ChiTown Beer

Gov. Quinn may be going to bat for beer lovers throughout Illinois.

In an interview on WGN, he said, ““I’m not sure I’m for the alcohol tax. I’m going to take a look at that.” That’s an interesting position, but a welcome one, from a guy who’s proposing to raise the income tax by 50% to pay for the $12,000,000,000 state budget deficit.

The Trib’s political blog, Clout Street, went on to elaborate that “[p]reviously, Quinn said he would consider higher taxes on wine and spirits but was lukewarm to an increase in the levy on beer, which is pegged at 2.6 cents per six pack.”

I still think a tax on sodas would be a much more productive solution to the government’s problem. I’m waiting to see where this goes, because without the beer tax, it may be harder to raise taxes on other liquors, so everyone wins.

So…. I checked in on the vat of beer-ish liquid that’s sitting in my apartment (it shouldn’t be turning into beer because I killed the yeast).

To my surprise, the fermentation lock is bubbling. Not a strong roaring bubbling, but a slow, measured, every-couple-seconds-I’ll-spit-out-a-bubble sort of bubbling.

Now I don’t know what to do with it.  I’m very curious what would happen if i bottle it, so I may mix my priming sugar with it and bottle at least 3-4  bottles to see what I get.

I’m out of town for the week, but will be posting/drinking from Knoxville, Tenn., so I’d have to wait until I got back before I did anything serious with it.

My roommate considered that I should call it “Zombie brew” if it survives this. I whole heartedly agree.

Talk about kicking us when we’re down.

In the midst of the economic crisis, the Illiniois legislature is proposing a 2.6 cents per six-pack tax increase on beer sales, The Sun-Times reports.

The state wants to boost revenue to pay for a “multibillion dollar construction program.” 

Why doesn’t the state try to raise money by taxing soda? This idea is being floated in the U.S. Senate now, and it seems a bit more fair than increasing what is already an 18.5 cents state tax per gallon on beer. Chicago residents have it even rougher, as the beer tax per gallon is $0.16, and $0.06 in Cook county. 

There may be some sort of protest against a soda tax though:

Well, the beer is looking ok… but I’m worried I killed the yeast when I put it into the fermentor. Yeast has needs, apparently, and I am just not the person to supply those.

Basically, after my happier post last night, I proceeded to take the advice of two of the three instruction books I had for the beer brewing and did not chill the wort before pouring it into the fermentor (plastic bucket)  filled with cold water. Some poeple suggest chiling the wort to 70 degrees before mixing with the rest of the water, but I didn’t want to wait, thinking the cold water would insta-cool the wort.

Turns out, it doesn’t.

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Tonight has been a very successful evening of brewing at home.  I was told it was about as easy as following directions and I haven’t been disappointed.

I bought Charlie Papazian’s (@CharliePapazian) book The Complete Joy of Home Brewing (CJHB): Fully Revised and Updated 3rd Edition to help me with this quest. It’s been invaluable. Charlie does a fantastic job of helping you understand the steps as a beginner. The book grows with you, with intermediate steps and tons of recipies for advanced brewers. I’m sure I’ll be trying some of them as I get a better grip on the whole process. (Who knows? Maybe that will be Part  II of the Great Brewing Adventure: Brewing through CJHB.

Anyway, I’ll have some video of my brewing tomorrow or Thursday. I’m excited to start drinking this already. The wort smells amazing.

Some things to think about when planning to make beer:

1) Don’t assume the biggest culdron you have is the required 12-quart minimum to start brewing wort. I found out mine is only 8-quarts, and what was going to be a fun night of brewing has turned into a sad night of staring at my brewing equiptment until the Brew and Grow opens tomorrow.

Assumptions make an ass out of you and me.

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On Tuesday, I went over to Metropolitan Brewing to check out their brewery and get to know Brewer Doug Hurst and Business manager Tracy Hurst.

The brewery itself is small, but mighty:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.Click on a photo to view the captions.

When I arrived, Doug and volunteer Dave Bleitner were working on transferring wort from the brewing kettle to the fermentation tank to start fermenting. While they were doing that, I was free to wander around the small industrial building they call home.
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Chicago Tonight did an excellent job covering the local beer scene.

I’m a bit shocked that they so easily dismissed the brewpubs in the Chicago area. A lot of these breweries, like Flossmoor Restaurant/Brewery, sell to regional distributors as well as their own pubs. These people are just as influential in spreading craft beer culture as their production focused counterparts.

Kudos to WTTW for getting the word out, though.

Tuesday, I took the time to get aquainted with Jonathan Cutler, the brewer at Piece Brewery and Pizzeria in Wicker Park.

Just a man and his tank.

Cutler’s been the brewer at Piece since they opened in 2001 and lost no time in creating great beer, winning bronze and silver medals at the World Beer Cup in 2002.

As Cutler explains, his path to becoming a pub brewer began when he and his college friends began brewing during “my 5th year of a 7 year undergrad.” It was shortly after he began to think his future could be in brewing:

Cutler speaks about his move from regular college to beer college.

Being the first brewer at a new pub has some unique challenges, including figuring out what the house beers should be.  Cutler learned to give the people what they want:

Cutler talks about the house beers.

Finally for all of us starting down the path to home brewing, I asked him if he had any advice:

Cutler gives advice on home brewing.

Piece itself is definitely worth a look. Imagine trendy-pizzeria meets tiny (by beer-hall standards) beer-hall and you get an idea. Between 7-9 of Cutler’s creations are on tap at any point during the year, so chances are you’ll find a style you like.

For all beer-lovers and home brewers heading to Chicago Beer Society’s First Thursday this week, be prepared for some bad beer.

This month, CBS is testing “off-flavor” (aka, crappy) beers. Seems strange, but trying something not-quite-award-winning might just help your palate and improve your judgment.

So go and enjoy some off-flavor, followed by an on flavor like the Bourbon County Stout or 312.

The group’s getting together at 8pm Thursday at the Clyborn Goose Island.