lactic acid (in mash)
• 1 tsp | Irish Moss (10 min)
• Starter | Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast

SPECIFICATIONS

• Original Gravity: 1.059
• Final Gravity: 1.015
• ABV: 5.74%
• IBU: 20.3
• SRM: 10.4
• Boil Time: 60 minutes
• Efficiency: 70%

DIRECTIONS

Pfriem Family Brewers was founded in 2012 along the Columbia River Gorge in Hood River, Oregon. This artisanal brewery incorporates influence from Belgium brewers while representing their Pacific Northwest roots in all their craft beers. Join The Hoppy Brewer in a pFriem Family Brewers event on Thursday, September 22nd at 6:00pm and learn more about pFriem Family Brewers below. 

HISTORY

2012 will forever be a benchmark year for the Pfriem family. After over a decade of award-winning experience in the Northwest Craft Brewing Community, I finally achieved a life-long dream of opening my own artisanal brewery in Hood River, Oregon.

This dream never could have come to fruition without the help of my two esteemed friends and business partners, Ken Whiteman and Rudy Kellner, and the loving support of our respective families.

Our goals for the brewery are modest ones— to build a business that was tightly integrated with our family lives, to honor the place we call home and love so dearly, and to create a warm, friendly space where others could experience our creations. Our goals for the creations themselves are anything but modest.

Pfriem artisanal beers are symphonies of flavor and balance, influenced by the great brewers of Belgium, but unmistakably true to our homegrown roots in the Pacific Northwest. Although they are served humbly, each glass is overflowing with pride and a relentless aspiration to brew the best beer in the world. We’ll let you decide.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

SRC: Learn about pFriem Family Brewers at: http://www.pfriembeer.com/index.php

The Full Sail Brewing Company was founded in 1987 along the Columbia River Gorge in Hood River, Oregon. Over the last 29 years, Full Sail has been awarded more than 300 awards and accolades including 150 Gold Medals. Join The Hoppy Brewer in a Full Sail beer event on Thursday, September 8th at 6:00pm and learn more about Full Sail below. 

FULL SAIL AHEAD

Much has been written about the day you drive off the lot in your first new car, but let us tell you, there’s nothing quite like taking delivery on your very first, brand new stainless steel mash tun. (Woo hoo!) Determined to make world-class beer in our own backyard, one of our first, and perhaps best, decisions was to invest in new, state-of-the-art brewing equipment. Other micros had been brewing with varying degrees of success in open fermentation tanks or old, cast-aside dairy equipment. But we weren’t taking any chances: the beer had to be great or there was no point in brewing it. So we bit the bullet, laid down our borrowed cash, and spent the better part of 1987 installing the new system.

By September, we had our first crew on board – a classic mixture of beer geeks and boardheads – and we were ready to brew. Yeah, our operation was tiny and the work was nonstop, but to be in Hood River at the forefront of not only the craft beer movement, but also the rise of windsurfing, was thrilling.

Microbreweries were springing up all over the Northwest. The windsurfing craze was in full swing. Hood River’s storefronts were filling up with gear shops. And we put up a whopping 287 barrels that first year. Things were really humming.

Stay updated on our live music, beer events, and home brewing club meetings by checking out The Hoppy Brewer Events Calendar.

SRC: Learn about Full Sail Brewing at: http://fullsailbrewing.com/our-story/

Vanguard hops provide a clean, woody, and earthy aroma to your beer. Vanguard hops are perfect in any German style beer or hybrid styled beers like American Wheat. If you’re looking to buy Vanguard Hops for your next batch of beer you can pick them up at The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham. Learn more about Vanguard Hops below.

Origin and Description

Vanguard Hops was originally bred in 1982, but did not get released until 1997. That certainly makes you wonder how many varieties there are that have yet to see the open market. Exciting…Vanguard Hops is a cross between USDA 21285 and USDA 64037M. USDA 21285 was a bred in Parma, Idaho and is a cross between Hallertauer Mittelfrueh Hops X Open Pollination. The pedigree of 64037M Hops is unknown. According to the USDA archives, Vanguard Hops was tested by Anheuser Busch Inc. from 1994-1999.

Vanguard Hops is an aroma variety and carries similar acid characteristics as Hallertauer Mittelfrueh Hops. The alpha acid content in Vanguard is low ranging from 4.4%-6.0% with higher beta acid (6.0%-7.0%) and a staggering low co-humulone content at 14.0%-16.0%. This makes for very smooth and subtle bitter qualities in beer. Vanguard Hops comes equipped with higher than normal humulene oil, which itself is bound in woody and herbal character that produces a spicy essence over long boils in homebrew and craft beers. Vanguard is ripe for German-Style beers, but its application does not stop there. It is going to add to the aroma complexity for any number of ales, including Stouts and Imperial Stouts.

Vanguard Hops, like its lineage, is not a high yielding plant, and produces 1300-1700 lbs/acre. The cones are small to medium size and on the loose side. After tolerating Downy Mildew, Vanguard is harvested early in the season. Vanguard can be found in beers around the world, but is most widely used in the United States. Brewers are finding all kinds of uses for this noble type variety in beer….enjoy.

Visit The Hoppy Brewer in Gresham to browse our selection of hops including our Vanguard Hops.

SRC: Learn details about Vanguard Hops Characteristics at: http://beerlegends.com/vanguard-hops