Home Brewing

[spikechiquet]

I mentioned I brew my own beer on the boozing thread....
And no...my house looks NOTHING like this:

<img src="http://beerwhiskeyandbrotherhood.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bww-homebrewer.jpg">

But I have been brewing since early 2010 and have had a lot of fun with it, I've even medaled in a competition this year for a Russian Imperial Stout I made. Coldcat's had my beer and he's not dead yet...so I must be doing OK.

TBF just started to brew...anyone else?

 

[User 1019]

I've been brewing since I got back from Afghanistan in early April. I researched it quite a bit while deployed and was able to pull the trigger when I returned. How to Brew by John Palmer is the brewing bible. It'll walk you through, step-by-step, the processes of beginning, intermediate and advanced brewing. You can get into homebrewing for as little as $100, maybe even less, honestly. Really all it takes is a couple of buckets, a large stockpot, an auto siphon, sanitation supplies and some bottles, which you can save after you drink them.

My first was a pretty dog gone good IPA. Turned out a little bitter at 75 IBUs and about 8 percent ABV. I was so proud of it that I gave too much of it away.

In the keg currently is a nut brown I'm calling Problem Child Brown Ale because of all the problems I had on brew day -- propane regulator screwing up, recipe issues, etc. I missed my target figures and it wound up to be about 4 percent ABV. Once carbonated in the keg, however, it turned out to be pretty good. I was a little ashamed of it, but some buddies said this weekend it was pretty good. Can't beat that, I guess.

I have an American pale ale fermenting now that should be pretty good. Right before I made it, I ordered a digital temperature control for my little fermentation freezer, so I can better control temperatures. I'm excited to see the difference the proper temperatures make.

 

[spikechiquet]

You setup sounds nice.
You should check into finding a homebrew club in your area...there are 50 people in mine and it's a great place to bounce ideas off of people.
I need to start reading more on the process. Right now I'm just reading the History of American Brewing. It's pretty good....the introduction of adjunct brewing in the 1870s is being touched on now.
Fizzy **** water. Bah!

 

[Chef2]

Not a "beer brew" or anything like that, but a friend of mine made a drink I had never heard of......and to be honest, I don't remember what he called it.....

Take a big pitcher.....add a can of frozen lemonade......take empty can, fill with vodka.......add two 12 oz. beers......ice.......stir.......git shucking fit dronk hammerd.

 

[Fly]

Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, to me, is the quintessential homebrew book series.

I haven't homebrewed since '06. Too many good beers available commercially around here, and too many fine breweries/brewpubs to visit. My 600+ bottle cellar needs to get whittled way down before I brew again.

I'd always done extract/partial mash and it's a lot harder to differentiate flavors when using malt extracts compared to actual grains. I just don't want to put the time and money into a start-up all-gran system because if/when I get back into it I'm doing it the right way.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I mentioned I brew my own beer on the boozing thread....
And no...my house looks NOTHING like this:

<img src="http://beerwhiskeyandbrotherhood.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bww-homebrewer.jpg">

But I have been brewing since early 2010 and have had a lot of fun with it, I've even medaled in a competition this year for a Russian Imperial Stout I made. Coldcat's had my beer and he's not dead yet...so I must be doing OK.

TBF just started to brew...anyone else?

You bottle it? I'm a big fan of the Russian Imperials. My favorite bounces between Stone and Old Rasputin.

 

[User 1019]

Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, to me, is the quintessential homebrew book series.

I haven't homebrewed since '06. Too many good beers available commercially around here, and too many fine breweries/brewpubs to visit. My 600+ bottle cellar needs to get whittled way down before I brew again.

I'd always done extract/partial mash and it's a lot harder to differentiate flavors when using malt extracts compared to actual grains. I just don't want to put the time and money into a start-up all-gran system because if/when I get back into it I'm doing it the right way.

Papazian is a little outdated. From what I gather, Papazian just hasn't evolved and Palmer's "How to Brew" is now the standard.

 

[spikechiquet]

Not a "beer brew" or anything like that, but a friend of mine made a drink I had never heard of......and to be honest, I don't remember what he called it.....

Take a big pitcher.....add a can of frozen lemonade......take empty can, fill with vodka.......add two 12 oz. beers......ice.......stir.......git shucking fit dronk hammerd.

I've had that before when I lived in Indiana. My buddy called it "poor man's margarita"...yes, slushy F'n good!

 

[spikechiquet]

I mentioned I brew my own beer on the boozing thread....
And no...my house looks NOTHING like this:

<img src="http://beerwhiskeyandbrotherhood.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bww-homebrewer.jpg">

But I have been brewing since early 2010 and have had a lot of fun with it, I've even medaled in a competition this year for a Russian Imperial Stout I made. Coldcat's had my beer and he's not dead yet...so I must be doing OK.

TBF just started to brew...anyone else?

You bottle it? I'm a big fan of the Russian Imperials. My favorite bounces between Stone and Old Rasputin.

Yeah, my wife loves Big Eddy's RIS (made by Leiny's). We couldn't find it when we lived in Indiana, so I made a batch for her...then a month later she got pregnant. So I was "stuck" with about 50 12oz beers of it. When I moved to Ohio, I entered it into a contest. It was about 14 months old in the bottle, so I think they helped with the flavor. I have one bottled left from that batch (which I named "Badenov RIS") and plan to crack it this winter on a cold-ass day.

 

[spikechiquet]

Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, to me, is the quintessential homebrew book series.

I haven't homebrewed since '06. Too many good beers available commercially around here, and too many fine breweries/brewpubs to visit. My 600+ bottle cellar needs to get whittled way down before I brew again.

I'd always done extract/partial mash and it's a lot harder to differentiate flavors when using malt extracts compared to actual grains. I just don't want to put the time and money into a start-up all-gran system because if/when I get back into it I'm doing it the right way.

If you want...I'll help with that 600+ bottles!

 

[Fly]

Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, to me, is the quintessential homebrew book series.

I haven't homebrewed since '06. Too many good beers available commercially around here, and too many fine breweries/brewpubs to visit. My 600+ bottle cellar needs to get whittled way down before I brew again.

I'd always done extract/partial mash and it's a lot harder to differentiate flavors when using malt extracts compared to actual grains. I just don't want to put the time and money into a start-up all-gran system because if/when I get back into it I'm doing it the right way.

Papazian is a little outdated. From what I gather, Papazian just hasn't evolved and Palmer's "How to Brew" is now the standard.

I'm a bit outdated myself. I really enjoyed his stuff, but from doing a quick quiz with my beer buddies most now do concur with you that Palmer's is THE book to get for homebrewing. Even old guys can learn...