Tired Hands (July 2016)

Opened today. Wasn't very carbed, but man was it a good beer. Call me crazy but it's what I remember Alien Church tasting like when I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

The fck are you talking about? I made that as a general statement about tired hands, nothing to do with you. feelsbadman. I can do basic math, but thought It would last more than full a lotments for everyone maybe but yeah clearly overshot it there lol.

 

Anyone know if bottles are still left? Was going to try and go down on my lunch break if so.

 

No word yet. It doesn't seem like their is schedule or pattern to calculate it either.

 

I think I saw on Instagram that bottles were all gone

 

Saw this too. Pretty sure I read that the only bottles left are Shambolics.

 

I finally hit up TH for the first time since the Ferm opening party I went to.

Loved every beer! The two standouts were the Terminator and a really clean and crisp lager (which was so simple compared to everything else and that's what made it a surprise.)

Hophands did not taste like I remembered it, as everyone has been saying on here. It wasn't bad it just wasn't as juicy as before. It looks much paler too, it used to have a orange/mango color if I remember.

It's kind of baffling that absolutely none of their beers have cracked the BA Top 250. My guess is because 1. they don't really have a "core line" of beers 2. no packaging distribution. 3. The core beers they do have are not brewed consistently i.e. it'll never be the same twice.

Coz that Terminator was one of the tastiest beers I've ever had (and I've had many) but who knows if they'll ever brew it again?

 

Time will tell, but I think they're finally coming close to dialing in Alien Church. This batch is a tad shy of the previous batch which I thought was perfect. This batch lacks the beautiful lingering bitterness at the end slightly. FWIW, as @JackHorzempa said, I find AC to be best 1-2 weeks after canning.

 

I'm thinking of aging one of my Gatherer cans, but anyone know if there is any difference between aging a can or a bottle? Do cans keep as long?

 

One difference between cans and bottles is that cans do not let any air (oxygen) to ingress into the can while bottles do permit air (oxygen) to ingress via the crown liners.

If you have a can and a bottle which were packaged with the exact same TPO (Total Packaged Oxygen) the canned beer would keep longer.

Oxygen is the 'enemy' of beer since it exacerbates oxidative processes (i.e., staling processes).

Cheers!

Edit: Another variable with respect to shelf life is storage temperatures. Cold storage (e.g., 40 degrees F) increases shelf life since cold slows down the oxidative processes.

 

Thanks! I'm going to go into my cellar tonight and tape up the bottle caps with electrical tape on everything I'm aging with hopes to slow the oxidation process.

Does that mean wax sealed bottles let in less oxygen?

 

Bottles of Shambolic, Ourison and Sticky Drippy Crystals available at the Fermentaria

 

There is a metric of Oxygen Permeability Coefficient which quantities the susceptibility of oxygen transfer across a material. Below is a link to a study which has a table at the end of the article. The lower the value for the Oxygen Permeability Coefficient the better the material is as resisting the transfer of oxygen.

I have no idea what the Oxygen Permeability Coefficients are for either electrical tape or wax.

http://www.better-bottle.com/pdf/ClosuresOxygenPassageStudy.pdf

Cheers!

 

that's the big "if" though, and can't be taken as a given. I would be interested to know if modern canning lines can achieve the same levels of TPO as bottling lines can.

 

I recently addressed this topic in another thread:

There are lots of new vendors producing canning lines now and there are different levels of canning lines (very cheap manual lines to more expensive automated lines).

For example below is a video from the company Cask Brewing Systems for their automated line. There is mention that this line has the “Lowest air pick-up in the Industry” with a metric of 15-20 ppb provided at the 1:20 mark in the video. If this value of 15-20 ppb is in reference to air then the value for TPO is even lower.

It all depends on which particular canning line a brewery decides to purchase. It is my understanding based upon this past NHC seminar that canning lines cheaper than 'equivalent' bottling lines with low TPO values are available for purchase today.

Cheers!

 

As long as nobody gets the canning machine Civil Socety had every beer company should be in the clear.

 

As I stated previously: "...there are different levels of canning lines (very cheap manual lines to more expensive automated lines)."

Permit me to discuss mobile canning systems for a moment. Some breweries choose to have their beers canned via a mobile canning service vs. installing a canning line at the brewery. They may choose to do this because they do not have enough space or it might just be a matter of economics (insufficient capital to purchase the canning line). I read about one Pennsylvania based mobile canning company and that company uses a Cask Systems manual canning line (i.e., a cheap canning line). I personally do not think that particular canning line has low TPO vaules. I have had bad experiences with cans that were done by mobile canning companies (from this particular PA company?) so I prefer to not buy canned beers that are done by mobile canning companies. That is just a personal choice.

Cheers!

 

Keeping out oxygen is not necessarily what you want to do when aging your beer. Oxidation is part of the process, and a major factor in the flavor change over time. A lot of bigger stouts get port-like characteristics over time from oxidation, for example. This may not be what you want in an aged beer, but it's something to keep in mind before going out of your way to keep oxygen out of your bottles. It's not like they're going to turn overnight if you block out the oxygen.

 

They posted today that they've got new tanks in the Ferm for making lager.

Had Perpetual Morning on Saturday and it was the real surprise of the evening. Very well balanced and crisp.

 

Think it might be a type-o and they meant larger or really meant lager? Either way awesome if they focus on lagers cause all the ones I've had by them are crisp. And balanced