The Zymurginian: HomebrewCon 2017: Day 2

Yet another day at HomebrewCon. After the swag-o-rama and dickchimping of Day 1, Day 2 was more about the seminars.

The nice thing about this conference is that all the seminars are recorded, and they are posted to the AHA website soon afterwards. For some time slots, I had four seminars I was interested in. Knowing I can watch them all later frees me to pick one that might have a good Q&A or - more importantly - accompanying beers.

First up was a session on using dry yeast for bottle conditioning by Jennifer Helber, who set up Boulevard Brewing's quality assurance lab back in the 1990s. I never thought to add dry yeast to finished beer, but damned if it isn't a good idea. Boulevard filters out the first yeast, then adds a different yeast for conditioning. The new yeast also helps clean up diacetyl and other off flavors.

Next was a historical presentation on molasses beer. The presenter was Frank Clark from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. He has a particularly cool job in that he researches food from a historical standpoint and tries to replicate them. Seeing as he works for a colonial-era living museum, he researches and brews colonial-era beer. And wears period clothing.

Frank Clark from @colonialwmsburg discussing molasses beer in style. #homebrewcon2017 pic.twitter.com/cktyQ2S4eZ
— Zymurginian (@zymurginian) June 16, 2017

Molasses beer was a combo of molasses, wheat bran and hops. As it turns out, molasses and liquid malt extract have the same PPG (1.036) so this was effectively the first partial-mash beer. What's old is new again. The beer itself is cloudy but pretty tasty.

Then we got all sciencey with Rahr Malting's hops wizard, Patti Aron.

@rahr_malt 's Patti Aron talking IBUs and bitterness #homebrewcon2017 pic.twitter.com/0YvuwdeYjD
— Zymurginian (@zymurginian) June 16, 2017

Good info on past research into hops, how IBUs are calculated, how aging can actually make hops better, and why isomerized hops don't skunk easily. Also plenty of molecule diagrams, which made a bit of sense to a guy who managed a C in freshman chemistry.

Phew! Time for beer! Before long I found the line for the Dickie's booth. Someone at the Briess booth told me the day before that were giving away work shirts. Sure, why not?

If there's a line, there's usually something good at the end. @Dickies #homebrewcon2017 pic.twitter.com/0uESJ2FOzg
— Zymurginian (@zymurginian) June 16, 2017

It took a while (20 minutes?), but I walked away with a navy blue Dickie's short-sleeve shirt freshly pressed with my choice of patch. They only had XL shirts left by the time I got there, but that happens to be my size (and probably a third of all convention-goers). Score.

Quick break for lunch and then another seminar on how to evaluate your beer like a beer judge. Gordon Strong gave a great presentation, and there were two beers offered (Schell's Pils and Summit Extra Pale Ale) to practice sniffing and sipping. Who knew there were eight different ways to smell beer?

Tasting beer like a beer judge with Gordon Strong. #homebrewcon2017 pic.twitter.com/NjWKFCBAiN
— Zymurginian (@zymurginian) June 16, 2017

One last turn of the expo floor to see what's up. Yakima Valley Hops did a HomebrewCon promo using plinko. One-pound bags of pellet hops were $20, and you could get a discount (up to 50%) depending on where the puck landed. First try stuck on a peg about a third of the way up from the bottom.

"That means I get it for free, right?"

"Ha! Not quite. Try again."

This time it landed on 3, so 30% off or $14/lb. Not too shabby. I picked Medusa, a recent hybrid of a neomexicanus variety that was unlike anything I had. And since I hit the peg (or, more likely, they wanted to unload it) the guy even threw in an opened bag of Loral that had been on the counter as a sample. It weighs about as much as the sealed bag, so I'll call it 2lbs for $14. I'll vacuum-seal and freeze the Loral when I get home, but at 10.2% alpha it will have enough punch for some autumn brews.

Friday's catch

After dinner I braved Club Night. Only one other guy (that I know of) is here from my club in VA, so this might be short. I managed about an hour and a half, trying a few tasty-looking beers. Props to clubs with Randalls and beer engines.