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Proper Aging of Beer

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Many beers made in this modern age are not suitable for aging.  Some craft and micro-brewed ales can be enjoyed much more fully by aging them a short amount of time, however!  Beers containing a medium to high level of alcohol are the best candidates for ageing.  Proper aging of beer can bring out exceptionally flavorful taste differences than drinking the beer early on.  Beers of the barley wine style can even benefit from aging for as many as ten years!  Subtle differences in the play of the malt and hop character of properly aged beers can be a great treat for the discerning beer fan.

If an ale is of mid-high alcohol content (about 5% to 8%), the taste can usually benefit from aging the beer for up to a year.  This allows for the harshest tones of the ale to mellow out a bit, allowing the subtler tones of both malt and hops to come through.  Most beer is made to be drunk within a certain time period, usually six months.  The tendency of a beer to taste better with proper aging is usually a quality of darker beers.  Make sure that if you are aging a beer that the beer is suited to such a practice, or you may be wasting your time and energy.

One type of beer that is almost always improved with aging is the barley wine style ale.  These ales can reach up to 20% alcohol, although they usually hover around 8% to 14%, keeping them fresh tasting even after prolonged time periods.  This makes them the primest candidates of the beer world for aging.  In many large cities you can find barley wine tastings at the finer alehouses.  Ask around in these establishments if you are interested in finding out a lot more about barely wines. 

If you are a fan of light colored ales, do not be assuaged from ageing beer.  IPAs can sometimes benefit from a short amount of aging, up to six months.  A nice, strong Belgian White can age well for up to a year, but it should be of 6% or more alcohol.

Another sign of a beer that may do well with aging is exceptional hop character.  I would recommend Stone Brewery’s Arrogant Bastard for aging, as well as their double bastard and especially the old guardian.  Stone brewery tends to really emphasize the hopp-y-ness of their ales, and as all us home brewers know, hops keep beer fresh and prevent spoiling.  These are among the reasons that hops have become such a predominant aspect of brewing throughout the ages.

Another aspect of brewing in the modern age that can make it easier to affect the proper aging of beer is the massive advancement in refrigeration technology that has happened in the last hundred years.  Not only is it easy to store even non-pasteurized bottle conditioned ales in the household fridge, but with the invention of the kegerator, it has become a simple matter for anyone to age a keg of beer with no fear of it becoming spoiled.

Whether the kegs are stored in a custom made kegerator, or a home made kegerator conversion, it becomes quite simple to age ales for longer than ever before.  For home brewers, particularly, the kegerator can allow for easier aging.  Also, without a kegerator, it would be very difficult for a home brewer to make a proper lager beer.  The cold temperatures at which these beers must be kept can only be kept with the use refrigeration for prolonged periods of time.

It seems clear that there is no time like the present to practice the proper aging of beer.  So far, I have offered much advice on how the proper aging of beer, but the most difficult task lies ahead, and for which I can give you no tips, tricks, clues, or advice.  Of course, the most difficult part of aging beer is acquiring the patience necessary to wait it out before quaffing your favorite brew!  Good luck and as always, drink it in good health!

Brewing Up a Fine Camping Trip

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When planning a camping trip, most people remember to bring the tent, the sun block, and the sleeping bags.  But many folks forget that special addition that can make the trip all the more enjoyable after a long hike: the home brew!  Most camping trips can benefit from some home brewed refreshment, whether a small hike or a full-blown lake fishing trip!  With the advances in home brew serving technology these days, it can be simple for friends, families, or couples to brew up a fine camping trip!

If you are going to the lake, or on another kind of car or R.V. camping trip, bringing a larger home brew setup is a great way to enhance the trip.  If you have room in your vehicle and a generator, you can bring along your home kegerator, but most people opt for the draft beer cooler for such trips.  A draft beer cooler is basically a plastic cooler that has either a copper or stainless steel cooling coil placed inside (with lots of ice).  The beer from the kegs flows through this cooling system and out of draft spigots mounted on the front of the beer cooler, producing a cool and refreshing draft beer with a very lightweight and easy to set-up apparatus.

Either draft beer coolers or beer cooler conversion kits can be ordered online, making it even easier for you to focus on your brewing for the camping trip.  Considering the cost of keeping a generator on and kegerator plugged our whole camping trip, the draft beer cooler is a much more economical option for your camping trip.  Make sure you have extra supplies of ice for your draft beer cooler.  If the keg beer flowing through your beer lines is warm, it will melt the ice inside quickly, and it will need to be replaced.  It is a good idea to keep the kegs insulated in thick blankets to keep it cool.

For smaller camping trips, such as one to three day hikes, or walk-in camping, a smaller beer cooler with a few bottle conditioned brews can be perfect.  For colder weather hiking, a nutritious stout, porter, or malty scotch ale is recommended.  These ales will keep you warm under the crisp, cold glare of starlight in the mountains, and help you rest.  No cooler is really necessary for these trips, as an icy mountain stream will cool your bottles off rather easily.  For warmer weather trips, coolers are advised, although it may not be necessary if cold-water streams are along your path.  But for warmer weather hikes, a lighter ale is recommended, at darkest an amber.

One fun aspect of the biggest camping days of the year, namely, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July, is making the extra preparations necessary to build a bar for your camp out!  If you already have a home bar, you will be able to take some of your sturdier decorations out to the campground.  The main issue will be having plenty of seating available for your patrons, be they friends, family, or fellow campers.  Turning your campsite into a party zone can make you some exceptional friends!  To avoid any unpleasant interactions with authorities, it is advisable to disguise your mobile draft beer system.  You may want to read my articles Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing and Disguising a Mobile Beer Draft System if you are planning on setting up a campsite bar during such major party weekends.

Whether you are brewing up a fine camping trip for a small group, or for a large assembly, the mixture of draft keg beer and the wilderness is a pleasant surprise for all.  The association of home brew and the great outdoors is an apt one; brewing one’s own beer is healthier than accepting the bland corporate beers offered in most of the nation, and is especially refreshing after a constitutional in the great outdoors!

Free Beer: A Most Excellent Promotional Tool

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There is little that can generate more interest in your business that the words “FREE BEER” in lights. Indeed, the whole notion of “FREE BEER” is like unto a mystical occurrence in the mind of the average Joe (slack). With such a lure, a canny business can elicit memberships (it has its privileges: FREE BEER!), marketing data such as surveys, email addresses, telephone numbers – really, the potential is nearly unlimited. It is a shame that more businesses do not realize the power of FREE BEER.

Think of the cost, some might say. If you are worried about cost, you are thinking about this all wrong. What is the true cost of offering free beer when, for example, you are asking for half a day’s labor out of someone as a volunteer or intern? Your cost in wages would be far over that of some FREE BEER, even if you buy good quality ale. I have known corporations that have enlisted numerous volunteers for weeks long work “parties” in demanding physical conditions simply for the sake of FREE BEER. Not only do volunteers flock to the event site, but the guarantee of FREE BEER elicits such trust and dedication from volunteers that those seeking financial compensation for their work are looked down upon. For most physical laborers, FREE BEER is indeed all that is needed to ensure their loyalty.

Compare Kegerators

One great way to increase the customer base of a membership-only business is the offering of “FREE BEER ON SUNDAY! (For members)”. You need not offer more than one beer per customer, but the enticing offer will lure many people into your video or canoe rental. Since the offer is only available to those who pass your membership criteria, any unsavory looking (or smelling) characters can be denied beer on the grounds that they do not have a membership with your organization.

Handling the FREE BEER promotional tool legally and efficiently is the key to its success. ID must be asked at all times. Remember that just one free beer handed to a minor can enlist a fine upwards of $2,000, plus probably the end of your FREE BEER policy. To keep things efficient, it is wise to put up either a one or two beer limit per customer. To further tighten the belt on your FREE BEER budget, you should consider the duration that you will be offering it. If, after a trial period of two months, the FREE BEER is working for your business, it is wise to invest in a kegerator. This will keep your keg from souring, and is a more efficient way of keeping beer cool and ready to drink than buying bags of ice or even if you own an ice machine. Kegerators usually pay for themselves within a matter of a year, and ensure that the beer served will be a most enjoyable pub draught.

Another application of FREE BEER is the company event or sale. Sales are enticing, but sales with FREE BEER are guaranteed to hook you in at least an extra 10% – 100% in impulse walk-in customers if advertised properly. By properly, I mean, of course, in large type facing oncoming traffic, but in the storefront will certainly suffice. Of course, the sign should say “SALE! FREE BEER! (For customers)” to leave you and your employees an out for serving beer to unsavory characters.

I am sure that by now you have realized how eye-catching this promotional tool is. For the small business owner, the chain operator, or the corporate event planner, FREE BEER should always be considered as one of the most effective promotional tools available.

Fortified Ales I Have Known

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One rare treat in the world of craft brewing is the fortified ale.  A fortified ale is an ale that has a hard liquor, an herbal admixture, or both added to it before kegging or bottling.  This kind of ale is mostly seen in the realm of craft brewing or home brewing.  In the days before refrigeration technology was much advanced, it was common for barkeeps to mix new ales with older ones, enhance brews with wormwood to increase their potency, and for brewers to create fortified ales as well.  Now, the fortified ale is a rare commodity indeed, but one that is rather simple for the home brewer who is equipped to keg his or her beer.

The most effective use of the fortified ale that I have experienced has been that of an herbal tincture.  This process can be used to provide both flavor and increased inebriation to any home brewed ale.  I have found Anise, Star Anise, Mugwort (both root and leaf), and wormwood to all be effective herbal admixtures for fortifying ales, but it is certainly advisable to use such sparingly, as it is easy to add too much to our brew.  You need not fear for loss of the batch in such cases, though.  Usually the bitter or acid tastes die out with some aging (6-11 months, depending on the girth of your step-step).

If you plan to create a fortified ale, it is important to realize that if alcohol is used (say, a cheap rum, herbally affected or not) to enhance the inebriatory qualities of your ale, it will be necessary to force carbonate your beverage by the use of a beer keg of some sort.  The reason for this is that when the alcohol level of the beer increases with the addition of a hard liquor to the mixture, the yeast that normally causes the carbonation effect is killed.  I have found the use of a Cornelius keg to be handy when making fortified ales at home.  Common among home brewers, the Cornelius keg offers, at a reasonable price, a great chance to try fortifying one’s own ale while maintaining a proper level of carbonation in the beverage in question.

If you have a home bar, and you are a home brewer, a fortified ale can be a great addition to your selection of seasonal ales.  A brandy enhanced amber ale for fall, perhaps?  How about a winter stout with the extra zing of mint schnapps?  I find that one liter of 80 proof alcohol enhances the five gallon home brew batch quite effectively.  I recommend adding to this liter an herbal admixture of some kind to make your fortified ale truly special.  If you are brewing for summer, an apricot, cherry, strawberry, or apple infused rum could add that special something you are looking for.  The method of fortifying ales with special liquor is one that is seldom practiced among home or craft brewers – a chance to try something unique and different.

Many microbrewers these days are trying all kinds of admixtures for their ales, from Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown (Highly recommended), to Laguinitas with their Brown Suggah (made with molasses, very strong), to New Belgium’s Springboard Ale (fortified with a pinch of wormwood).  There are new concoctions coming out every month, it seems, and the atmosphere is ripe in the craft brewing world to bring forth the next level of unique brews: the fortified ale.

Holiday Kegerator Give-Away Contest

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Enter to Win
Free Kegerator

Are you ready for this? The last contest was such a success that I’m giving another kegerator away for free! The winner of the last contest was a CPA from Oregon, so this is any man/woman’s game.

The lucky winner will receive a free kegerator and I will get all the free publicity as you, my fellow beer lovers, pass the contest around on the internet to your friends, family and co-workers.

The skinny on the contest is as follows.

A free kegerator to be awarded to the beer lover with the most creative story of how you would put this kegerator to good use!

If you win this kegerator it will be the most unforgetable Holiday season you and your friends have ever experienced. Just ask last Summers winner and I’m sure he will agree.

To win this free kegerator fill out the Kegerator Give-Away Entry Form located here and tell us how you would put this kegerator to good use! Good Luck!!

5 Days Until Free Kegerator Contest Ends

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Win a Free Kegerator

If you haven’t already submitted your entry to win a free kegerator, then you should do it now. There are only 5 days until the contest closes and the entries will be reviewed to see who is the most deserving to win a free kegerator.

The contest started in June and it was an instant whirlwind of entries from all over the country. We have thousands of entries to read through, so make sure your submission stands out from the pack. We suggest you add a funny or touching story why you deserve to have this kegerator in your life.

The contest ends August 1st and the winner will be announced by the end of September. We can’t wait to announce the winner and make someones draft beer dreams come true!

Guest Writer for TheManRoom.com

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The Beer Dream Team over at TheManRoom.com has invited me to become a guest writer, where I will share a 10-part series on the History of the Kegerator with the website’s highly beer-educated audience. The purpose of the series is to share the history of refrigeration and how beer played a major part in  influencing the way we live today.

TheManRoom.com website cators to what you would expect from a name like "The man room" including beer, video games, TVs, DVDs, sports, girls, etc. If you have a moment, I highly recommend checking it out: www.TheManRoom.com

Kenmore Kegerator from Sears.com

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Kenmore Kegerator

After waiting almost a year, Sears has finally agreed to list their Kenmore kegerator in the Kegerators.com catalog. It seems Kenmore is one of the last brands that was missing from the over 20 brands of kegerators in the catalog already.

The Kenmore kegerator is very similar to the Haier and Sanyo model and is priced right under $600. If you are doing some searching around for information on this unit, you will find that most of the information is about converting a Kenmore compact refrigerator and using a conversion kit.

This kenmore comes with a full arsenal of kegerator goodies to get you setup and dispensing beer in no time.

 

  • Holds half-barrel, quarter barrel and mini-kegs
  • Uses American U.S. Sankey System
  • Convertible to beverage center, includes shelf
  • Chrome Beer Tower and Guardrail
  • Casters for Easy Portability

     

    • Kegerator Give-Away Contest

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    Enter to Win
    Free Kegerator

    Can you believe it? I’m giving a kegerator away for free! You might think I’ve lost my mind, but it’s really a good thing for everyone.

    The lucky winner will receive a free kegerator and I will get all the free publicity as you, my fellow beer lovers, pass the contest around on the internet to your friends, family and co-workers.

    The skinny on the contest is as follows.

    I’ve created our first ever Kegerators.com kegerator give-away contest to be awarded to the beer lover with the best story of why they deserve this bad boy!

    If you win this kegerator it will be the most unforgetable summer you and your friends have ever experienced.

    To win this free kegerator fill out the Kegerator Give-Away Entry Form located here and tell us why you deserve to be the lucky winner, Good Luck!!

    Kegerator T-Shirt

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    i want a kegerator

    The perfect t-shirt has arrived!

    Now you can either make your friends jealous of you or strangers respect you from a distance. These two new kegerator t-shirts blast loud messages and both messages will bring you positive mojo.

    If you’ve always wanted a kegerator, but can’t afford it or you aren’t "allowed" to have one then the i want a kegerator t-shirt is for you. This may help give friends or family a hint as to what they should get you for your next birthday, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. (We all know mothers like them some draft beer too.)

    i have a kegerator

    On the flip side, if you already have taken the plunge and purchased yourself a magic beer machine (a.k.a. kegerator) then you are in for a treat with the i have a kegerator t-shirt. Jealousy will consume all eyes that hit the clearly defined sentence. The message speaks loud to any beer loving humanoid that has ever dreamed of owning a kegerator. You will instantly become the hit of the room and everyone will scramble over to you to either ask "What is a kegerator?" or they will respectfully say "Damn you’re lucky!".

    I have tested both of these shirts on the street and believe me, it was a blast to see the reactions and smiles when people read the message. Beer is a universal glue that bonds us all together and who wouldn’t want a fancy t-shirt that exclaims your love for refrigerators that dispense universal glue?