Hopfengarten Update # 3

Good morning everyone. I wanted to post another update on the hopfengarten and new trellis / arbor. SBBC member Nate Burne found a used trellis for us to add to the yard. Aidan and I decided to put it up last week. Of course, it so hot and humid. SBBC member Jeff Cathcart was kind enough to loan us a posthole digger, that made the job much easier. We concreted the posts in and let them set until the temperature dropped. We then attached and leveled the cross bar and support arms. One post was a few inches taller then the other, so the Sawzall made quick work of it. Three eye bolts were threaded into the cross arm and twine lines were strung up between the cross arm and the top of the planter trellis. Once the temperature drops, we will paint it and finish the project. The hops are growing well. Galena has taken off like a rocket. It's over 6 feet tall by now and it is starting to grow across the new line over the yard. Updates again soon.

Posts going up

Concrete done, cross bar and supports attached

Lines strung up

View towards the hops

View towards the yard

Latest photo of the hop bines. Galena is in the lead

SBBC 3 Tier Stand Update & Build Pics

Last Saturday, Glenn, Aidan (my 13 y/o son) and I tackled the build of out 3 tier gravity stand. It was brutally hot and humid. I never realized that cutting and welding steel could be such back-breaking work. Glenn had the forethought to have the metal cut to length when he ordered it, so we only had to miter the ends and weld. Aidan took some photos and even tacked a few pieces in place. Only thing we have left to do is grind the welds and paint it. Photos below. Enjoy and cheers!

Mike mitering the corners

Hell yeah!

Glenn welding the bottom frame assembly

Glenn welding the top half of the frame

Glenn welding the uprights

Mike welding the sides

All done. Propane mounted. Now we need a few burners and plumbing. 

SBBC's Own 3 Tier Brew Stand Build

So this weekend, Glenn and I will be start building our own 3 tier brew stand. This will allow us to go to all grain brewing and make better beer. When we are not brewing, it will serve as storage shelves to keep the equipment nice and neat. I'll update this during the build process, so please check back this weekend.

160 pounds of steel

All the frame parts layed out



Here are the plans



Finished stand built off of the same plans

Another Brewers Star Article

Here is another article about the origin and history of the Brewers Star. I really like the part about what meanings of the points of the star.



The Six-Point Brewer's Star


For centuries, it was customary for brewers -- particularly those in Europe and, later, in America -- to brand or paint a six-point star on the ends of their beer kegs. And, indeed, many brewers of the 19th and early 20th centuries actually fashioned their logos to incorporate the six-point star -- known as the "brewer's star." So, what exactly does the star have to do with beer or brewing?

Of course, there has been much speculation that the brewer's emblem was somehow descended from the Star of David -- a curious match to the brewer's star. It has even been suggested that King David himself was a brewer. But others assert that the emblem's use by beer-makers originated indpendently of the Jewish Star, and has no historical connection thereto.

The latter have some historical facts on their side. This geometric figure, which is technically called a hexagram, has existed throughout the world for several millennia, usually as a talisman. This includes the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East. The earliest appearance in a Jewish context is in the 13-16 centuries BCE, but long after that it continued in widespread use in other circumstances not associated with the Jewish faith.

The first use of the term "Shield of David" was about 1300 CE when a Spanish practitioner of Jewish mysticism wrote a commentary on the central book of that mysticism, the Zohar. The first actual linkage of the hexagram to a Jewish community appears in the early 1300s on the flag of the Jewish community of Prague, which was designed with permission of Charles IV when he became king of Bohemia. It is known that the star was the official insignia of the Brewer's Guild as early as the 1500s, and that its association with beer and brewing can be traced as far back as the late 1300s.

Whatever the case, it is clear that the brewer's star was intended to symbolize purity; that is, a brewer who affixed the insignia to his product was thereby declaring his brew be completely pure of additives, adjuncts, etc. In fact, folklore has it that the six points of the star represented the six aspects of brewing most critical to purity: the water, the hops, the grain, the malt, the yeast, and the brewer.

Original article: http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/brewerstar.shtml



The Brewers Star

I found this article online and wanted to share it. Pretty cool brewing history.

The Six Point Brewers Star

'Bierstern' (beer star) or 'Brauerstern' (brewer's star)

The 6 pointed Brewer’s star’s, identical to the Jewish Star of David, actually has its roots in alchemy.

Enclosed below is a diagram by Hans Kestler, former Huber Brewery brewmaster, illustrating the component parts of the brewers star, as related to brewing and alchemy. These elements include Fire, the masculine element of action and determination, portrayed by a triangle facing the heavens. The masculine element of air which deals with communication and intelligence is also a triangle, facing upward, but with a horizontal line symbolizing the clouds at the top of the mountain.

These two elements are ascending and are governed by the principal of levity. The feminine element of water is represented by a triangle facing the earth - like the rivers that flow to the lowest grounds. Earth is the other feminine element that is represented by a triangle pointing down with a horizontal line representing the surface of the earth. These two elements are ruled by the principal of gravity. Combined these four elements represent the Great Work in alchemy, which means harmony balance and peace. These noble concepts are represented by David's Star. Just like the yin-yang symbol of Eastern Alchemy represent the balance between feminine and masculine, so does the Shield of David symbolize the peace between any two opposing forces. The fact that the planets would align in this formation shows that we are headed to a time of great transformation that would eventually lead to harmony balance and protection.

In alchemy, the two triangles represent the reconciliation of the opposites of fire and water. Non-Jewish Kabbalah (also called Christian or Hermetic Kabbalah) interprets the hexagram to mean the divine union of male and female energy, where the male is represented by the upper triangle (referred to as the "blade") and the female by the lower one (referred to as the "chalice"). Moreover, it derives four triangular symbols from it (two triangles crossed like a capital letter A and two uncrossed) to represent the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth. This use of the symbol was used as an important plot point in Dan Brown's popular novel The Da Vinci Code and the Da Vinci Code film citing this as the origin of the star.

The Six Point Star, can be drawn two different ways, as an upside-down triangle overlapping an upright triangle or as one continuous line that angles to create six points (credited to Aleister Crowley). In the first example, when used in alchemy, the upright triangle represents fire, the upside-down triangle is the symbol for water and together they symbolize the unity of opposites.

Although the pentagram is widely recognized as the symbol of witchcraft, the hexagram is actually very ancient and one of the most powerful symbols used in occultism and the casting of zodiacal horoscopes by astrologers. In fact, magicians and alchemists believed that the hexagram was actually the footprint of a demon called a “trud”, which they used in ceremonies to both attract and repel demons. The word “hex” or “curse” comes from the hexagon.

The hexagram, in addition to appearing in the Great Seal of Solomon, is also a common symbol in Judaism, as there supposedly was a 6-pointed star on the shield that David carried to battle Goliath. However, despite the popularity of the Star of David, there is no Biblical or historical evidence that connects the hexagram with King David of Israel, although it can be traced to King Solomon when he turned to pagan gods in his later years.

In addition, on the website “White Beer Travels,” the article speaks about the Zoigl Star, used extensively in the communal breweries of the twin villages of Windischeschenbach (www.windischeschenbach.de) as well as Neuhaus an der Waldnaab (Neuhaus bei Windischeschenbach), Mitterteich, Falkenberg and Eslarn – as stated on the "official" Zoigl website, Zoigl-Heimat (Zoigl Homeland), www.zoigl.de, (in English. www.zoiglschanktermine.info.ms These towns are situated in an area called the Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) (www.oberpfalz.de), which is in the NE part of Bavaria, in Germany (Deutschland), close to the border with the Plzenský kraj (Pilsen Region) of the Czech Republic.

Zoiglbier is essentially an effervescent form of a Bavarian Kellerbier, but brewed from more highly kilned malt, which gives the beer a slightly darker, deep amber, color. It is also less hop-accented. Its alcohol content by volume is usually below 5%.

The Zoigl Star is, again, the 6 pointed “Brewers Star.” Again, as in Hans Kestler’s article and illustration, one triangle of the Zoigl symbolized the three "elements" involved in brewing: fire, water and air; the other triangle symbolized the three "ingredients" used in brewing: malt, hops and water. When posted outside of the communal brewery, it signified that the Zoigl beer was ready to be purchased and consumed.

Link to the original article: http://www.brewingmuseum.org/articles/six-point-brewers-star



Old illustration showing the Brewers Star



Brewers Star on beer casks



Cool Brewers Star outside of a brewery in Germany