AGWB June 2013 Newsletter

Next Meeting: 26th

June 2013

This Months Topic:

John Golics & Ian Ramsey will be talking about infections in beer.

Club members are invited to bring their carefully crafted examples

of infected beers or wines for member tasting. It is not always as

easy as you may think to pick out infections especially before the

infection has had sufficient time to develop and this presentation

aims to help improve your ability to identify them.

Bring For Competition:

Beer -

B11.1

B11.2

B11.3

Weizen/Weissbier

Dunkelweizen

Weizenbock

Witbier

Wine - 8a

8c

Dry Other

Sweet Other

Also Remember that you can bring along beers which fall outside of

the guidelines to be entered in the OPEN CLASS. These entries will

receive no competition points but will receive experienced judging

and feedback.

IMPORTANT!

Remember that any alcohol you bring along must be labelled with

your name and alcohol content. (the beverages alcohol content)

Also make use of the feedback table if you would like people to leave

feedback on your beer or wine.

Highlights

1

1

2

3

4

6

7

8

Presidents Musings

May Competition Results

Mid-Winter Function

Last Month’s Presentation: Sparging

Hallertau Chilli & Hop Festival

New Books for the Library

2013 NZ Hop Report

Time for a Beer (Susie Warwick)

Founded in 1972 The Auckland Guild of

Winemakers and Brewers is the oldest

club of its kind in Auckland

Meetings take place at the Mt Albert

Senior Citizens Hall in the Rocket Park

Complex on the 4th

Wednesday of the

month. This is on the corner of New

North Road and Wairere Avenue.

Entry is $5

There is an informal happy hour from

7.30 to 8.00 followed by a presentation,

raffle and supper.

President: Bob Lawton

Ph. (09) 527 8101

Email: sirbob@xtra.co.nz

Secretary: Dean Conger

Ph. 021 0483139

Email: tyghbn73@gmail.com

Newsletter: Mark Jackman

Ph. (09) 974 4880

Email: mark@beergeek.co.nz

President’s Musings

Greetings All.

So, the shortest day of the year is past and while the weather will probably not improve much until February 2014

(though with global climate change anything can and will happen) at least the days will get longer and the nights

shorter which means that morning brewers like John G will spend less time in the dark....

Some of us have just returned from Hallertau where we celebrated the winter solstice with morris dancing, a

mummers play and a wassail which is a traditional English festival venerating the humble apple and all the good

things that apples can be turned in to. Hallertau put on a damn fine show, they have some great beers on tap, the

Hallertau double stout was delicious and the Norge 0 Brown ale was superb.

We (that is I and several other people with whom I spoke after the event), had a great time at the Mid-Winter Event

on 8 June. To be honest I was disappointed at the turn-out (28), I guess though, looking at the responses to recent

questionnaire, we almost made the numbers we could have expected....only about 50% of you indicated you were

interested in extramural activities. So, I guess that means to be financially viable, that we need to follow and refine

the management pattern we used for that event.

Just to give you plenty of warning, the AGWB club will be hosting the regionals competition in the spring of 2014

and we expect to be able to "wipe the Board". Please....Be prepared!!

We haven't identified a venue yet and what we need to hire for at least 3 consecutive days with Sunday as the last

day, is a place with a hall for at least a dozen large tables with a separate kitchen and another separate room from

which to serve food. We need to be able to do our own catering (because outside catering is too expensive). Also,

there should be motel accommodation within walking distance and also somewhere on the property or close by for

"freedom" campervans. If you know of any venues in the Auckland region that offer these facilities then please let

me know. And on that note...

Happy brewing.

BobL

April 2013 Competition Results

Pale Ale Sam Anderson Bronze

Ben Hasler Bronze

India Pale Ale Mike McCormack Bronze

NZ & New World Pale Ale John Webb Silver

Jono Kelland Bronze

The Mid-Winter Function

We celebrated our first mid-winter function on June 8th

with all the usual faces in

attendance. We had the bar set up with a Best Bitter, Imperial Stout, and one

each of American and English IPA. It didn’t take long before the usual barman

John had created 173 different combinations to keep everyone happy, the IPAs

mixed and the Black IPA using the Imperial Stout and American IPA were two of

my personal favourites.

We enjoyed a constants stream of dumplings,

samosas and spring rolls to help soak up the beer

and had a quiz which Marie and I somehow

managed to win even though we needed to leave

following the second round. I think it had more to do with Brett and Katrina

being on our team but a wins a win and they even saved our beers for us!

The turnout was average, but much as expected and although we needed to

leave early to get Ruby home to bed it seemed that everyone enjoyed a good

night. A great example that it doesn’t take too much, other than a bar stocked

with beer and a few nibbles, to make it a good night. I hope we try and build

from here for next year as I believe the mid-winter event has the potential to

exceed the end of year BBQ as the AGWB premier event of the year.

The Last Supper

Jenny and Dave provided the supper of chicken, salami and camembert

sandwiches for us last month. I would like to once more thank Jenny for all her

hard work over the last year with arranging the catering and the number of

times she has put her hand up to make us all supper.

June Social Activity: Sparging Demonstration and Discussion

Last month John Golics offered a very informative presentation on sparging techniques. Our pro brewers Ian and

John also weighed in with some highly technical discussion in what was probably the most informative

presentation we have had while I have been a member. Many other members commented to me how

informative they found it and my hat goes off to John for creating such a quality discussion, as well as thanks to

Ian and John for chipping in to share their knowledge and experience.

The main aspect in determining your overall efficiency is the quality of your sparge. The crush is important but

once you have that dialled in where you want it you can leave it set to the width you find works best for you and

only adjust if you want to for grains other than barley, such as rye and wheat.

There are three main methods of sparging; no sparge, batch and fly. As always

with brewing it is important that you choose the method which fits you, your

equipment and what you are looking to achieve the best.

The aim of the sparge is two parts, first is the lauter which ensures that grain

husks and other unwanted particulate matter do not make their way into the

kettle. The second is to extract the fermentable sugars from the grains.

The no sparge method is performed were you dough in, mash for the required

time then run off your wort to the kettle, essentially skipping the sparge section

of the process entirely.

Batch Sparging is probably the most widely used method as it is reasonably

quick, simple and requires only a pot for the HLT to add hot water to the mash

to rinse, drain and repeat. When batch sparging you will mash, then either add

a mash out step, or not, before draining the wort to the kettle, adding more

water and allowing to stand for a few minutes to extract the sugars before

draining again. I use a double batch sparge with a mash out generally.

Fly Sparging is, for want of a better term, the coolest method of sparging. It involves matching the rate at which

the wort drains from the kettle with the rate at which the water is added to the mash from the HLT. Through this

method the sugar rinsed from the grain continually and if you

have the time you can continue until your runnings gravity gets

down to 1.010 before you are going to have problems with

extracting unwanted tannins from the grain husk. You may then

need to adjust your boil length in order to reach your desired

final volume and original gravity. The best option is usually to

go for as long as it takes to reach your pre-boil volume and then

check that you are happy with the gravity of the runnings,

anything below 1.020 for an average strength beer I would

consider acceptable. The major issue many brewers have with

this technique is the amount of time it takes, you can simply

open the taps and let the water run through in a matter of minutes

but for good extractions and subsequent efficiency you are going

to need to take between 60 and 90 minutes for the sparge.

Personally I wouldn’t try a no sparge method as it is just too wasteful for me, other than that it really is up to you

which method you prefer between batch and fly sparging. I have batch sparged since day one but I am going to

move on to fly with my new setup so I guess time will tell which method works best for me.

NZ Chilli & Hop

Festival

Last year

Hallertau debuted

New Zealand’s

first ever Chilli &

Hop Festival. This

now annual event

which will also

play host to the

grand finals of the

NZ Chilli Eating

Champs.

We will be

celebrating all

things hot and

hoppy with a local

and international

line up of hop

monsters and

chilli brews.

Liberty Brewing

Co. will be

producing some

bespoke brews

especially for the

occasion; “Bhutty

Chocolate Stout”

a chilli chocolate

infused double

stout and also a

re-make of their

popular “Dragons

Whaia” Strong

Golden Chilli

infused ale.

Hallertau will

present what may

be New Zealand’s

hoppiest ever

beer. The Four Horsemen’s Hopocalypse Triple IPA 10.5% is a collaborative brew from Hallertau, Epic

Brewing Co, Liberty Brewing Co and Good George Brewing. It’s a very big beer.

The Hallertau Brewbar kitchen will go head to head with Otis & Sarah Frizzel’s new food truck “Lucky

Taco” Expect Chilli Dogs courtesy of award winning Grey Lynn butchery and New Zealand’s hottest

natural pizza from the sponsor Fire Dragon Chilli sauce.

When:

• Sat 29 Jun, 12:00pm – 3:00pm

• Sat 29 Jun, 4:00pm – 7:00pm

Where:

The Floating Pavilion, Gate 1, Hobson West

Marina, 220 Quay St, Auckland CBD.

Tickets:

• Session 1: SOLD OUT

• Session 2: SOLD OUT

Celebrating New Zealand's diverse range of

beers!

Following on from last year's sold-out event, City of Ales is back, and bigger. This year there are 2 sessions. There

will be around 30 great beers from across the North Island for you to try, some of which will not have been

available in Auckland before.

Tickets are now completely SOLD OUT so unless you are lucky enough to find a spare you will have to wait for

next years. If you do have a ticket I will see you there!

The City of Ales festival is proudly brought to you by SOBA, the Society of Beer Advocates, and is an R18 event.

A Way to Lose the Beer Gut?

Distilled spirits such as brandy, gin, rum, tequila, etc. contain no carbohydrates,

no fats and no cholesterol of any kind. All of the sugars are converted to alcohol

or left behind during the distillation process, making spirits, in theory, a less

fattening drink than beer or wine.

As a Responsible Club we Would Like to Remind All Members

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol:

may create the delusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking

may cause you to think you can sing

is a major factor in dancing like a retard

may cause pregnancy

may leave you wondering what happened to your bra and panties

may make you think you are whispering when you are not

may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex

may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them

may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you

New Books and Magazines

We have a new book for the library: Brew Your Own British Real Ale, by

Graham Wheeler. It has everything in it you need know about brewing British

ales including over 100 Recipes and from all accounts is an excellent addition.

I also had the opportunity to get first dibs on the Stan Hieronymus book, For the

Love of Hops which was added to the library (briefly) last month. I must admit it

is a little hard to get into and should not be approached as a light hearted read;

luckily I had no intention of approaching it as such and found it to be a

fascinating read. It covers the history of hops as well as development and

heritage of hop varieties as well as delving into the

technical information discussing various hop oils,

their makeup and both brewers and hop farmers

views on how they interact in a finished beer. I

thoroughly enjoyed it and it takes a very

interesting book to keep me up to the wee small

hours learning chemistry and biology. Here’s a

couple of quick pieces of information off the top of my head: there are literally

hundreds of thousands of varieties which have been cross bred and discontinued,

many great hops will have been lost forever as varieties such as Simcoe and Chinook

would have disgusted growers and brewers in previous decades. After all these

hundreds of thousands of trials Amarillo was actually found growing wild in a hop

field in America, a freak cross which to this day nobody knows it’s lineage. There

you go, if you are still reading and haven’t yawned yet this book is for you.

2013 NZ Hop Report

The New Zealand hop harvest produced a total of 682.5 tonnes of hoppy goodness made up of 15 Kiwi varieties, 8

traditional Northern Hemisphere varieties and a mix of certified organic.

The total hop harvest was down about 30,000kg (about an average

Paul Ware IPA) on expectations due to less than stellar growing

conditions, namely the long dry summer and cool spring, Nelson

Sauvin and Wakatu being the hardest hit although the price of Nelson

Sauvin is still highly affordable, so no need to worry about missing

your Sauv fix anytime soon.

The good news for next year is that with the amount of rain we have

had this winter if the spring is warm we should see a bumper harvest

next year. I have a real soft spot for using local hops so with a bit of

luck brewers will experiment further with the local varieties and

create some new and exciting beers, I know I will be.

The market is also currently strong for aroma and specialty hop cultivators as an over exuberance in the planting

of high alpha hops for the commodity market a few years ago has lead to oversupply. The thirst for Kiwi hops

both nationally and internationally from craft breweries has created a strong niche for those who supply specialty

and aroma hops.

The recent fall of the NZ$ versus the Greenback is also a boost for local

hop growers as 85% of the hops will be exported overseas, with a lot of

them making their way to The States. New Zealand currently produces a

miniscule 0.7% of hops worldwide.

Whether or not it is a good thing that our hops are more affordable to

overseas brewers is debateable, on one hand it would be nice to have

them all to ourselves but on the other it can give us pride that overseas

breweries love to use our hops. If the local market is going to grow and

remain strong it needs this export demand in order to grow.

Free Cask Ale!

Not wanting to hijack the club newsletter with

my own BeerGeek stuff but this is one bit that

I’m sure most people will be interested in. I

have been contacted by beer imported Phil

Dale, director of Beertique. He is importing

literally thousands of beers and wants to investigate the possibility of importing cask ale direct from

the brewery to NZ. In order to test that the beer arrives tasting as good as it did when it left the

brewery he is seeking out a number of volunteers who are generous enough to donate their time for

the very important task of supping a few pints and giving some feedback on how it tastes. If that

sounds like you let me know and I will finalise the details of when and where.

Action Required by ALL Members!!!

Books and Magazines - Please return all books or magazines you have taken from the club library. Loans should

be brought back to the meeting following the withdrawal so others can enjoy and benefit as much as possible. If

no one else wants the book or magazine the librarian is happy to reissue them to you. If you are going away for an

extended period of time, it’s particularly important that you return items before you go. If you cannot get to a

meeting, contact any committee member and arrange to deliver the items to them.

Library Rules – Please bear in mind that you must be a financial member of the club and have attended three club

meetings before you are permitted to borrow books from the library.

Submit your Entry for Competition - Into club competitions and see how you go. These are an ideal forum to get

constructive help—if you need it. Submit your entry for feedback and appraisal - This has now been re-addressed

to achieve a better system of feedback to members who want it. After all that is why many of us are here to learn

to make a better wine or beer!!! So pop your beer on the feedback table and ensure you have written your name,

the beer style and alcohol connect on the laminated sheet. Those tasting your beer will write down the honest

appraisal.

Name Tags— A lot of energy and effort has gone into making name tags. Please collect your name tag and wear

them so that other members and new guests can see who you are. If you are anything like me I can forget names

but not faces between meetings and I need that gentle reminder. Plus we have a lot of new members joining and

guests attending and rather than standing back trying to figure out a name you can role right up and take a

glance!!!. Don’t be frightened to join in any discussions as we all have lots to learn.

Finally... please wash your glass before you leave the meeting.

(Please don’t use detergent—it destroys the foam head on the next beer. If you do use detergent, thoroughly

wash and rinse the glass)

Time for a Beer! – This Month’s: Rogue Juniper Pale Ale

In the depths of a Glenfield winter, there is always the light and wellbeing

that is a glass of beer. Just look at this golden lovely! A glowing gold with

hints of orange, it’s like a beacon on a cold winter’s eve. Sure its head is thin,

but it makes up for it with good looks. A juniper pale sounds like a good

match; my only experience with what juniper tastes like is of course gin, and

probably average gin at that. But to my delight the bitter astringency that I

associate with the juniper flavour blends very well into a hoppy malty pale

ale. It’s light on aroma, malts hints of hops nothing too noteworthy and

drinking is the same, a very nice light pale ale with light mouthfeel, finishing

with hops and hints of that weird gin flavour we all know and love from

stealing sips of grandma's drinks at Christmas. It’s actually a damn fine beer

and I can see why it’s won awards, I could drink several of these. Refreshing

and quenching, probably really good post gardening beer and only a little

dangerous at 5.2%.

- Kindly Donated by Susie Warwick (www.hospitalcafeteria.blogspot.co.nz/)