Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Open Source Craft Brewery Shares More Than Recipes

Posted by samzenpus on from the mmmmm-beer dept.

Jason Hibbets writes An open source craft brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota is taking open source beyond sharing recipes. The goal for Tin Whiskers Brewing Company is to "engage and give back to the community by sharing an inside look at opening and operating a craft brewery." In this interview with co-founder George Kellerman, we learn a little more about why the trio of hobbyists who started the brewing company took the path to becoming professional brewers and why they decided to be more open. "The brewery community was extremely helpful and open, so being open ourselves seemed like a great way to honor that," Kellerman said.

9 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Free as in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    BEER!

  2. Not really open source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The recipes lack IBUs as well as grain percentages which are needed to actually produce one of these "recipes". Sure a good brewer could pretty easily guess for basic styles but is still a far cry from open source. Its like having a specification for an engine be "iron, steel, gaskets, crankshaft"

    1. Re:Not really open source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I believe it is traditional for "free beer" to not compile properly on the first version.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Beer

    2. Re:Not really open source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The "Open Source" part is complete bullshit. There is tons of freely available information about brewing, recipes and how to start a brewery.

      http://www.probrewer.com

      They are doing nothing new except being pretentious about it.

  3. This is not new by MpVpRb · · Score: 4, Informative

    Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River published a homebrew recipe for Pliny the Elder along with a detailed description of how he designed it

    Mitch Steele of Stone wrote a book on IPA which included recipes for many of Stone's beers

    Craft brewing and homebrewing have a long and interconnected history

    Many craft brewers started as homebrewers and many craft breweries own homebrew supply stores and support homebrew clubs

    The craft brewers I have visited freely answered any questions I asked

  4. The real trade secret is the yeast by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From my understanding, the most successful breweries are not as concerned about their recipes being stolen because they have a proprietary yeast strain that they own and no one else can get.

    For example: http://globalnews.ca/news/1542...

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:The real trade secret is the yeast by QRDeNameland · · Score: 3, Informative

      From my understanding, the most successful breweries are not as concerned about their recipes being stolen because they have a proprietary yeast strain that they own and no one else can get.

      Not to mention...not all breweries are the same. For instance, many German brewers use a traditional method called decoction mashing where portions of the mash are drawn off and boiled and then returned to the main mash to raise the temperatures for various enzymatic reactions, which will yield malty flavors that are difficult to achieve otherwise. Very few breweries outside Europe have this capability, in fact many smaller US craft breweries only allow for one step infusion mashing (hot water added to grain where the mash can only have one temperature stage) which limits the kinds of malts that can be used as the lightest and least modified malts require multiple stages of temperature rests. This is why it is exceeding rare for N. American breweries to be able to fully reproduce the flavors of e.g., a German Pils.

      So much of brewing relies on process that just knowing the "recipe" (i.e., just the specific ingredients) is not a guarantee of being able to reproduce the beer.

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  5. More hops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The secret to craft brewing beer?

    1. Take any beer recipe.
    2. Add additional hops!
    3. Add even more hops!!
    4. Oh so much more hops!!!
    5. Profit!!!!
  6. The website states exactly what yeast by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 4, Informative

    strains they use to brew each beer:

    Short Circuit Stout--Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale)
    Flip Switch APA--Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)
    Wheatstone Bridge--Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat)
    Ampere Amber--Wyeast 2112 (California Lager)
    Schottky Pumpkin--Wyeast 2035 (American Lager)

    All commercially available to anyone who wants them:

    https://www.wyeastlab.com/

    --
    Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org