Author Archives: admin
DIY Temperature Controller
In case you missed the meeting when we demonstrated just how easy it is to build your own temperature controller you’re in luck! Dual stage means heat and cool- so you can control fermentation chambers, heat wraps/ pads, and a host of other applications where you need to turn off/on components based on temperature. You … Continue reading
Water- Clearly Your Biggest Ingredient
Beer contains approximately 90% water, and the importance of the liquor to final beer quality cannot be over-estimated. The subject is so complex that there are entire books on the subject, such as John Palmer & Colin Kaminski’s Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers. As outlined in Ray Alton’s “Water Water Everywhere…..” article in breWorld (01/03/99), Historically … Continue reading
Style Spotlight- Category 12, Porter
According to winning-homebrew.com; Porter is one of the beer styles in which many beer enthusiasts know the history. It is well documented in books and online. There is some controversy, however, as to the authenticity of some of its published history. Most of the controversy comes from the most widely quoted source by a writer … Continue reading
Style Spotlight- Category 3, European Amber lager
There are two malt forward, low hopped styles represented in Category 3: 3A- Vienna Lager, and 3B- Oktoberfest. Below is a great background and history of these styles as contained in Winning-Homebrew.com. In addition, there is a great discussion of these styles, along with award winning recipes, on episodes of Jamil Zainascheff’s Brewing with Stye podcasts- … Continue reading
FLOPS New Officers
Sadly, Chris Wiken announced that he would resign his position as Secondary Fermenter due to his upcoming move to the Fort Collins (aka Beer Mecca) area. Chris was bestowed an honorary membership to FLOPS for his service. FLOPS thanks Chris for dedication to the group, we wish you the best in your future endeavors. In … Continue reading
Basic Brewing Termanology
Preforming his last duty as our Secondary Fermentor (before being affectionately adorned “ass of the month”), Chris Wiken provided a list of basic brewing vocabulary to the group. While this is not the exact list it should serve as a good reference point to FLOPS members. This was taken from lovetobrew.com, and a more exhaustive … Continue reading
The Importance of Yeast
During April’s meeting Andy broke out his microscope so that FLOPS’ters could view the magic of microbiology; specifically yeast cells. While yeast is invisible to the naked eye, it is arguably the most important and often overlooked ingredient in any beer. In fact, albeit no fault of the Germans as yeast hadn’t even been discovered … Continue reading
Big Brew Day ’13
Mark your calendars for Big Brew Day 13! Join FLOPS as we brew outside the Home Brewery- details below. ‘What is Big Brew Day?” you ask….. Well back in 1988, May 7th was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) created AHA Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate … Continue reading
FLOPS Turns 20!
In April’s meeting Keith Besonen reminded us that Back in April 1993 FLOPS conducted our first meeting. In our f first newsletter, Our Primary Fermentor, Dr John Griffiths, proclaimed that on “April 4, 1993 a small group gathered to form FLOPS” By the Fall of 1993 the club had grown to “about 15 members”. FLOPS … Continue reading
DIY Counter Pressure Bottle Filler
If you’re as lazy, ehm… as busy as me, you really appreciate the relative ease of kegging your home brew (when compared to bottling). But what do you need to do if you want to bottle some of your best brews for friends, or competitions? I used to split a 10gal batch; bottle condition 1/2 … Continue reading
AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competitions
