IF YOU’RE SERIOUS about beer, you’re eventually going to get serious about kegs. When you do, you’ll find yourself yearning for a place to keep them cold.

A keg refrigerator is the perfect home for a lonely keg, but finding a dedicated keg fridge for cheap is difficult. This leaves two options: buy a new one, or build your own.

A low-end commercial keg fridge will run you $400 or more, while a nice one will be over $600. But if you’ve got a spare refrigerator, you can build a keg fridge for around $200. It’s easy to do, and well worth it.

How to Build Your Very Own Keg Fridge
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/how-to-build-a-kegerator/

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I was recently at a course run by Steve Plowman of Hallertau Brewery on how to identify faults in beer.

It was a brilliant exercise which demanded a lot of your nose and palate as some of the so-called “off flavours” in beer are so subtle. And what’s “off” to one person is regarded as a relatively nice character by others – such as diacetyl, which can taste a bit like buttered popcorn. In the right beer it’s an asset. In the wrong beer it’s more like rancid butter than a movie snack.

Can the skunk flavour
http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/drinks/72138233/Can-the-skunk-flavour-its-a-bit-on-the-nose

http://byo.com/blogs/entry/in-praise-of-home-brew-clubs

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/jasonandandrew

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There are now more than 4,000 craft breweries in the U.S., per the Brewers Association. Great American Beer Festival, the largest single-event pouring of craft beer in America, rounded up 60,000 beer fans over three days this year at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Craft beer accounts for 1 in 5 U.S. dollars spent on beer.

Given those numbers, it’s difficult to distill the enormity of GABF. Ever facet of American beer was on display: the big, the little, the bold, the subtle, the weird and wacky. To wit: We took note of a few gin and tonic beers (the silver-medal winning Melt My Brain from Shorts Brewing as well as a beautiful, layered gin-barrel aged kolsch brewed with juniper berries from MadTree Brewing). We delighted in citrusy, juice-packed IPAs including medal-winning Old Town Brewing’s Shanghai’d IPA; the American IPA category this year tallied 336 entries, making it GABF’s largest category ever. Kolsches, cream ales and steam beers are the subject of renewed love from craft breweries, and we were glad to see continued interest in goses, contributing to 111 German sour entries in that judging categories. Both O.G. and new-school breweries won big at the awards ceremony: Firestone Walker, Fat Heads, Sun King and Port City cleaned up, each racking up multiple medals.

4 take-away trends from Great American Beer Festival 2015
http://draftmag.com/gabf-beer-festival-2015-trends/

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Sent from Zite, available for free in the App Store.

I was recently at a course run by Steve Plowman of Hallertau Brewery on how to identify faults in beer.

It was a brilliant exercise which demanded a lot of your nose and palate as some of the so-called “off flavours” in beer are so subtle. And what’s “off” to one person is regarded as a relatively nice character by others – such as diacetyl, which can taste a bit like buttered popcorn. In the right beer it’s an asset. In the wrong beer it’s more like rancid butter than a movie snack.

Can the skunk flavour
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/drinks/72138233/can-the-skunk-flavour-its-a-bit-on-the-nose

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ast night, Lion was named champion New Zealand Brewery at the 2015 Brewers Guild of New Zealand Beer Awards, held at a gala dinner at SkyCity in Auckland.

A hugely significant award, the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards is the biggest and most prestigious beer awards held in New Zealand.

Rory Glass, Managing Director of Lion, says: “To be named champion New Zealand Brewery is a massive honour. We couldn’t be prouder that our brewers have been recognised with the top award in such a competitive environment with such great New Zealand beer around. We’d like to send our sincere thanks to the Guild and also a big congratulations to the other New Zealand breweries who won major awards last night.

Lion named champion NZ brewery
http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/lion-named-champion-nz-brewery/5/232271

Sure, stouts, India pale ales, and hefeweizens are tasty, but if you want to venture away from the beaten path for your next beer, give one of these styles a shot.

1. GRODZISKIE (GRÄTZER)

A smoky wheat ale that originated in Poland, Grodziskie is a long-lost cousin of Berliner weisse. Like Berliner weisse, it is low in alcohol, occasionally tart, and highly carbonated, but it also features a unique smoky twist thanks to the oak-burning kilns used to malt the wheat. Lichtenhainer is a very similar German take on the style that historically tended to be wilder and sourer in character.

11 Obscure Beer Styles That Are Worth a Try
http://mentalfloss.com/article/67731/11-obscure-beer-styles-are-worth-try

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In his ubiquitous manuscript, How to Brew, John Palmer states:

“It is a good idea to remove the hot break (or the break in general) from the wort before fermenting. The hot break consists of various proteins and fatty acids which can cause off-flavors, although a moderate amount of hot break can go unnoticed in most beers.” (Ch. 9, Sec. 1)

Despite stating that “moderate” amounts of break material can go unnoticed, the primary point of this statement appears to be that hot break in the fermentor is generally not a good thing. Many homebrewers go to great lengths to separate this gooey gunk from their wort with concerns of imparting undesired off-flavors, developing a stuck fermentation, or ending up with a hazy beer.