Strickland5 Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Greetings Brewers! I'm here to see what knowledge I can gain and to say I think homebrewing is crazy awesome! Friend of mine, who brews, said he would brew me anything if I bought the kit. So I bought the W00tStout kit and am hoping to enjoy in the new year as we're scheduled to bottle in February, I think. Quote Half-Ork Scout Leader Running PRs : 5K 24m16s | 10K 53m32s | 15K 1h18m09s | Half Marathon 2h1m44s | Marathon 4h42m2s Past Challenges #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 #39 #40 Current Challenge : Don't Call It A Comeback Link to comment
Barmacral Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hey that's great! Did you pick up the all grain or extract kit? Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
Strickland5 Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hey that's great! Did you pick up the all grain or extract kit?He requested the all grain ... think it was ~25lbs worth of grain! Quote Half-Ork Scout Leader Running PRs : 5K 24m16s | 10K 53m32s | 15K 1h18m09s | Half Marathon 2h1m44s | Marathon 4h42m2s Past Challenges #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 #39 #40 Current Challenge : Don't Call It A Comeback Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 He requested the all grain ... think it was ~25lbs worth of grain!I honestly wish I was brewing all grain..it's far far cheaper and the results are better! Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
Barmacral Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Cheaper maybe but while there are certainly advantages to all grain I understand that you can make extract or partial mash brews that are easily as good as all grain. Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Oh, you can..and I do. Also, I'll be doing a brew day on a friend's all grain system on New Years Day, just found out earlier today..pretty stoked for it. 1 Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
Barmacral Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Brewed an English IPA today, excited to see how it turns out. Also bottled my chocolate milk stout which was my first recipe that I created by myself and the taste tests we took were very promising. Looking forward to drinking it in a couple of weeks. Side note we broke our bottle capper, and then broke the one we borrowed (that was identical to our own) so... good day. Ours is toast but the other one was a loose screw that came out and was easily fixable. Made for an eventful day. 1 Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 All I read in that last part was: Time for an upgrade! (Upgrades are always good) Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
Barmacral Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yes totally, the capper the brewery I volunteer at is amazing and I've been trying to convince my father-in-law to splurge on that over the cheap capper we've got now. Pretty sure he's sold on it now Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
lazergician Posted January 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 I honestly wish I was brewing all grain..it's far far cheaper and the results are better!You and me both buddy. Sadly, all my starter college kid apartment can allow is extract. Some day! Planning on brewing a blonde ale kit next week. Hoping to move into designing my own recipes in 2015, but that seems super daunting. 1 Quote Level 1 Half Elf WarriorSTR 2 | STA 3 | DEX 1 | CON 3 | WIS 1 | CHA 0Challenges: [1] [2] [3] Current Challenge Because who doesn't want to be a laser magician? Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 It is a lot less scary than you think! I know I still have a lot to learn about it but I have the basics down and designing your own recipes is a lot of fun. I will post more details later when I am at a computer. Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted January 1, 2015 Report Share Posted January 1, 2015 I started designing by my second recipe..very very easy. I use the bjcp app as a guide on styles and a recipe calculator to do the rest. Sometimes if I want to do something really edgy ill go to a site like Brew Toad and look for similar recipes just for inspiration. Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
lazergician Posted January 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 I designed a recipe with a friend early 2014 - a pilsner with a bit more hop character. We made the mistake of drinking it too quickly. 2 weeks in the bottle, it tasted like an IPA! 2 months later, my girlfriend was back in town, and I had saved a couple for her, and those tasted great, exactly how we imagined. The look on our faces of "wait... that... that tastes GOOD???" was absolutely hilarious. Quote Level 1 Half Elf WarriorSTR 2 | STA 3 | DEX 1 | CON 3 | WIS 1 | CHA 0Challenges: [1] [2] [3] Current Challenge Because who doesn't want to be a laser magician? Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted January 2, 2015 Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 Well..I wouldnt expect a change quite THAT fast..but hop character does deteriorate over time...weve done a few tests in the city with the same beer brewed in batches a few months apart..in blind taste tests the difference is very easy to identify. Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 2, 2015 Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 Yeah so when you want to make a beer recipe use the BJCP guide to get an idea of what you want in the beer, then lay out your recipe in percentages. So for example: 75% Base Malt (or extract)15% Caramel Malt10% Chocolate Malt Then I go through and figure out what types of hops I want (bittering, aroma, etc) and find groups of hops that work well together and add them to my recipe at arbitrary amounts and times until I've hit my desired IBUs. And then I pick a yeast that I think will suit the recipe well. Oh and I input my stuff all into beersmith and let it deal with any calculations that need doing since I've got my equipment profile set up in there and whatnot. On a related note I drank my first of my Chocolate Milk Stouts today. It was very good, lots of dark chocolate and coffee and a very thick mouthfeel. Only thing is it could use some more carbonation time so I'm going to let it sit for a few more days before I take it downstairs to the cold room. This was the first recipe I designed entirely myself and I'm pretty proud of it. Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
lazergician Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Yeah so when you want to make a beer recipe use the BJCP guide to get an idea of what you want in the beer, then lay out your recipe in percentages. So for example: 75% Base Malt (or extract)15% Caramel Malt10% Chocolate Malt Then I go through and figure out what types of hops I want (bittering, aroma, etc) and find groups of hops that work well together and add them to my recipe at arbitrary amounts and times until I've hit my desired IBUs. And then I pick a yeast that I think will suit the recipe well. Oh and I input my stuff all into beersmith and let it deal with any calculations that need doing since I've got my equipment profile set up in there and whatnot. On a related note I drank my first of my Chocolate Milk Stouts today. It was very good, lots of dark chocolate and coffee and a very thick mouthfeel. Only thing is it could use some more carbonation time so I'm going to let it sit for a few more days before I take it downstairs to the cold room. This was the first recipe I designed entirely myself and I'm pretty proud of it. Good info, thanks. And congrats! I just picked up a six pack of the Left Hand Milk Stout - love that type of beer. How's the head on yours? Quote Level 1 Half Elf WarriorSTR 2 | STA 3 | DEX 1 | CON 3 | WIS 1 | CHA 0Challenges: [1] [2] [3] Current Challenge Because who doesn't want to be a laser magician? Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Depends on the bottle. We've put it into two styles of bottles, grolsch style and just a standard bottle, the idea being to test our (now broken) capper and see if it was the source of our carbonation problems. Turns out it is. Bottles with regular caps have poor head, but the grolsch ones have excellent head on them. Made an imperial black IPA today. Stuff is inky black and super bitter. We're going to ferment for 12 days (would be two weeks but we generally brew on Sundays - today was a special case) and then move to secondary and dry hop for two more weeks before we bottle. Definitely looking forward to seeing how it turns out. On Sunday we'll be making an imperial stout with smoked malts and eventually add some wood chips to the fermenter. Down the pipeline we've planned a lager, a blond ale and a nut brown ale. Oh and something with new zealand hops, but that will be my father-in-law's debut recipe. Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Alright guys, I've been out of the beer brewing scene too long..going to try and catch a ride to the LHBS on Monday to pick up some buckets and ingredients..I haven't decided yet on what new recipe I'm going to write..when I do I'll be sure to post up. Going to spend some of my downtime while I'm sober just brewing and bottling a ton of beer. Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Alright, so in addition to writing my new recipe today (Barleywine featuring english malt/hops and fermenting out with a whiskey yeast (if I can find it))..I have another announcement for those following this thread, most notably those who are NOT in the USA (altho Americans can count too..it comes down to what region you are in). I have been given the go ahead to set up bottle trades by my boss. I have access to multiple cases of Zombie Dust from Three Floyds. This stuff is extremely rare outside of the Midwest and is one of the most sought after beers in all of the US. I can trade anywhere from a 6-pack to a couple cases, if the offer is good.What we are looking for is ultra rare beers, bonus points if they can't be found anywhere in the USA. I am opening this up early to international friends on facebook as well.If the offers I receive are good enough, we might be willing to trade one full case for one single bottle.I'm not sure if posts of this variety are ok here, if the admins see this and do not approve please do delete it and I will contact people on an individual basis via irc (and of course, not in the public channel). Do note, this is not for sale..it is for trade only..I am fully aware of how much money I could sell this for, but money isn't as fun as getting rare beers. Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
MagicAnatomist Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Hi, all! My boyfriend started brewing about a year ago. He has made a Rose Mead and is now working on a Habanero Mead. He wants to start brewing beer soon, so I thought I would stop by and ask if there are any newbie tips for beer brewers I could pass along. Thanks! Quote Level 0, Human Druid[sTR: 0 | DEX: 0 | STA: 0 | CON: 0 | WIS: 0 | CHA: 0 ]"'Impossible' is not a scientific term." - Vanna Bonta Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Ajaxus that sounds awesome. I will look into it here in Sweden Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Magic, will respond later, not ignoring your post. Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
MagicAnatomist Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Magic, will respond later, not ignoring your post. No worries! :] Quote Level 0, Human Druid[sTR: 0 | DEX: 0 | STA: 0 | CON: 0 | WIS: 0 | CHA: 0 ]"'Impossible' is not a scientific term." - Vanna Bonta Link to comment
MissoulaSquatch Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Ajaxus that sounds awesome. I will look into it here in SwedenYeah, you guys got a 10hr lead..now my facebook contacts should be awake. I've got people in Ireland, Scotland, Britain and Germany (mostly) that I will be hitting up. Giving all of them a 24hr lead before I contact the Americans. I do have one friend who knows a bit more about the rare beers not available in the US, he should be getting me a list eventually. Quote How to become Sasquatch Link to comment
Barmacral Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 A list would be handy, I honestly have no idea what non-american rare beers there are out there. The brewery I'm helping out at has one that I think should be considered a rare beer - it is a barleywine/quadrupal IPA that is really really good. Only catch is they are still very small scale and the beer is new so nobody outside of Sweden would know about it yet, and even within Sweden it has had limited release. Would that be something you'd have interest in? Quote This too, shall pass. Link to comment
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