Homebrewing Thread for KCW

[MacMullen]

Thanks for the recipe. I'll put it in the file in my To-Do list.

That Oatmeal raisin cookie stout does sound good.

Right now my fridge is stocked with "Captain Bastards Oatmel Stout" & some Hefeweizen from a micro brewery here in Utah.

I've always wanted to try home brewing, but I've got so many other things going that I don't ever have the time or $ to get into it.

Time would be a good argument, but for the money, as I mentioned, if you like premium imports, it really makes it worthwhile.

The best argument is to break it down by $$$/gallon.

As I noted above, Guinness costs roughly $17/gallon. McEwans costs me about $18/gallon. Dirty Bastard Scottish Ale costs me $14/gallon. Even the cheap Berghoff Hefeweizen I buy costs me $9/gallon.

I can brew beers in those styles that taste as good or better for half the price, at $4-$7/gallon. Of course, there is an initial cost for bottles, but, again, as I said above, if you buy them full, then you get to empty them and reuse them. THe only other initial investment is the brewing kit, but they're fairly cheap. I have one for $30 on my website. The price per gallon goes down the more batches of beer you make.

And, as far as skill needed, it's like I always say, "If you can boil water, you can brew beer."

Ohhh- I'm a total Hefeweizen girl. Krystalweizen if I can find it. Which I usually can't. (In a different note- my 7yo daughter wants one of those, "Make your own root beer' sets for Christmas- I was hoping someone on the thread could PM me or post and let me know if they actually work?)

You and my wife both. That's her favorite. If you can't find krystalweizen, brew it yourself. Just leave the hefeweizen in the Secondary Fermenter for a few extra days to let more of the yeast settle out, and then don't suck any off the bottom when you siphon for bottling. You'll still have enough yeast to carbonate the bottles, but the beer will pour clear.

On the Root Beer kits, priming the bottles takes a while if you use yeast to pressurize it. The only problem is, you add the yeast right before you bottle, so you end up with a lot sediment in the bottom of the root beer bottle, which sort of grosses kids out. If you have a CO2 system the sediment isn't a problem, since you don't have to put yeast in it.

The root beer itself tastes very good, but when you make your own you see first hand just how much sugar goes in the soda pop.

[Sherry]

We don't do any brewing, but I've thought of trying to make mead. Anyone with experience?


Sherry

[Eujeankilt]

We don't do any brewing, but I've thought of trying to make mead. Anyone with experience?


Sherry

Wow. Kilts, Macs, motorcycles and now homebrewing. This is definitely where I belong!

I've been brewing from more than ten years but not much lately either. My favorite was a wee heavy scottish ale that you could almost chew. I also discovered using 16 Grolsch bottles with the swing tops for bottling. No more capping or soaking caps to sanitize.My regulars are scottish ale and winter/christmas ales.

Sherry, I tried a still, dry mead. Ironically, it tasted like dry sherry. I liked it and so did my brother in law who has celiac disease (can't digest gluten) and can't drink beer anymore.

There's a great book on the history of mead and beer called "Wassail:In Mazers of Mead", by Robert Gayre, a great read.



Dale

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Wow!

MacMullen, I must have logged off last night just before you posted this or I would have responded! And been in class all day today.

Anyway, I am currently on a wine kick (OK, I prefer wine most of the time!), but when I do brew beer, I am very partial to heartier, heavier brews, like stouts. My favorite beer is from Germany and is a doppelbock from Kloster Ettal (a monastery) in the south of Germany near Garmisch. It is truly heavenly!

Some of your favorites sound good as well, but I have to say that Adrew's oatmeal raisin cookie stout sounds fantastic. Thanks for the recipe Andrew! The coffee stout sounds great too.

I usually make grape wines, but I have done some fruit wines, and there is actually a fruit winery just over the border in WI (Appltreow), that makes a black cherry port that I would really like to try and duplicate. An explosion of flavor from the first sip that has the taste buds dancing!

Anyway, when I brew a beer, I usually bottle in a combination of normal and large size bottles. Always was interested in doing some kegging, but never got around to buying the equipment. Haven't actually made anything since we moved to Chicago in May, but I actually have a white wine kit waiting in the basement to start. Hopefully over the holidays.

Sherry, I actually did a mead about 3 years ago. Takes a little work as the yeast really does not want to keep going when the alcohol percentage gets too high, but a mead usually has a high proof. So you have to "baby" the yeast to complete fermentation. Not a huge deal, but more work than a standard beer or wine. Then when it was finished, I decided that mead was really not to my taste. Thought it was just my batch, but I have a friend that really likes mead and he gave it a thumbs up when I gave him a bottle, so apparently it tasted as it should.

Great thread!

[MacMullen]

I've never made mead, but I know people who have. They made a honey mead, and from what I remember it took a lot of honey. That guy also made a jalapena pepper beer. Burned all the way down and all the way through your guts until it found its own way out.

I'm telling you guys, brown PETN plastic bottles with screw on lids are the way to go, if you bottle. You'll wonder why you ever messed with glass bottles in the first place.

After all of my big talk this morning about how much money I save brewing beer myself, I thought you'd appreciate the irony of my brewing session this evening. It was a Stout using a partial mash, i.e., steeping the specialty grains at 160F for 20 minutes.

Here's how it went:

1) Sterilize the Brew Bucket
2) Steep speciality grains for twenty minutes.
3) Put water on to boil in Brew Kettle
4) Take temperature of mash.
5) After finishing 20 minutes of monitoring the temperature, BREAK GLASS THERMOMETER in such a way that glass and lead shot fall into both steeping pots, ruining a $6.00 thermometer and about $6.00 worth of grains.
6) Throw remains of thermometer and both steeping bags filled with grain in the garbage.
7) Dump out almost two gallons of good wort - good except for the glass and lead shot rolling around in the bottom of the pots.
8 ) Drive to Brew Store in freezing temps to spend $6.00 on a new thermometer and another $6.00 on specialty grains.
9) Continue to brew without incident.

Happy to report that 5 gallons of Stout are in the Brew Bucket and the yeast has been pitched.

Oh well, I still saved money over Guinness (unless I start charging myself for labor, plus pain and suffering).

[Andrew Breecher]

We don't do any brewing, but I've thought of trying to make mead. Anyone with experience?

Meadmaking is brewing too! :grin:

I don't have any experience in making meads, but I have plenty in drinking them! Apis Jadwiga (a Polish mead) is by far my favourite. I have made a light summer braggot, and plan on making a dark winter one as well sometime. Ken Schramm's book is the mead bible if you'd like to get into it (just as Charlie Papazian's book is the homebrewer's bible).

Andrew.

[Sherry]

Meadmaking is brewing too! :grin:

I don't have any experience in making meads, but I have plenty in drinking them! Apis Jadwiga (a Polish mead) is by far my favourite. I have made a light summer braggot, and plan on making a dark winter one as well sometime. Ken Schramm's book is the mead bible if you'd like to get into it (just as Charlie Papazian's book is the homebrewer's bible).

Andrew.

I meant it in the sense that not only do we not do any brewing, we never have done any brewing of any kind. I've read a bit online about making mead, & it sounds interesting.

Thanks for the responses, gents.

Sherry

[MacMullen]

I meant it in the sense that not only do we not do any brewing, we never have done any brewing of any kind. I've read a bit online about making mead, & it sounds interesting.

Thanks for the responses, gents.

Sherry

Sherry, brewing really is as simple as boiling water. If you can cook, you're ahead of most beginning brewers. It almost all comes down to boiling water, tossing in a few ingredients, letting the mixture cool, then pouring it into a bucket with some yeast, and letting it sit for a week.

Even with my first, most amateurish brews, I've never had a negative comment. It was probably politeness on the part of the tasters, but I prefer to think that it's because they've never had a real beer before.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Sherry,

I will have to echo the other's comments, home brewing is not only a fun and cheap to make your beverage of choice, it is surprisingly simple, and takes very little time as well! With bottling, I probably spend less than 8 hours to brew a batch of wine from a wine kit, and no more even if I start with freshly squeezed grape must (the name for the juice). My beers have not taken any longer, although there is a little extra time if you are using fresh grains, but no much. Brewing is definitely a fun way to spend some time without having to lay out a lot of cash or time for a return. Once you buy the initial equipment (probably less then $100) you will only spend about $75-$95 for a batch of wine, and less for beer. For the wine, you will get 2-3 cases of wine. If brewing beer, I seem to recall you get about the same, 2-3 cases.

Anyway, jump in, it's a great time.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

...After all of my big talk this morning about how much money I save brewing beer myself,...

And after all of the talk about good beers, when we went grocery shopping yesterday, there was a 12 pack minicase of Samuel Adams specialty brews for the holidays, one of those give a friend a "Brew from around the world" promotions. Anyway, all this talk had me hankering for a good beer, so I threw (ok, placed) it in the cart, and at $9.99, not a bad purchase. Brought it home and threw it in the fridge. There was a Black Lager, Cranberry Lambic, Holiday Porter, Old Fezziwig Ale, Sam Adams original, and a holiday brew.

Anyway, today was Xmas light and decorating day, so after getting most of the outside lights and decorations up, I decided to celebrate and try the Black Lager and it was outstanding! Great taste, full body, I just loved it. There is nothing better than a good, full bodied beer!