Subject: Digest for the period 2/21/2005 - 2/22/2005 Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:02:06 -0500 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Steve Johnson and Sensory Kits (Kris England) 2. Sensory Evaluation Kits (Antony Hayes) 3. Second Call for Judges (Bruce Stott) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kris England Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 11:03:57 -0600 Subject: Steve Johnson and Sensory Kits Steve, I agree completely with what you wrote. When I started judging I had no idea what diacetyl was, etc. The doctored beer segments were a mandatory step I needed. Firstly, I must apologize because I must not have made my point well enough. I have been doing the doctored beer tastings for my classes and am lucky enough to have access to the certain chemicals and the highly accurate analytical balances to weigh and measure them. Knowing how much of what goes into each sample I can state that these chemicals are VERY cheap. We are talking parts per million (ppm) which in better terms would be mg/L. As for flavor activ I very much like their products and never have said they were bad or of poor quality. Their goal and role in the beverage and food industry is a necessary one. My "asinine" comment comes from the fact for home brewers the cost of $150 for 8 samples or whatever it is simple egregious. Back in the late 1970's the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) put together a committee on beer flavor terminology. One of the members of this committee was Morten Meilgaard. I recently went to our research library on campus and read and copied all of these articles. Its the first place a beer-type flavor/aroma wheel was done. In addition to this, the committee tested many different compounds, such as diacetyl and acetaldehyde and many others, and determined there flavor thresholds by testing them in beer at different concentrations over a range of people. It was really quite an elegant study. So as you can see most of the flavor thresholds were completed before the FlavorActiv company was even formed. The FlavorActiv company has more than likely done more research in this area and extended the first study's scope, to this I have no direct knowledge but would assume so...which is good! The entire point I was trying to make is that we home brewers don't have the resources the major companies do. I personally cannot afford $150. As home brewers we are a very resourceful lot making many things for ourselves that we could buy. With a little experience and know-how anything can be done. Hopefully I have cleared up my goals and answered all of your points, Let me know if you have any other questions Kristen England BJCP Continuing Education Director PS - Im a guy...but my name is Kristen ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Antony Hayes Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 21:41:07 +0200 Subject: Sensory Evaluation Kits Stephen Johnson said, amongst other things, "The FlavorActiV company is a leader in the field of flavor standards, and has researched and calibrated its flavor compounds with the expressed purpose of training employees at all levels of the food and beverage industry to recognize various flavor components that fall outside the recommended range of acceptable standards." Thanks to our association with SAB we have frequent access to FlavorActiv kits. My experience has been that these are quite useful for discovering off flavours for the first time, but have decreasing marginal value over time. They somehow miss the interactive nature of off flavours. I seldom encounter an off flavour on its own, they normally come in groups. The FlavorActive dopes also seem artificial in a way. I have found that people who are good at FlavorActiv are less good at real beer. I would be interested in other people's experience. Cheers Ant Hayes Johannesburg ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bruce Stott Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 15:34:00 -0500 Subject: Second Call for Judges The Hop River Brewers are pleased to announce that the Eighth Annual Eastern Connecticut Homebrew Competition will be held on Saturday, March 19 at the VFW on Rt. 32 in Willimantic, Connecticut. The Competition is sanctioned by both AHA and BJCP and experience points will be awarded accordingly. Coffee and bagels will be available starting at 8:30 AM. Judges should report by 9:00 AM for sign-in and assignments. Judging will begin by 9:30 AM. Lunch will be provided by Main Street Cafe and a light repast will be available following the awards ceremony. Complete competition details can be found at www.homemadebrew.net. Judges may register or get further information by contacting Bruce Stott at: tbonestott`at`snet.net (860.871.9111) Please include your phone number, BJCP number and rank, and any judging preferences and/or categories you expect to enter. ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * **********************************************************************