Occidental

Welcome back to Off The Hinge Brewing!  Last night was off the hinge.  Dan Engler, Brewmaster/Proprietor of Occidental Brewing visited the Portland U-Brew Collective bearing gifts and growlers of Bohemian Pilsner.  I don't care for pilsner beers, however Dan did a great job with this one in my humble opinion.  The beer had great hop balance to the malt character and it was crisp and drinkable.  Coalition Brewing also donated speciality grains to us.  I grabbed the Crystal 150 Lovibond, which I have never used.

Bohemian Pils

Dan spoke in depth about the steps in crafting lagers.  What I found fascinating was the part of the speech about pitching rates.  Certain lager yeast strains such as, Wyeast's 2308 Munich Lager, can benefit from being pitched at higher temperatures around 60 - 65 degrees F.  This helps the yeast to get off to an active start, however he mentions that it is not wise to let this go more than 12-30 hours.  What happens when it spends too much time at that temperature is that it will release undesired esters.  Esters are a common off flavor that taste like bananas and cloves, yet they can be desired in certain styles.  So, once the yeast builds up a strong force you can begin to bring the temp down in steps.  If you do this step quickly you may stress the yeast.  That stress may cause the yeast to release proteins that are unwanted along with Diacetyl.  Diacetyl is a common off flavor with the taste that resembles buttered popcorn or butterscotch.  Not all lager strains appreciate the higher temp pitch rate, so make sure you know the profile.

Dan speaking to us

Sharing Knowledge

After the speech we all shared our beers.  Each person explains there process, ingredient and so forth, and then we sample.  Rye beers seemed to be a hit (Steve you the man) and I drank my first home brew out of a can, which was delicious Pale Ale fermented with white wine grapes (Thanks Dale).  All the beers were great (This group can brew!).  The release of the Lapsang smoked vanilla porter was a hit.  Can not wait for the March meeting.  Thank you Collective brewers for all the great beers and thank you Dan for taking some time out of your schedule to speak with us, and thanks Coalition for the grains.  Remember to drink good beer responsibly and be merry.  Salute!

Some of the brew we sampled