Domestic Ales, Microbrews, and Brewing...

[mbelectric]

Share what ya got. Share what ya like. Share where ya go.

 

I'd like to hear some about the pitfalls of home brewing if you have any experience.

 

Beer is a food, isn't it?

 

MB>

[Selden]

American brewing has undergone such a dramatic change in the past 30 years, from a small number of dishwater beers to a plethora of styles. A glass of Red Hare Watership Brown appealed to me this week.

 

I have only one home brewing story to share, which we did for "practical" reasons while living in Saudi Arabia. I used 375 ml Perrier bottles (screw caps) for bottling my product, which I stored outside, in an under-stairs closet during the winter months. I bottled one batch of about 40 bottles a little early, went away for a weekend trip to the western highlands, and came back to see a brown fluid oozing under the door. When I opened the (locked) door at midnight, there were glass shards and beer all over the place. I went back into our apartment to get clean up materials, came out, and discovered the door had shut -- with the key inside.

 

Since this activity was highly illegal, I couldn't call campus security to unlock the door. Fortunately, the hinge pins were on the outside, I hammered them off, pulled the door, vented excess pressure from the half the bottles that hadn't already exploded, and cleaned up the mess before getting busted.

 

Home brewing is basically chemistry, and all you really need to succeed is to work meticulously and keep good records. Brewing kits make it pretty easy to get started, but unless you are extremely lucky, it will require several batches before you hit on something you like. In our current circumstances where a huge variety of beer is legal, abundant, varied and good, it's hard for me to justify the effort to make my own.

[Husker Red]

I love beer. A good friend gave me all the home brewing equipment after she retired from brewing. I home brewed 5 or 6 different batches last year. They were all "drinkable" but a couple were not too good. I only made ales because they ferment at warmer temps. I do not have a dedicated fridge for brewing so I am very limited on temp. My basement stays fairly warm - around 68 most of the year. I think that's probably too warm and adversely affects the flavor. I kept very detailed notes and am anxious to try it again, but not until I can better control the fermenting temp. I'd like to try pilsners, but I definitely need to keep those quite cold during fermenting. I'll buy an old fridge or freezer and put brewing thermostat on it, then I'll try again.

 

My wife bought me an assortment of really fancy beer glasses for Christmas. No doubt they affect the taste of the beer, but sadly I can't say they improved my home brews. Actually made it worse. Drinking those out of a regular kitchen glass is best.

 

As for the commercial stuff, I'm always drinking something different. Currently I've got Fat Tire in my fridge. Fat Tire by New Belgium Brewing I like a lot of the stuff New Belgium makes.

[Lone_RT_rider]

I kept very detailed notes and am anxious to try it again, but not until I can better control the fermenting temp.

 

Assuming you are using a glass 6.5 gallon primary carboy, there is a way to get the temps down to a point where it doesn't affect any ales, and some pilsners. Place the carboy into a very large Aluminum pot. Fill the pot about 1/4 full of water. Completely moisten a large beach towel and wrap the carboy in the towel completely while making sure the bottom of the towel stays in the water. This will make sure the water feeds into the towel. Tada! Evaporative cooling!

 

It's worked for me in the dead of summer in SC. I made one of my best HefeWeissen using this technique. Also, make sure you choose your yeast wisely. Different types of yeast resist high temps much better than others.

 

Shawn

[Husker Red]

I've been using the big white plastic buckets, but I have been wanting to get a glass carboy anyway so I can see what's going on in there.

 

I've made two batches of Hefe so far. One was Pauliner clone recipe I found in a book. It was horrible at first - tasted like pink bubble gum. It has mellowed in the bottle and now tastes pretty good.

[OoPEZoO]

I keep wanting to try home brewing, but it keeps getting pushed off as other things seem to take priority.

 

We have a ton of microbreweries in this area, and many are very good. Troegs, Lancaster Brewing Co, Appalachian Brewing Co, Bullfrog Brewery, Stoudts Brewing Co, Victory Brewing Co, Swashbuckler Brewing Co, and of course the Yuengling Brewery

 

Yuengling is pretty much too big now to be considered anything close to a microbrewery, but thats what I grew up with locally.

 

As far as commercially available tasty brews.......my two personal favorites are

 

Circus Boy (Hefeweizen) from Magic Hat Brewing Co (Burlington, VT)

 

and

 

McEwans Scotish Ale. Very popular in Scotland, but it has been a chore to get it here. I love this beer, but I can never find it for sale anymore. The last case I found was 3-4 years ago stashed in the corner of a distributer with about a 1/4" of dust on it. The owner didn't even know it was there.

[majrosebud]

You know how it is when you like something (beer, not women) :cry:but it isn't available to you. I love me some Yuengling Lager. It's even better on tap. I gotta visit Americas oldest brewery in Pottsville, PA. There is one great beer distrubutorship in Cranberry, PA. I love that place.

[Ron_B]

I made one of my best HefeWeissen using this technique.

 

Shawn

 

To anyone who has sampled it, Shawn's HefeWeissen is a rare treat.

 

New Glarus Brewing makes some fine beers, but they're seldom available outside of Wisconsin. My personal favorites include Spotted Cow, Fat squirrel, and their seasonal IPA, Hop Hearty. I really want to try their "Road Slush" soon. I've never had a combination Oatmeal/Chocolate stout. New Glarus Brewing is in southern Wisconsin and has tours of their brewery. The town itself is charming, with enjoyable riding in the area.

[OoPEZoO]

You know how it is when you like something (beer, not women) :cry:but it isn't available to you. I love me some Yuengling Lager. It's even better on tap.

 

I'll make sure to hoist a few in your honor tonight.

 

My best man was stationed at Ft. Stewart, GA a number of years ago, and I decided to pay him a visit. I called the airline and surprisingly, they had no trouble whatsoever with me carrying on an unopened case of beer to surprise him with (can't take nail clippers, but 24 glass bottles is fine.....go figure). So I brought him a case of Yuengling. You make lots of friends in the airport when you are carrying a case of beer hoisted up on your shoulder. My buddy was so happy he looked like he was going to cry.

[ltljohn]

Beer is finally getting back to what it was before prohibition, lots of small breweries all over the country making good beers. Whenever I travel I always look for a local brew first. I generally like ales IPA's pilsners and lagers. I stumbled upon a great IPA in western Massachusetts from Berkshire Brewing Lost Sailor IPA YUM

[Scribner]

Beer is GOOD food!! I use to brew alot but now days you can get really good beer almost anywhere. I do still make up about 20 gallons of mead every year, good for the sinus you know. IPAs are my favs and Liberty ALe from Anchor Brewing tops my list of everyday beer. Of course, I would not turn down many beers offered

[CVA-42]

I've never tried home brewing but it's on my list. A local brewery that I like here in Georgia is Sweetwater. They haven't made a bad brew yet for my money but my favorite is their IPA. It even impresses my Oregon friends when they come to visit. Speaking of Oregon, Portland and the surrounding area has some of the finest small breweries in the country, IMO. Deschutes Brewery of Bend, OR makes some outstanding labels among them Black Butte XXI, a porter best savored after dinner in small glasses with good friends.

[Shaman97]

Used to do home brewing, but dealing with the bottles became a pain(getting,cleaning,sterilizing, capping, storing, etc). The next time, I'll get two Corrigan(sp?) kegs and refrigerate them. Quicker product to the glass, too.

 

As for smaller brews, I tend to favor the Cali brands: Anchor, Sierra Nevada, and my most recent favorite(when available) Russian River Brewing's 'Pliny the Elder'.

[mbelectric]

Ah Shaman my man. Pliny The Elder.

 

After hearing about this last year, set out to "get me some". Not so easy unless you live in Santa Rosa, and then sometimes not even easy there. So after no luck, I took the RT on a little ride to Santa Rosa on last New Years Eve day. Arrived there at 10:30, they don't open until 11. A woman who I later discovered as the owner, told me to park around the back so's to avoid parking fee's. Told me come on in. I was in early and sampling an Elder. Good stuff.

Met her husband, he knows a great deal about the state of the "industry". Packed some bottles on the bike and headed home.

Included some Belgian style ales also, you know, the cork and wire top variety. They are aging...

 

My fav in the area is Anderson Valley Brewing in Boonville.

 

And Oregon I enjoy stopping at Rogue Ales in Newport.

 

MB>

[hANNAbONE]

...pRETTY pARTIAL to KC's Boulevard Pale Ale and Single Wide IPA.

 

Try Terminal Gravity IPA and Tripel from Enterprise OR --

 

http://terminalgravitybrewing.com/find_our_beer_11.html

 

 

[mbelectric]

TGB? Watcha talkin' 'bout Willis....

 

You 'member? Ya camped on the lawn. First time I was there was 2005. Had me some IPA and a bison burger. Stayed at Wallowa Lake, then it was off to see the Snake River Canyon.

 

Gotta get back.

 

MB>

 

 

[hANNAbONE]

...nEED tO plan dat one, Mark.

 

I would dearly love to get back to that place - loved that area and town.

 

When shall we go..?

[mbelectric]

UnRally 2013...

 

 

MB>

[hANNAbONE]

...i'M aLL oVER it.!!

 

let the planning begin.!!

[Fubar]

Favorite beer? What did I drink last? I tend towards porters and stouts but love a good wheat, rauchbier or quad Belgian.

Cigar City in Tampa is amazing! Tried 50 different and not a bad one yet. Also, Swamphead in Gainesville and St. Somewhere in Tarpon Springs. Founder's in K'zoo, MI and Goose Island in Chicago are really good along with Great Lakes in Cleveland. Of course, I can't get any of those here, it requires a looooong road trip. Sadly haven't had Pliny (Younger or Elder) as Russian River isn't distributed in FL yet.

Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca Raton is good too but is only on draft so I'm heading over next week with empty growlers. Anyone wanna join me?

 

Haven't tried homebrewing due to no basement and no fermenting fridge but have sampled several a friend is working on in an effort to go quasi-commercial. Maybe someday.

[Husker Red]

After posting in this thread about my lack of an extra fridge for fermenting beer, a friend told me he was giving away a refridgerator. I picked it up over the weekend. Hello, beer fridge. Time to try home brewing some cold fermenting pilsners!

 

BTW- Last night I voted in Georgia primary election on something of vital importance. SUNDAY BEER!!! Finally we can buy beer on Sunday afternoons. Can I get an Amen?!?!

 

[sardineone]

Best dark ale and light pilsner I've ever drank were home brewed! Can't tell you many tips on making because I was on the drinking end of the equation. Did use chocolate malt in my favorite dark ale I was told. My favorite brother-in-law used to make until he got too many kids. I'll sure be glad when they all grow up and leave home!

[mbelectric]

SUNDAY BEER!!! Finally we can buy beer on Sunday afternoons. Can I get an Amen?!?!

 

Really?

 

It's just beer for chrissakes. No beer on Sunday? Glad to hear your state has moved out of the dark ages...Is it conditional?

 

MB>

 

[Husker Red]

Really. No beer or liquor sales on Sundays. You could go to a bar and buy drinks on Sunday, but no package sales anywhere. Short sighted in my opinion because on Sundays the alcoholics had to go to bars to get their drink on, then drive home. I prefer to let them buy it and bring it home to get sloshed in safety.

Lots of dry counties too, so sometimes it was challenging to find beer at all when we are camping in the north Georgia mountains. It wasn't really that big of a deal, you just had to plan ahead. Of course, we drinkers aren't the best at that...

This year Georgia allowed individual communities to vote on Sunday sales and it has passed most all of them that took a vote. My little town of Buford voted this week. Sales are still only legal between 11:30 a.m. and 11:00 pm but that's fine. The vote was closer than I expected, in about a 3 to 2 margin.

[Lone_RT_rider]

Really. No beer or liquor sales on Sundays. You could go to a bar and buy drinks on Sunday, but no package sales anywhere.

 

It's still that way here in the Greenville, SC area. Thank you Bob Jones University.

[Fubar]

Our "blue laws" were amended several years back. We can now buy alcohol at noon on Sunday instead of waiting until 1 p.m. Now you can buy booze after church but before lunch instead of having to wait until after lunch. How bohemian!

[Bill1948]

You guy's need to try Dutch Republic beer from Holland. You buy it from Fresh and Easy stores. $4.99 six pack or $16.99 case. I'm a beer guy from Salzburg, Austria and I got to tell you it is as good or better than Heinekin.

[racer7]

For those of you who want to brew at home I'd strongly suggest getting an experienced brewer to teach you. You can read all the books commonly out there and still miss some of the key things that make sure you get a first class product. A couple sessions with a skilled friend or some folks from your local homebrew club will give you enough knowledge to fly on your own.

It is much easier to keg than bottle- the std contsiner is the old fashioned metal soda cans (Cornelius kegs) used commercially before soda syrups came in boxes. The huge supply of used ones is slowly dwindling but new ones are still made. Rubber parts on used ones have to be changed out for beer use- they soak up the soda flavor and will wreck your beer otherwise

Economically, you can brew a batch for a raw material cost of less than half of what it takes to buy the same amount.

That's not a huge economic incentive and it will take a while for the savings to pay off what you've got sunk in the necessary equipment.

The best reason to home brew is so you can have fresh draft beer of ANY type and as many types as you like any time you wish. Many beers are not available in reasonable keg sizes or in a specific location and some aren't sold as draft anywhere.

BUT if you know how, you can make ANYTHING you've ever tasted. To do this you have to master what is called "all grain" brewing where you start with the various malts and crush them to do a mash (controlled temperature soak of the crushed grain). The reason for this is that syrups and malt powders don't exist for many types of malt so making beers that require them by any other brewing technique (eg "partial mash, the "next most versatile" method) is impossible. The home brewer today can access almost anything available to any professional brewery and so with all grain methods, can do anything they can do. Plus a home brewer has the advantage of not having to think about how to keep beer cold in distribution or how long it might sit bfore it gets consumed, etc etc.

 

(My professional training is is microbiology and other sciences and I brewed my first stuff in the late 1960s long before it was possible to acess everything that is available today. Recently I've been brewing dunkelwiesens, pale ales, tripels, an oatmeal stout, a higher alcohol version of something similar to Fat Tire, etc etc. Thinking about doing a kolsch for this summer. Like most home brewers I do 5 gal batches and typically do 2 different ones every time I brew- all on an apartment stove and sink. With outdoor gas burners one can upsize pretty easily to bigger batches- you just need bigger containers. Some have built fully automated home brewing setups so the sky is the limit for what is possible. About half of the work of brewing is cleaning containers and tools so you will be a welcome assistant to any brewer if you volunteer to clean. Most of the rest is cooking using a thermometer and that's what you need to learn- how to "cook")

[Fubar]

You guy's need to try Dutch Republic beer from Holland. You buy it from Fresh and Easy stores. $4.99 six pack or $16.99 case. I'm a beer guy from Salzburg, Austria and I got to tell you it is as good or better than Heinekin.

What I need is a road trip to CA to try all those great micros out there that I can't get here. And a trailer to bring several cases back in. Make it a van, I'll trailer the bike.

[mbelectric]

As a side note, just picked up a book "Breweries of the Gold Country"... I've been through the first few chapters.

 

Some interesting stuff. I was never aware that brewing happened almost as fast as the gold rush here in California. As early as 1850. Seems the 49ers had a taste for beer, and what with the influx of German immigrants working the mines and hydraulic fields, breweries were located in each town where mining occurred. Hops and grains were grown locally (I remember as a kid driving through the hop fields in Sloughhouse, and the pungent aroma) and the process start to finish was done by these locals, some of who decided that mining was harder work than expected and crafted beer for the thirsty workers. We won't get into prostitution, we'll save that for another discussion. Some of these breweries were built adjacent to caves, which provided cool storage for the finished product. All were located near water sources, like streams and wells. Some used the water to power equipment with belts. And some didn't survive fires, which ravaged the buildings that were made predominantly of wood. Major investments were lost to brewing fires. Others were lost as fires swept through towns. Steel shutters were installed on windows to keep local fires out. Some of the biggest structures in town were the breweries. Insurance was taken out and properties and structures mapped out so as to provide proof of worth in the event of a fire.

 

Fast forward to 1919 and prohibition, most were put out of business. Some transitioned to soda and bottling works. The wealthiest survived the downturn. It was then Budweiser and corporate brewing took hold, and what with transportation being easier, beer was made en mass and marketed to America.

 

Oh and steam beer didn't start in San Francisco. It was Placerville CA.

 

Enjoy the golden nectar. And tip one back for those brave pioneers who saw the need to craft beer in the mid 1800's.

 

MB>

 

 

 

 

[Fubar]

... with transportation being easier, beer was made en mass and marketed to America.

 

Enjoy the golden nectar. And tip one back for those brave pioneers who saw the need to craft beer in the mid 1800's.

Pre-1900s ALL beer was locally made because of the transportation difficulties and spoilage issues. Sadly it became the swill we have marketed at us now. At least, until Fritz Maytag and others realized it could be good again. I raise a pint to them. Cheers, mates.

 

In fact, I did so yesterday on a beer tour ride.

Started at St. Somewhere in Tarpon Springs, FL. What an amazingly friendly group! I showed up unannounced and right after they finished bottling the latest batch and I got invited in to sample and shoot the bull like they've known me for years. Bob & the crew are making some great saisons. I got invited to lunch and should have gone cuz my next stop wasn't open! 7venth Sun is closed on Mondays as is Dunedin Brewery. So, on to Largo. Got a great po' boy and then hit up a new brewery, Barley Mow, that isn't brewing yet (awaiting license still). Had one from Swamp Head (Gainesville, FL) then on to Willard's Tap House. Forty taps of amazing goodness. Had a Cold Storage Brewing Co. Brown Ale - another local product - then headed for Cigar City for a new Baltic Porter I heard about from the St. Somewhere folks.

 

I think my favorite thing about craft brewers is they are so congenial, they don't trash the other guys stuff, they promote it! They help each other out. We all benefit from that.

That's what I did on my bike yesterday. And I'm doing it again tomorrow.