BIMP Octoberfest Tasting Confirmed

BIMP’s first ever Octoberfest will be held on Saturday September 15th at 5:00pm! This tasting will celebrate the best beers Germany has to offer along with American tributes to German style beer. A true Octoberfest beer meets three criteria: 1) The brewer must adhere to the German Purity Law known as Reinheitsgebot. This law was put in 1516, and restricted all German beer production to the use of only three ingredients: barley, hops, and water. Yeast, the fourth and most essential ingredient in brewing, was not included in the original Purity Law because it had not yet been discovered that it was responsible for converting sugars to alcohol. 2) For a beer to be considered an Octoberfest beer it has to be over 6% abv. 3) Finally, true Octoberfest beer has to brewed in Munich, Germany by a Munich brewery. Traditionally Octoberfest beers are Marzens or Vienna Lagers. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to enter a beer in the true spirit of Octoberfest. I will be accepting entries from breweries in Munich, Germany and American interpretations of Marzen and Vienna Lager. Octoberfest beers fall under the European Amber Lager category via BJCP Guildelines if you are interested in looking for suggestions there. If you have the opportunity to drop by Kahn’s Fine Wines on Keystone or 86th St. you should have no problem finding either. The tasting will be held at Dax and Lindsy’s place in Broad Ripple. The gates are open! I’ll be posting a list of suggested beers soon. You know the rules: First 15 to Request a Brew get a guaranteed spot at the tasting, each entry needs to bring the equivalent of a 6 pack of their beer (3 bombers or 1 growler with one 12oz bottle for the pot), best entry takes home one of everyone’s brew and 2 tickets to Upland’s Octoberfest on September 22nd!

SUGGESTED BEERS:
Ayinger Oktoberfest-Märzen
Bier Märzen
Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest
Hofbräu Oktoberfest
Victory Festbier
Goose Island Oktoberfest
Samuel Adams Oktoberfest
Great Divide Hoss Rye Lager
Avery Brewing Company The Kaiser
Sun King Octoberfest
Upland Octoberfest
Harpoon Octoberfest
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
Bell’s Octoberfest
Schlafly Octoberfest
Saranac Octoberfest
Three Floyd’s Munsterfest (fingers crossed)
RESERVED BEERS
Paulaner Oktoberfest (Sample) – Erik Howell
Hofbräru Octoberfest – Jenn Myers
Samuel Adams Oktoberfest – Nathan Boles
Spaten Octoberfest – Isaac Wagner
Sun King Octoberfest – Jeremy McClintock
Brooklyn Octoberfest – Lindsy Storm
Shiner Octoberfest – Dax Storm
Upland Octoberfest – Bob Reynolds
Left Hand Octoberfest – Dan Sandman
Two Brothers Brewing Atom Smasher Octoberfest – Matthew Kennedy
Bier Octoberfest – Nate Surls

You know the drill. First 15 to Request a Brew get a spot in our next tasting. Good luck!

Why Use A Counter Flow Wort Chiller?

The faster you cool your wort off after your boil, the less likely are are going to bump into issues with off flavors from oxidation and bacteria contamination. Wort chillers are also used as a way to cold shock free floating proteins in your beer that will later cause “chill haze.” A good “Cold Break” increases the clarity of your finished beer by causing these proteins to drop out into your trub. There are two types of wort chillers: immersion and counterflow. An Immersion Wort Chiller is a coil of copper tubing (usually between 25′ and 50′) that connects to a hose attachment.

Immersion wort chillers are usually made with 25′ or 50′ coils of copper. This one is a 50′ chiller.

This is a Counterflow Wort Chiller. Beer is pumped through one direction, and cold water is pumped the opposite direction for maximum cooling.

This type of chiller is placed in your brew kettle after your boil and cold water is pumped through the tubing. The wort heats up the water as it leaves the system and quickly chills your wort. Depending on the temperature of the water you are pumping through your system, your beer will cool below 80˚ F in 30-45 minutes (and sometimes longer if you don’t also use an ice bath).

A Counterflow Wort Chiller is much more efficient. Wort is pumped through copper tubing that is housed inside a hose or larger copper tube. The hose/larger copper tubing allows for cold water to be pumped in the opposite direction of the wort. In some builds (Chillzilla), the inner tube carrying the wort is spiraled which creates turbulence in the water hose. This increases surface area of copper containing hot wort that is exposed to cold water, and maximizes the chillers ability to cool your wort. A counterflow wort chiller can bring the temperature of your hot wort down below 80˚ F in under 10 minutes. This is a HUGE deal! Not only do you save time, but you also decrease your beers chances of oxidation/bacterial infection. Counterflow wort chillers can also be used in conjunction with an immersion wort chiller. Connect your chillers together with your immersion wort chiller closes in a bucket of ice water, and you’ll be ready to pitch your yeast in record time! Purchasing a counterflow wort chiller is definitely not cheap, but there are some great homemade builds out there. If your game check out the builds on Ronblog or Tiber_Brew’s thread on Homebrewtalk, otherwise support your local brewshop!