Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-Hour Episode 8, Fountain Square Brewing

Hey Guys,

This week's episode was pretty darn good. Probably the best one yet. As per usual, I made several mistakes throughout the podcast. See if you can find them. I hope all of you enjoy this podcast as much as we enjoy taping it. 

Cheers,

Nate

Click here to open the audio in a new window!


Show notes:

IBH Radio Half-Hour
Episode 8
Fountain Square Brewing
Guest: Bill Webster

Hello friends of the hop and grain, and welcome to our final episode of 2011 of the Indiana BrewHaus Radio half-hour where we talk about all things beer: tasting it, brewing it, and discovering new ways to enjoy it. This week we are proud to be on location at Fountain Square Brewing on 1301 Barth in indianapolis! I am your host, Nate Shultz, German at heart, but Irish at liver, sitting beside my two co-hosts for the evening, who I am pretty sure are just here for the beer, Mr. Jared Brown and Mr. Benjamin Sutton! How are we this evening gentlemen?

chat:
Movie to check out on Netflix: How beer saved the world.
    Essentially a loose history of beer from beginning to current times
    Beer was used as: money, medicine; saved millions of people from plague; started the agricultural revolution, built the pyramids, brought us antibiotics, and created modern refrigeration.
It truly changed the course of history! If it weren’t for beer, we’d probably be living in caves!

Before we get to our guest for the evening, lets address the drinking game. I realize we have a lot of rules and it can be hard to follow all of them. Instead of instituting a new rule for the game, lets do this: Pick your favorite 3 rules from the list and follow those. Also, it is ok to make up your own. I actually encourage it. If you do have suggestions for new rules or would like to tell be about the ones you made up, email me at indiana.brewhaus@gmail.com!

On to the guest! Sitting with us tonight from the newly opened Fountain Square Brewing, Mr skip duvall/ Mr Bill webster. Welcome sir to the show. How are you this evening?

1. Tell me a little about yourself
3. If you have/had a mission statement what is it/would it be?
4. Tell me about Skip. What is his history with beer?
5. Why Fountain Square?
6. Any special events you have coming up that you want our fans to know about?
7. What kind of seasonals can we see from fountain square in the near future? Are you willing to devulge that?

Style of the week:
American Style light lager!

OK folks, lets face it. We have all drank at one time or another. Some of us can admit it, some can’t. I have, jared has, and i know ben has. Here is the real question: Is it ok? Answer: Of course! This country was founded on Ales, but it was made great by Lagers! Currently, beer accounts for 1.5% of the GDP not to mention the billions the industry pays in taxes. So, you drink a Bud Light or a Miller every once in a while, who cares! Don’t be a snob. Even brewers drink the stuff. Plus, let’s be honest: Craft beer is for enjoying, but a light lager is good for drinking a lot of. Again, something I do!
Like other types of beers, the American Light Lager has it’s fair share of historical significance. This type of beer stems from the German Style Lager which originated in Bavaria. In 1840 lagering techniques were exported to Bohemia, now Czech Republic. The result was Pilsner. This came as a result of partially malted ultra light Barley and Saaz hops. Some of the big breweries today call their beer pilsner, but they have cut the once all-barley beer with corn and rice which might be much cheaper, but has little flavor.

Alright, enough about cheap beer. Lets get back to craft beer!

Recommendations/ what you’ve been drinking this week
Jared
Ben
Nate
Skip/Bill

Beer News:
Winterfest is coming soon!
Go to brewersofindianaguild.com for tickets

Sun King is up for awards yet again! Go to this site to vote for their beer/can design!
http://www.craftcans.com/craftcanscoms-best-of-2011we-need-your-help

Apparel available for purchase! Email me at indiana.brewhaus@gmail.com

Homebrew tip of the week!

Adding fresh fruit safely to beer!

Here is my recommendation. If you must add fruit to your beer, even though i don’t recommend it, do this first:
First, wash the fruit well to remove any dirt or debris. Second, Heat and mash fruit on your stove to pasteurize it (not to hot, though. don’t want to carmelize it!) Finally, be sure to add it during secondary fermentation or you will lose all that fruit flavor when you rack it. So there you go that is my only advice. I typically don’t add fruit to beer unless i am making it for my wife who loves blueberry and cranberry beers. Actually she loves your cranberry wheat.


Thanks everyone for joining us this week on the Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-hour. Special thanks to my guest for the evening, Mr. bill/skip You can find them online at fsqbrew.com or follow them on twitter on @fountainsqrbrew. Also, be sure to stop by Fountain Square Brewing Thursday - Sunday here on 1301 barth street here in indianapolis. Just look for the orange building! Thanks to my co-hosts, Jared, which you can follow on twitter at @jaredbrown, and Ben which you can follow on twitter @thepact or at benjaminsutton.com.
You can also follow me on twitter @nshultz or go to indianabrewhaus.blogspot.com for more episodes of the IBH Radio Half-hour, blog posts, drinking games as well as updates on what isgoing on around Indianapolis. Also, be sure to check out indianabrewhaus.com!

cheers!

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half Hour, Episode 7, Flat 12 Bierwerks

Hey all,

This weeks show was probably our best yet! We got the chance to sit down and talk to Rob Caputo from Flat 12 Bierwerks. Rob talked to us about the 12 beers of Christmas release they have going on right now. If you hear this in the next couple of weeks, head to Flat 12 to check it out!

Click Here to open the episode in a new window!

Show Notes:

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half Hour
Episode 7
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Rob or Josh

Hello friends of the hop and grain, and welcome to our first holiday episode of the Indiana BrewHaus Radio half-hour where we talk about all things beer: tasting it, brewing it, and discovering new ways to enjoy it. This week we are proud to be on location at Flat 12 Bierwerks on 414 Dorman street in indianapolis! I am your host, Nate Shultz, drunk and belligerent mall Santa, sitting beside my little helpers and co-hosts for the evening, Mr. Jared Brown and Mr. Benjamin Sutton! How are we this evening gentlemen?

chat/banter among hosts

Before we introduce our guest for this evening lets talk about our IBH drinking Game! This week, every time you hear anyone on the show say the word Christmas or any variation of that word. Take a drink of your beer. Again, I feel the need to repeat our disclaimer that if you are in your car listening to this. Don’t participate in the drinking game...goes without saying, but I feel the need to mention that.

On to the guest! Our guest this evening is fresh off the release of their glazed ham porter which i believe is part of a larger release of beers, which i am sure he will get to later on in the show. From Flat 12 Bierwerks, Mr. (rob caputo or josh). How are you this evening sir/gentlemen?

Questions:

1. Speaking of your porter, what was your inspiration for this beer?
2. We spoke briefly before the show about a special release you are having leading up to the Christmas holiday. Explain that a little for our listeners.
3. Tell me a little about the brewery. Who’s idea was it to start a brewery here in indianapolis?
4. The three of us have varying levels of brewing knowledge. I have been homebrewing for about 8 years now; Jared just recently, within the last 1.5 years or so, has started brewing; and Ben just is an appreciator of fine ales...who’s addiction is partially fed by me. Do you still homebrew in your “free time”?

Style of the episode
Cask conditioned ale.

I realize this is more of a method of finishing a beer rather than a style, but let’s face it, cask conditioned beer can really add character to a beer that may not come from forced carbonation. Cask conditioned ales are a typically English phenomenon. First of all, before we get into cask conditioned ales, we should talk about CAMRA.The method conditioning was all but extinct in the 1960s when a group of purists was formed called CamRA or the Campaign for Real Ale. This English political group used pressure and lobbying to keep cask conditioned or “real” ale a viable choice in British pubs. Although you can’t get it in half the pubs in Britain, it is nice to see someone preserving some history...I digress.

Although we could go on for an hour or more about cask conditioned or “real” ales. It boils down to this: At the end or toward the end of the primary fermentation process, a beer is kegged and rushed to a pub where it is cellared until at it’s peak. By “at it’s peak” I am referrering to a combination of flavor profile and desired carbination. Once that is reached, the keg is tapped and drunk quickly to avoid spoilage.

Recently CamRA did a study that showed that if a device called a cask breather(a device that replaces air in the keg with a gentle blanket of CO2) was used, cask conditioned kegs would last longer. Ironically enough, they chose to ignore their own research and side with tradition... go figure.


Homebrew tip of the week
Cask conditioning at home

Cask conditioning at home is actually more prevelent than you might think. Every time a homebrewer uses priming sugar to carbonate their beer and then puts it in a dark, cool place so that it can carbonate, mellow, and age....they are, in the cruedest sense, cask conditioning their beer... most brewers call it bottle conditioning, though. I still do this because i feel like it adds character to my homebrew.

Another way to cask condition at home if you have a kegging system would be to do the following:
Some books that I have read suggest altering a keg so that the dip tube doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the keg and suck up all the living yeast and sediment at the bottom. Others suggest laying the keg on it’s side so that all the sediment sticks when the keg is brought upright again. I am not sure how I feel about either of these, but i guess they are cheaper than buying all the necessary equipment which could run into the hundreds of dollars.

Whatever you do, make sure you beer stays roughly the same temperature when you serve it as it was when you fermented it, around 55-60 degrees. If you don’t do that, you might kill the yeast and end up with a “dead” beer.

Beer news

Flat 12 - 12 beers of christmas starting December 1 going all the way until ???

IBH apparel will be available for purchase before christmas. I will be putting the design up online and if you are interested, be sure to contact me at indiana.brewhaus@gmail.com.

What have you been drinking on this week?/ recommendations

Jared - Flying Dog: In Heat Wheat
Nate - Yuengling
Ben - Elector Imperial Red by New Albanian
Rob - New Albanian Keller Pils


Thanks everyone for joining us this week on the Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-hour. Special thanks to my guest for the evening, Mr. Rob/Josh You can find them online at flat12.me, or follow Josh on twitter @flat12_josh. Also, be sure to stop by Flat 12 Bierwerks here in Indianapolis at 414 dorman street. Thanks to my co-hosts, Jared, which you can follow on twitter at @jaredbrown, and Ben which you can follow on twitter @thepact or at benjaminsutton.com.
You can also follow me on twitter @nshultz or go to indianabrewhaus.blogspot.com for more episodes of the IBH Radio Half-hour, blog posts, drinking games as well as updates on what isgoing on around Indianapolis. Also, be sure to check out indianabrewhaus.com!

cheers!

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-Hour, Episode 6

Hey podcast listeners and beer lovers!


Click here to hear the latest episode of Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half Hour!

This week on the Half-Hour, we had the opportunity to sit down with Adam and Jason Burk of Tuxedo Park Brewers, a homebrew store in the Fountain Square Neighborhood of Indianapolis. They are the new kids on the block, only having been open since February of 2011. One thing is for sure, they are some well rounded individuals who know their beer. I really hope everything continues to work out for them.

Here are the show notes so you can attempt to follow along, although we really didn't follow them that closely.

Cheers!

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-Hour
Episode 5
Guest: Adam from Tuxedo Park Brewers
Topic: Homebrew Stores

Hello friends of the hop and grain, and welcome to another episode of the Indiana BrewHaus Radio half-hour where we talk about all things beer: tasting it, brewing it, and discovering new ways to enjoy it. I am your host, Nate Shultz, professional alchemist and amateur gynocologist. I am sitting along-side my two lab assistents and candy stripers and co-hosts for the evening, Mr. Jared Brown and Mr. Benjamin Sutton! How are we this evening gentlemen?

Chat/banter

Before we introduce the guest for the week, lets get the drinking game rule introduced. This week every time you hear the word hops. Take a drink!

This week we are broadcasting on location at the shop of the Tuxedo park Brewers, a new local home brew store located here in beautiful fountain square, the South East Neighborhood of Indianapolis. We have a very special guest, one of the owners of Tuxedo Park brewers, Mr. Adam Burk! Welcome sir!

Questions for Adam
1. How long have you been open
2. You have a very interesting location... how do people get here/ where are you?
3. Hops in Indiana

Style of the week:
IPA -
Origin of IPA - Style originated in England in the mid 17th century. Started out as a beer that was slightly higher in alcohol content, but not to the extreme that it has been taken today. The style of the beer at the time was meant for aging and WAS heavily hopped. Hops, in this case, acted like a preservative.
Styles of IPA

American - Most variety in style. Many different beers have stemmed from this style. Seems like every brewery has their version. Notable beers: Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Bell’s Two Hearted, Stone IPA
English - the original, this version is much lower in alcohol content, around 4% abv but still has a distinct hop characteristic. Some English breweries have taken to brewing a more American-like style of IPA, though. Can’t think of notable ones...sorry.
Belgian style - Interesting style, usually the same mash and hop schedule as a typical american IPA, but a belgian yeast strain is used. It has been done in Belgium for a while by Brasserie A’chouffe and is currently being done by Dogfish Head in their Raging Bitch
Double IPA - 90 minute 120 minute from dogfish head, San Diego IPA

Hop Harvest - Harvest Ales/IPAs (Why Fresh Hops?)

Beer News

International beer bloggers conference is coming to Indy!! Be sure to check out their website: beerbloggersconference.org or follow them on Twitter at @beerbloggers

Thanks everyone for joining us this week on the Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-hour. Special thanks to my guest for the evening, Mr. Adam Burk from Tuxedo Park Brewers. You can find them online at tuxedoparkbrewers.com, facebook.com/tuxedoparkbrewers , or stop by the shop at 1139 Shelby Street here in Indianapolis. Make sure to come through the alley to around the back. Thanks to my co-hosts, Jared, which you can follow on twitter at @jaredbrown, and Ben which you can follow on twitter @thepact or at benjaminsutton.com.
You can also follow me on twitter @nshultz or go to indianabrewhaus.blogspot.com for more episodes of the IBH Radio Half-hour, blog posts, drinking games as well as updates on what isgoing on around Indianapolis. Also, be sure to check out indianabrewhaus.com! We just purchased the domain name and I am slowly, but surely working on getting it up and running!
midwestmonk.com

cheers!

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half Hour, Episode 5

 Right click here to open up in a new tab.

Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-Hour
Episode 5
No Guest
Topic: Homebrewing

Hello fellow hop heads, and welcome to another episode of the Indiana BrewHaus Radio half-hour where we talk about all things beer: tasting it, brewing it, and discovering new ways to enjoy it. I am your host, Nate Shultz, latest republican nominee running on the fermentation platform. I am sitting along-side my two campaign managers and co-hosts for the evening, Mr. Jared Brown and Mr. Benjamin Sutton! How are we this evening gentlemen?

Chat/banter

Let’s get to the drinking game rule for the week. This week we will talk a lot about homebrewing. I myself am a home brewer and have been going on eight years. So, in the spirit of the show, every time you hear one of us say the words homebrew, homebrewing, homebrewers, or just the words home or brew...drink. I would get some beers ready.

This week we have no guests so you are going to have to listen to me and these two idiots talk for the next half hour. As I mentioned before, we are going to talk mainly about homebrewing in this show. We will cover the equipment to get started, some helpful tips, and different beers to try that are great for beginners!

First of all lets talk equipment. I have a post on the blog right now that talks about what equipment is good for starting out homebrewing to save a little money as this can be an expensive hobby at the beginning. I would like to go a little more in depth and talk about everything you absolutely need to start homebrewing. First of all, it is perfectly OK to start out using  malt extracts at the beginning. Malt extract is great for the beginner brewer because it takes a lot of the guesswork as well as effectively eliminating several steps to the brewing process. I actually didn’t go all-grain until about a year and a half ago.

Using malt extracts cuts down on the equipment you need to get started. There are a lot of different options on equipment, but my recommendation would be to not spend a lot of money right away. Many people start homebrewing, get into it, and then realize that it may not be something they would get into. Spending a lot of money is really not necessary. Here is a list of  ingredients that you absolutely need to get started:

Extract/partial grain
1. Large Pot (3 gallons or more, I use a turkey fryer with a propane burner, usually about $60)
2. Long spoon
3. Fermenter (I use a carboy, but many homebrew stores will sell lidded buckets that can serve as both a primary and secondary fermentor.
4. Air Lock (There are a couple different options on this)

5. Syphon
6. Racking cane/bottling cane
7. Bottles
8. Ingredients to make beer (duh)
9. Bottle cap crimper/ bottler
10. Sanitization stuff (star san and PBW)

Optional gadgets and tools for attenuating/measuring sugar levels:
1. Hydrometer
2. auto syphon (this helps get your syphon going - highly recommended!!)
3. Kegging system.

OK so this stuff doesn’t sound like it would cost much, but it can add up quick. That is why most home brewers buy everything a little at a time. Some guys even build some of the stuff themselves to save money. Be sure to check the show notes for pics of different systems some people have built.
Some people may be asking, “what if I want to start doing all grain brewing?” What do I Need at that point?
In the case of all grain brewing, you would essentially add one to two other steps to the process. Some people can front the cash to get a large system with a nice mashtun and false bottom. One possibly with a separate attachment for spraying sparge water. I say you don’t need that if you don’t want it.
Here is what I do: I found a 10 gallon Igloo drink cooler and had the spigot taken out and retrofitted it with a mesh halo, a bit of tubing and a on/off valve. With this, I am able to pour in 165 degree water that I had been heating in my large pot. With the lid that comes with the cooler, I have very little heat loss. I then make sure the batch measures five gallons at the end of the 1hr-90 minute mash stage and we are usually good to go. At that point i just let the water run out of the spigot, through the mesh halo. I realize that I am probably leaving some valuable sugars in the mash tun, but looking back on the batches that I have done, I have never had a problem with low specific gravity.  

Kegging:

Here is the deal with kegging. I don’t do it...yet. I would really love to get started, but there is so much cost associated with getting that done. I have a feeling that will be my next big venture. Kegging requires a great deal of hardware to get started, but once you have everything, bottling becomes a thing of the past. I envy those who have kegging systems in place. There are a ton of systems out there if you are looking to get started. Just poke around online or check out your local brewing supply store.

Some beers to try for newbies: For your first few batches, stick to styles that you know you like and can drink a lot of. I say this because there is a chance that you may be the only one drinking your beer at first. Once you have a good idea of what you are doing, feel free to branch out and try different beers. Some good examples of relatively simple beers would be your lighter beers like Kolsch, Cream, or lawn mower style. Another route to go would be your light pales and IPAs. I like these because if you screw up a little bit, the hops are there to attempt to cover your mistakes.

Style of the week:

Getting closer to winter, I have decided to make this week’s style Barleywine. Barleywine is a style of beer very similar in many ways to its namesake, wine, in that it is usually aged for long periods of time in oak barrels, but doesn’t have to be. It is usually high in alcohol content because of its long aging period. Because of this higher alcohol content, you can usually store barleywine for 2-3 years, sometimes longer.
Barleywine is a dark style that is very big on flavor. Usually it is very high on both malt and hops making for a very big beer! Some barleywines aren't even drunk until they have had time to age anywhere from 6 months to a year. It is sometimes referred to as the Cognac of the beer world.

Some barleywines of note:

three floyds Bohemoth
Upland’s winter Warmer
Bier Brewery’s Barleywine

What are you sipping on this week/ recommendations for our listeners?
nate - fuggit stout (Brew Bracket winner!)/ keg of osiris pale/ yuengling
Ben -
Jared -

News on the beer front:
Indianapolis has a bid in for the 2012 International beer bloggers conference! I am super excited about that one as I write a beer blog. I had no idea this existed until about 3 months ago. So if you are listening and you have twitter. Tweet @beerbloggers and tell them you want to have it here in Indy.

Other cities with bids:
St. Louis
Austin, TX
Asheville, NC

Yuengling coming to OH! Here is some big news for you yuengling lovers out there. Ohio is getting yuengling. Actually, some of the state already has it. It was a natural move for the Pennsylvania-based brewery as it is the only state that borders it that does not have the beer. The one nice thing about this for me is that I don’t have to drive 8 hours or visit relatives to buy it. Not sure as to when they are coming to Indiana, but don’t count on it for a while.
Should be in restaurants (on tap) by October 31st and in stores (bottles and cans) by November 14th.

Thanks everyone for joining us this week on the Indiana BrewHaus Radio Half-hour.  Thanks to my co-hosts, Jared, which you can follow on twitter at @jaredbrown, and Ben which you can follow on twitter @thepact or at benjaminsutton.com.
You can also follow me on twitter @nshultz or go to indianabrewhaus.blogspot.com for more episodes of the IBH Radio Half-hour, blog posts, drinking games as well as updates on what isgoing on around Indianapolis. Also, be sure to check out indianabrewhaus.com! We just purchased the domain name and I am slowly, but surely working on getting it up and running!

cheers!

Pics of homemade homebrew setups:

     Brew Tree                                        Stair step setup

                 The reason some breweries use plastic kegs now.



More like what I have for a mashtun.