Home Brew

[Arn?Narn.]

I am here now having a small drop of Amrut after just bottling off my brew. I did an IPA and I hope the batch turns out as well as the preliminary tastings !!!

We'll see....

Anyone else home brew?

I used to make homemade wine as well and have all the equipment, but it was a much difefrent process than today. Anyone making decent wine out there?

It's a fun hobby ! (and rewarding )

[Reeves1]

If done at home most beer/wine can make a really good product.

If done at a U-Brew, not so much.
In order for them to get product out the door, they "push" the brewing too fast & depend on filters to clean it up. Plus the fermentation is just barely done primary fermentation.

A good home brew needs to be racked at least twice from the secondary & allowed to completely settle out on it's own.

Mead is an awesome brew when done right as well !

[Arn?Narn.]

I go 21 days on my brews...a bit long by some standards...

Primary for 7, plastic Carboy for 7, Glass Carboy for 7,..
by the time the glass carboy in finished, I have seen more sediment in one bottle of my buddies brew, than in my entire batch lol...

[Reeves1]

Is it completely clear when bottled ? If not, it was still fermenting.

Aging is another thing people seldom do. Home brewed beer is better after 6 months & will easily last 2+ years on a shelf, if stored properly.

When I made Mead (several kinds) I would age it at least a year. Huge difference !

[Arn?Narn.]

I loose not much more than tablespoon to drugs...

[Loki610]

I've been making Mead (mosty Melomel style) and honey beer for at least 10 years. I also frequently make the quick and easy Coopers beer brews and find them to be more than worth the price ($17). Lately I've been making Apple cider and perry.
So far my favorite home made mead is Rhubard. I juice enough to get 1 gallon of concentrate (steam extracted) water it down a bit and add 4lbs of honey and pitch yeast. Tastes like jetfuel mixed in moldy carpet until its aged at least 3 months!

[gitrdun]

Arn, I've been vinting my own wine for several years now and I can give you a lot of tips for a fine wine that'll best anything store bought. Here is a short list.

1. Cleanliness of your primary, carboy and accessories such as racking tubes, thieves, thermometer is crucial.

2. Never rush a wine kit. I take a six week kit and stretch to to 8 or more weeks.

3. When racking, don't cheap out and syphon sediment, leave it behind.

4. Ripe pears in a white wine, ripe bananas in a red wine during primary fermentation will smoooooooth that wine so amizingly.

5. Some kits come with oak chips, I always leave those out and use them in the BBQ instead.

6. The ladies don't like the dryer wines. At least that is my experience. Hold back about 2 cups of your concentrate. Pour it in during the last stage. It'll bring it up to a 3 from a 1. Especially true with the red wines.

7. Fine wines come from aging after bottling. But if you simply must sample your product soon after bottling, here's a awesome tip. Save your fridge magnets, you usually get them as advertising gizzmos, especially from realtors. Pour yourself a wine glass with the proper stem of course. Place your wine glass atop the fridge magnet with the magnetic portion facing upward. Leave that glass on there for 15 minutes. Sample, try it with a glass that you haven't done this with and taste the difference. The glass placed on the magnet stickums will taste as though it was aged for a few months.I kid you not.

8. Don't sample your product and go on AO.

[Juggernaut]

I also homebrew.

Haven't done one in a few months, but my last was an American/Northwest style IPA with a HEAVY double dry hopping.

I love it, technically ended up using 9 different hops by the time it was done, mostly because I used Falconer's Flight (the 7 Cs) for the dry hopping.

My next plan is a Coffee Stout... BUT I want to make it with Kopi Luwak coffee... Now to find some real Kopi Luwak without taking out a loan (sells for around $1000 a pound)

I even set my homebrew stuff up on the UNTAPPD phone app. If anyone is using it, look up Angry Wookiee brewing.

[BlackHeart]

Originally Posted by Juggernaut

I also homebrew.....My next plan is a Coffee Stout... BUT I want to make it with Kopi Luwak coffee... Now to find some real Kopi Luwak without taking out a loan (sells for around $1000 a pound)
.....

In the coffee industry kopi luwak is widely regarded as a gimmick or novelty item. The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) states that there is a "general consensus within the industry ... it just tastes bad". A coffee professional cited in the SCAA article was able to compare the same beans with and without the kopi luwak process using a rigorous coffee cupping evaluation. He concluded: "it was apparent that Luwak coffee sold for the story, not superior quality...Using the SCAA cupping scale, the Luwak scored two points below the lowest of the other three coffees. It would appear that the Luwak processing diminishes good acidity and flavor and adds smoothness to the body, which is what many people seem to note as a positive to the coffee.”

Tim Carman, food writer for the Washington Post reviewed kopi luwak available to US consumers and concluded "It tasted just like...Folgers. Stale. Lifeless. Petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water. I couldn't finish it".

Some critics claim more generally that kopi luwak is simply bad coffee, purchased for novelty rather than taste. Massimo Marcone, who performed extensive chemical tests on the beans, was unable to conclude if anything about their properties made them superior for purposes of making coffee. He employed several professional coffee tasters (called "cuppers") in a blind taste test. While the cuppers were able to distinguish the kopi luwak as distinct from the other samples, they had nothing remarkable to appraise about it other than it was less acidic and had less body, tasting "thin". Marcone remarked "It's not that people are after that distinct flavor. They are after the rarity of the coffee".

Using this "coffee" in a sealed enviroment without air, like a corked beer bottle could make things very interesting. Any micro trace of civet feces matter/bacteria and you may just brew up quite a storm.

[kimmi07]

We have just gotten in to making wine. Our friends have done it for a few years so I thought I would try it out. Another couple I know also makes wine but I did not like the white one they made. Bottles were not cleaned right snd couldn't taste the flavour very much. If done right, the wine tastes great!

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by BlackHeart

In the coffee industry kopi luwak is widely regarded as a gimmick or novelty item. The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) states that there is a "general consensus within the industry ... it just tastes bad". A coffee professional cited in the SCAA article was able to compare the same beans with and without the kopi luwak process using a rigorous coffee cupping evaluation. He concluded: "it was apparent that Luwak coffee sold for the story, not superior quality...Using the SCAA cupping scale, the Luwak scored two points below the lowest of the other three coffees. It would appear that the Luwak processing diminishes good acidity and flavor and adds smoothness to the body, which is what many people seem to note as a positive to the coffee.”

Tim Carman, food writer for the Washington Post reviewed kopi luwak available to US consumers and concluded "It tasted just like...Folgers. Stale. Lifeless. Petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water. I couldn't finish it".

Some critics claim more generally that kopi luwak is simply bad coffee, purchased for novelty rather than taste. Massimo Marcone, who performed extensive chemical tests on the beans, was unable to conclude if anything about their properties made them superior for purposes of making coffee. He employed several professional coffee tasters (called "cuppers") in a blind taste test. While the cuppers were able to distinguish the kopi luwak as distinct from the other samples, they had nothing remarkable to appraise about it other than it was less acidic and had less body, tasting "thin". Marcone remarked "It's not that people are after that distinct flavor. They are after the rarity of the coffee".

Using this "coffee" in a sealed enviroment without air, like a corked beer bottle could make things very interesting. Any micro trace of civet feces matter/bacteria and you may just brew up quite a storm.

Yup..., I've had Kopi Luwak, it is much less acidic than what we would consider a normal coffee and is the reason I want to make a stout with it. I didn't find it at all "thin" though, but I had mine as an espresso.

As for the bacteria... a couple things... Like any ingredient or item used in the production of beer, proper sterilization would be essential... also... the roasting process would initially destroy any bacteria. Not to mention coffee would be going into the boiling stage not the bottling stage... sooo....

An bacteria arguement could be said for any coffee beer... There are a multiple hands and dirty machines touching coffee at various stages.

[hillbilly willy]

I have 5 gallons of pear wine and 4 gallons of raspberry wine racked in secondary carboys. Just started a 6 gallon batch of Dragon Blood with black berries. Hopefully it turns out like Mike's Hard Lemonade.

[hillbillyreefer]

Originally Posted by hillbilly willy

I have 5 gallons of pear wine and 4 gallons of raspberry wine racked in secondary carboys. Just started a 6 gallon batch of Dragon Blood with black berries. Hopefully it turns out like Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Keep us posted on that, please.

I've got 5gallons of tangerine/lime, and 5gallons of blackberry wine I want to turn into coolers. My theory is to dilute it a bit with water, sweeten it with sorbitol and force carb it. One of these days I may even get around to doing that. The wine is currently stored in corny kegs that were purged with CO2. I've got a corny sitting right beside me with Muntons Gold IPA hacked with extra medium malt and 4ozs of cascade hops. Turned out alright, not as good as the brew house IPA that was brewed on the lees though.

Can't wait to get my kettle built and move onto extract and then whole grain. The quality of today's kits is slowing down that progression though.

[BlackHeart]

Originally Posted by Juggernaut

Yup..., I've had Kopi Luwak, it is much less acidic than what we would consider a normal coffee and is the reason I want to make a stout with it. I didn't find it at all "thin" though, but I had mine as an espresso.

As for the bacteria... a couple things... Like any ingredient or item used in the production of beer, proper sterilization would be essential... also... the roasting process would initially destroy any bacteria. Not to mention coffee would be going into the boiling stage not the bottling stage... sooo....

An bacteria arguement could be said for any coffee beer... There are a multiple hands and dirty machines touching coffee at various stages.

Thanks for the reply.

We've been buying Erdinger Dunkel beer....comes in a 500ml bottle (nice size for a frosted mug)....saving the bottles (non-screw tops) ....just finished boiling the labels and glue off all 80

Tomorrow I'm picking up a bunch of brewing equipment, from a member here.
Wife bought me a book on hops....wow what a lot Info.
And the learning will start.

[mayuan]

Originally Posted by BlackHeart

Thanks for the reply.

We've been buying Erdinger Dunkel beer....comes in a 500ml bottle (nice size for a frosted mug)....saving the bottles (non-screw tops) ....just finished boiling the labels and glue off all 80

Tomorrow I'm picking up a bunch of brewing equipment, from a member here.
Wife bought me a book on hops....wow what a lot Info.
And the learning will start.

I started the same way. Lots of effort removing labels, getting the non-screw top bottles and worried about the bottle size for drinking.

Now I use the flip-top Grolsch bottles and don't give the slightest F--- about the labels. Grolsch is the quickest and easiest way to bottle. I just rinse real quick after I pour the beer, into the crate for storage and then the dishwasher on sanitize before I bottle. If a label falls off in the process, so be it.

[tdwarburton]

Thanks mayaun and pointer. I am excited to get started now

[Colin_r6]

Next time you go to the bottle depot. Ask if they have the flip top Grolsh Bottles. They don't put them in with the rest of the recycling... they save them and sell them for 50cents each to home brewers.

I just finished a Pumpkin Brown Ale, and a Vanilla Cream Ale. Next up is a Canadian Blonde and a Red Ale.

Got tired of bottling after only 3 kits. Bought an Edgestar Keggerator that fits two Cornelius kegs. Its awesome.

[Icefisher2885]

Originally Posted by Colin_r6

I just finished a Pumpkin Brown Ale, and a Vanilla Cream Ale. Next up is a Canadian Blonde and a Red Ale.

Man, do you ever know how to make a guy's mouth water!

[ak-71]

I hope to get my 1st batch of the year going this weekend. It's a hoped-up version of an APA from one famous book which I once accidentally adjusted with extract after mistakenly calculating really low efficiency.
It made people giggling fast and now for the third year they ask for it to be the 1st batch I make in spring

[Dewey Cox]

Haven't made a batch since I put my old house on the market, about this time last year.
Just put the finishing touches on my Brewing/gun room, and started a batch on good friday. (hope it doesn't end up tasting like hoppe's #9)
That "Angry home brewer" thread got me seriously considering kegging. Where does everyone get their kegging equipment from? (I'd use Ontario Beer Kegs, but they're from east of Lloydminister, and nothing good comes from that direction! )