Homebrewing beer

[mean mr.mustard]

I use only Chinook in my stouts and porters.

I find it a very good bittering hop as it's more earthy than in later additions but I definitely agree that you should be light in your hand when it comes to bittering additions anyway.

I just handed out ten percent of a Cascade crown I'm dissecting and fifty percent more is on the way to friends and family.

The rest is getting replanted in rows so these beasts don't best me again!!

Happy gardening!!

And happy Earth Day!!

:friends:

 

[BugJar]

I have been brewing for about 5 years...

i wish I would have started 10 years ago

 

[GP73LPC]

well my brew buddy is getting a divorce as we speak. all brewing has halted as i am not prepared to host a brew haus right at the moment. but prolly within a year.

he'll probably be ready by then. oh well, as long as we get to start brewing once again.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

Does anyone else have a Simcoe addiction?

 

[BugJar]

Does anyone else have a Simcoe addiction?

calling my attitude towards simcoe an addiction is a bit of an understatement.

Citra and summit are close seconds

 

[Homebrewer]

Does anyone else have a Simcoe addiction?

Gotta love that cat piss!

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I usually buy all I find...

It's getting pretty bad....

 

[BugJar]

homegrown and jar cured hops all day

 

[outsidegrower]

love brewing! got mostly wine right now, about 100 bottles. cherry, lemon, blackberry, rice, elderberry, hibiscus flower and merlot. also have a cherry wood smoked rye ale.

 

[OKD]

love brewing! got mostly wine right now, about 100 bottles. cherry, lemon, blackberry, rice, elderberry, hibiscus flower and merlot. also have a cherry wood smoked rye ale.

Holy crap! PM me directions: you are at great danger! You will never be able to drink all that by yourself, lol!

 

[7years]

Another brewer here, with a twist.

Locally, malt, whether syrup, in grain or powder form is expensive. That's the way that tax works. Can you guess where I am?

But that kind of thing doesn't keep a mad scientist down. One thing that is in abundance and is super easy to make with a little care is koji rice. You know, the kind people use for making sake.

So although my beer may be a travesty to some and blasphemy to others, ultimately it's all in the taste and the mouth of the beholder.

I guess my "beer" is a modification of a well known Korean drink.

Basically, I take 100g of Koji rice/liter of water (with left over tea water or specially brewed tea). Add a tablespoon of honey, pitch yeast and allow to ferment out for a week... three days in summer - any longer and you'll lose power for carbonation or worst case scenario it'll turn sour (drinkable but you'll end up with a dog's-ass for a mouth).

Condition with a half teaspoon of honey dissolved in tea, bottle and condition for a day or two.

Options - you can bitter the beer. Again, I use what's local - yomogi in spring, nigauri/goya in summer, citrus peel in winter etc. I usually do a short, sharp filter too, since I like some sediment in the final product. Plenty of good little enzymes and other goodies for internal health.

Comes out a little stronger than beer and goes down ice cold best.

 

[PirateGodBuggy]

Brewing sounds fun but there are so many beers with "fusions" that should never happen. They are disgusting and never need to be made.

 

[GP73LPC]

i agree ^^^, but that is part of the fun of craft brewing also. playing with different flavors and textures

but most shouldn't be made, lol !!!

 

[ahortator]

:friends:

HEATHER ALE (Fraoch) RECIPE FOR HOMEBREWING

Wild Heather Ale (makes 30 pints)

Ingredients: 2.5 kg milled pale malted barley
250 g milled crystal malt
Cold water
Small pieces of fat (animal or vegetable)
8 large handfuls heather flowers
2 handful bog myrtle leaves
2 teaspoons baker's yeast or beer yeast
1 level teaspoon sugar or honey per bottle

Method:
Put the milled pale malted barley and crystal malt into a 3 gallon jam or
jelly pan. Mix with cold water, then add more water to cover grain and stir
into a slack, sloppy mixture.

Heat very slowly, over 3 hours, until warm. Do not allow the temperature to
go above 70 degrees centigrade - the use of a small piece of fat (animal or
vegetable) will indicate the temperature:
solid = cold, runny = warm, small beads = too hot.

If it gets too hot remove from heat and mix until cooler. Mix every half
hour, removing the fat with a spoon each time whilst mixing.

Peg a coarse dishcloth over a second pan or bucket and strain out liquor,
rinse the grains with several kettles of hot water and leave to drain. Boil
this liquid for one hour with 5 large handfuls of heather flowers and 1
handful of bog myrtle leaves.

Rinse the dishcloth and peg over the fermentation bucket, place 3 handfuls
of heather and 1 of bog myrtle in the cloth and then pour the hot liquor
over this into the bucket, make up the bucket to 30 pints with cold water
and leave to cool to body temperature.

Add 2 teaspoons of bakers yeast or a sachet of beer yeast and leave for 6-8
days to ferment. (Adding more wild heather flowers will ferment the ale but
the flavour will be more sour and wine-like.)

Once the ale has stopped fizzing pour it into returnable strong screw top
lemonade or beer bottles. Add one level teaspoon of sugar or honey to each
bottle, replace top and store in a cool place until clear.

SLAINTE

:friends:

 

[7years]

Brewing sounds fun but there are so many beers with "fusions" that should never happen. They are disgusting and never need to be made.

What do you mean by fusion. Given I'm a beer lover, I guess I have a pretty broad definition of beer. I include all the lambics, wheats, fruits etc even if I'm not necessarily a fan.

 

[OKD]

They are disgusting and never need to be made.

That's how I felt when I stopped at the truckstop liquor store last week and there wasn't a SINGLE beer I cared to drink!!! All bud, miller, coors shwill! I had ta stop at the Blue Basket and get a 6 pack of ol' faithful Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!
I don't really like alot of the 'fusion' beers either. Moose Drool is popular but I don't care for it.

 

[PirateGodBuggy]

i agree ^^^, but that is part of the fun of craft brewing also. playing with different flavors and textures

but most shouldn't be made, lol !!!

Yeah some of them are straight up horrible, they had banana beer it was good can't lie lol.

What do you mean by fusion. Given I'm a beer lover, I guess I have a pretty broad definition of beer. I include all the lambics, wheats, fruits etc even if I'm not necessarily a fan.

Like when they fuse it with spices,herbs,fruits and vegetables. That is taking it too far imo gotta keep it simple but some of it can be good but for the most part they need to stay away from it..

That's how I felt when I stopped at the truckstop liquor store last week and there wasn't a SINGLE beer I cared to drink!!! All bud, miller, coors shwill! I had ta stop at the Blue Basket and get a 6 pack of ol' faithful Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!
I don't really like alot of the 'fusion' beers either. Moose Drool is popular but I don't care for it.

Those stores that let you get those random 6 packs can be an adventure. Sometimes you end up with good beers you never had but I remember one time all the beers I got were sweet. That was horrible.. good for cooking though.

 

[Able Mind]

just snatched up a microbrew set myself..

 

[Blue Socks]

I've been meaning to get into this, good thread. I figure if I"m smoking my own weed I might as well be drinking my own beer with it right? What would you suggest as a good beer to start learning the process with? I'm no snob I like all different styles and flavors so what is a good one for a complete brewing newbie?

I finally started homebrewing after years and years of thinking about it. Let me just say that if you drink beer you need to try it once in your life. There is no greater satisfaction than getting a great buzz on drinking the beer you brewed and smoking the weed you grew. One day I'm going to have to give this stuff up and grow up, but today is not that day!

 

[Sisu]

I used to home brew a lot, about 15 years ago. I became interested again recently and was shocked to see how much more expensive it is now. Once upon a time I could make really good extract based ales for about $2.50 a six pack. Not now.