Homebrewing

[raverjames]

So, I thought I would post about one of my biggest hobbies. I brew my own beer from scratch. I use all grain and no extract. Anyone else like to brew? Here is a list of the beers I have brewed:
Wormwood Barleywine - Irish barleywine brewed with honey and wormwood. 8.5% abv
Xmas Porter - Spiced Dark Porter brewed with orange peel, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. 8% abv
Tangerine Hefeweizen - Wheat beer with tangerine fruit added to the primary fermenter. 7% abv
Java Stout - Imperial Stout with cold pressed Caribou Obsidian coffee added to secondary. 8.1% abv
IPA - American India Pale Ale, dry hopped with cascade. 6% abv 100 IBUs
Summertime Apple Pie - Fruit beer with 50% malt and 50% unprocessed apple juice. Cinnamon and nutmeg added in secondary fermenter. 6.5% abv
Wicker Park Barleywine - American Barleywine brewed with tons of hops and a touch of maple syrup. 10.3% abv
North Avenue Beach Blonde - Blonde ale brewed with toasted coconut, vanilla bean, and lactose. 6% abv
Savoy Royal Stout - Imperial Stout brewed with Italian chocolate liquor, cocoa nibs, and vanilla bean. 10.5% abv. Part of this batch was aged in grappa soaked charred oak chips.
Runaway IPA - American India Pale Ale brewed with Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, and Nugget hops. Dry hopped with nugget and cascade. 7.3% abv 110 IBUs

In the next couple weeks I will be brewing a christmas beer, hopefully to be part of a local beer dinner. I will also be assisting my g/f as she brews her first beer - a brown ale with toasted oats.

Cheers

 

[KIMMER]

I'd love to get into it sometime, when I get some spare time. Isn't wormwood what they use in absinthe? Did you see some weird stuff drinking your wormwood barley wine...lol

So, I thought I would post about one of my biggest hobbies. I brew my own beer from scratch. I use all grain and no extract. Anyone else like to brew? Here is a list of the beers I have brewed:
Wormwood Barleywine - Irish barleywine brewed with honey and wormwood. 8.5% abv
Xmas Porter - Spiced Dark Porter brewed with orange peel, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. 8% abv
Tangerine Hefeweizen - Wheat beer with tangerine fruit added to the primary fermenter. 7% abv
Java Stout - Imperial Stout with cold pressed Caribou Obsidian coffee added to secondary. 8.1% abv
IPA - American India Pale Ale, dry hopped with cascade. 6% abv 100 IBUs
Summertime Apple Pie - Fruit beer with 50% malt and 50% unprocessed apple juice. Cinnamon and nutmeg added in secondary fermenter. 6.5% abv
Wicker Park Barleywine - American Barleywine brewed with tons of hops and a touch of maple syrup. 10.3% abv
North Avenue Beach Blonde - Blonde ale brewed with toasted coconut, vanilla bean, and lactose. 6% abv
Savoy Royal Stout - Imperial Stout brewed with Italian chocolate liquor, cocoa nibs, and vanilla bean. 10.5% abv. Part of this batch was aged in grappa soaked charred oak chips.
Runaway IPA - American India Pale Ale brewed with Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, and Nugget hops. Dry hopped with nugget and cascade. 7.3% abv 110 IBUs

In the next couple weeks I will be brewing a christmas beer, hopefully to be part of a local beer dinner. I will also be assisting my g/f as she brews her first beer - a brown ale with toasted oats.

Cheers

 

[raverjames]

I'd love to get into it sometime, when I get some spare time. Isn't wormwood what they use in absinthe? Did you see some weird stuff drinking your wormwood barley wine...lol

Wormwood is also used in absinthe. However, the quantity it would take to make you actually see something would be near lethal. I just used it to add bitterness. Brewing is a fun hobby, and drinking your own beer is the reward. It does take a decent initial investment to really do things the right way. If you just want to make something drinkable, you can brew all extract beers in your kitchen and only purchase a couple pieces of equipment.

 

[habu]

Hey I homebrew too, all-grain infusion mashing. Well I used to. I haven't brewed in a couple years but I love doing it. Something about the whole process and the control you have with all-grainis really cool.

My favorites have been german lagers(had a chest freezer that I used to lager the beer controlling the temp externally).

Still have my equipment but should probably buy new tubing and buckets. Good to see another homebrewer here

 

[raverjames]

Hey I homebrew too, all-grain infusion mashing. Well I used to. I haven't brewed in a couple years but I love doing it. Something about the whole process and the control you have with all-grainis really cool.

My favorites have been german lagers(had a chest freezer that I used to lager the beer controlling the temp externally).

Still have my equipment but should probably buy new tubing and buckets. Good to see another homebrewer here

Thats great. I would love to do a lager, but do not have a dedicated refrigerator. I recently made an upgrade to my equipment so I could fly sparge. I was getting crappy results with batch sparging and thought fly would be more efficient. Well, I was wrong. Efficiency was still piss poor with fly. I am at about 65% efficiency, so there is much to be done about my methods. I am thinking that my grain crush has to be the problem. My PH is good, so no issues with that. Oh well, the beer still tastes awesome.

 

[habu]

Thats great. I would love to do a lager, but do not have a dedicated refrigerator. I recently made an upgrade to my equipment so I could fly sparge. I was getting crappy results with batch sparging and thought fly would be more efficient. Well, I was wrong. Efficiency was still piss poor with fly. I am at about 65% efficiency, so there is much to be done about my methods. I am thinking that my grain crush has to be the problem. My PH is good, so no issues with that. Oh well, the beer still tastes awesome.

Never tried fly sparging... That was always hard for me. Like the manifold at the bottom of the cooler I eventually made me a pretty decent sprinkler-like device for sparging(not really sprinklers but you know what I mean)... to get pressure I had to reduce down the pipe from 3/4 at the keg down to 3/8th and that built enough pressure to evenly distribute the water over the mash tun. (jeez it seems like it's been forever since I've done it). For lagering I got a chest freezer out on the patio that was big enough to have 10 gals fermenting and 10 gals in sanke kegs for distribution. It was a good method as the finished beer was..... well finished the fermented beer would be ready to keg. Problem is that alot of my friends have since moved away and it's not as easy to drink all that beer by yourself. It's fun the first couple of times but after that the beer gets too old before you drink it all.

Anyway, doesn't matter how you do it, nothing beats a homebrew. Especially if you're doing all-grain. Way to go

 

[raverjames]

Never tried fly sparging... That was always hard for me. Like the manifold at the bottom of the cooler I eventually made me a pretty decent sprinkler-like device for sparging(not really sprinklers but you know what I mean)... to get pressure I had to reduce down the pipe from 3/4 at the keg down to 3/8th and that built enough pressure to evenly distribute the water over the mash tun. (jeez it seems like it's been forever since I've done it). For lagering I got a chest freezer out on the patio that was big enough to have 10 gals fermenting and 10 gals in sanke kegs for distribution. It was a good method as the finished beer was..... well finished the fermented beer would be ready to keg. Problem is that alot of my friends have since moved away and it's not as easy to drink all that beer by yourself. It's fun the first couple of times but after that the beer gets too old before you drink it all.

Anyway, doesn't matter how you do it, nothing beats a homebrew. Especially if you're doing all-grain. Way to go

My next step is to keg. That will make life way easier. And I don't have a problem with the beer getting old. Half the stuff I make is strong and bottle conditioned. It all ages very well. I just tried one of my first barleywines the other day. It tasted even better than it did last year.

 

[habu]

I was never brave enough to do a barleywine. The stongest I made was a bock(6.8%abv) that I found that I really like and just refined the recipe. Kegging is the only way to go. Ferment, force carbonate, drink. Of course this is where a refridgerator or chest freezer comes in handy. It's also idea for fermenting because if you need it to be say 55 degrees you can. Just like anything else the investment kinda sucks but it makes up for itself in the additional control you can have.


Man... this makes me want to brew again.

 

[Chris06GT]

I have some homebrew a buddy of mine done up, but it's not beer.....haha...

 

[Mustangfreak]

I'm a homebrewer as well! Been brewing for a little over a year, and unfortunatly I'm still doing extract. But I do have a 4 keg kegorator, and a propane set up now!

My fav beers are Hefeweizen's and IPA/APA's.

 

[raverjames]

I'm a homebrewer as well! Been brewing for a little over a year, and unfortunatly I'm still doing extract. But I do have a 4 keg kegorator, and a propane set up now!

My fav beers are Hefeweizen's and IPA/APA's.

Damn man, you should try some all grain goodness. If you are already kegging, all grain isn't too much of an investment. I love DIPA's. I go a little crazy with the hops sometimes. My IPA that I just bottled a couple weeks ago is so damn hoppy, it has some spice. www.freshops.com is your friend.

 

[raverjames]

Well, my brown ale with toasted oats and maple syrup is in the bottles. They should have carbonation by jan 1st. Xmas Port is in the secondary. I brewed it with fresh orange zest, vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, and nutmeg. Very spicy. When I get back home on the 29th, I will be brewing a Belgian Strong Ale. I have lots of grain and sugar, so I expect to hit 11% alc.

On a side note, I have a 1994 Thomas Hardy that I will be cracking open on xmas day. Can't wait to see how it has held up.

 

[ixtlan]

Used to brew a lot.
That kinda became the problem.....
Anyhow ya need to try to make a Mead.
The Basic beginning of all we have today.
Uses Honey and Fruits.
Recommend a Rasberry or Cherry or a really sweet fruit.
Rasberry and Cherry mix is Great.
But careful the alcohol content will whoop ya down.
Ya can end up being someones bitch.

 

[raverjames]

Used to brew a lot.
That kinda became the problem.....
Anyhow ya need to try to make a Mead.
The Basic beginning of all we have today.
Uses Honey and Fruits.
Recommend a Rasberry or Cherry or a really sweet fruit.
Rasberry and Cherry mix is Great.
But careful the alcohol content will whoop ya down.
Ya can end up being someones bitch.

Mead technically is only water, honey, and yeast (with nutrient). When you add fruit, it becomes something else. I have some 3 gallon carboys that will be used for mead in the near future. I may do a wild ale too.

 

[ixtlan]

When I was into brewing we had (and still do) all the carboys and I kegged mine in the Soda Syrup cans.
Natural Carbonation is the way to go but having the kegs and CO2 setup is much nicer than bottling. I would recommend getting them if ya dont have them.
You still natural carb replace the Space in the keg with the CO2 and it keeps it nice and bubbly.
Mead is nice cuz it gets the ladies plowed and they are unaware till tooooo far gone.
My favorite was always the Barley Wines though.
Gave a buddy a couple bottles I made and I told him not to try to do anything when he cracked em.
He didnt listen and painted a living room and drank them at the same time.
Needless to say he ended up repainting the room the next day.

Laughed my ass off when he told me about it. He said he got up the next day and looked at the wall and said "WTF!!! DAMN!!!"
He did say it was the most fun paintin he ever had though.

 

[Mustangfreak]

Man when I get home from my deployment I'm going to brew up quite a few beers! I don't have a list yet, but it will have some Hefe's, IPA's, and a stout for a local compitition.