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!

[hayseed]

Wife and I make our own wine, red and white...hiccup....good stuff...

Have a 100 bottle wine cellar, always full...i love wine with a good meal..

[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.

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Wife and I make our own wine, red and white...hiccup....good stuff...

Have a 100 bottle wine cellar, always full...i love wine with a good meal..

Isn't it amazing how when you chew on a nice piece of venison and take a sip of the dryest red wine, it seems to sweeten up in a hurry?

[Twisted Canuck]

I've been finiding if I 'bulk age', leaving it in the carboy for an extended time prior to bottling, my wine is better. I have been trying to leave it 6 months to a year before I bottle, currently have 5 reds and 2 whites sitting in the dark, waiting.....I don't think it makes a difference on the whites so much, and these two aren't going to make it through the summer I'm guessing......

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

Isn't it amazing how when you chew on a nice piece of venison and take a sip of the dryest red wine, it seems to sweeten up in a hurry?

Theys nothin like it...goes hand in hand.......SIP.....sigh...

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Theys nothin like it...goes hand in hand.......SIP.....sigh...

Ahhh!, some country rednecks with a taste for the finest things in life.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

Ahhh!, some country rednecks with a taste for the finest things in life.

Thats nailin it friend.... cheers..

[Kanonfodder]

Originally Posted by 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.

Tried alot of homemade wines...some good some bad..but very few would I consider better than store bought...very very few....course I have had some real crappy store bought ones as well...bottom line is if you enjoy it and find pleasure in making and consuming it good on you...a noble hobby imo

[Sushi]

Gitrdun is absolutely right...although never heard of adding fruit to the primary...interesting...only thing I would say is that adding oak is a nice touch in my opinion. The costco wine kits are nice way to get started as they include the corks and labels besides the fact the price is right. I suspended my beer brewing because it was making it to damn hard to succeed in losing wieght! It is one of the best forms of Tax Revolt (no gst on your 'grocery' purchase and no sin tax). Have fun, if you follow everyones advice (especially cleanliness and ageing) you will have superb beverages for cheap. oh and one more thing...I never filter and I've never had a speck of sediment in my wine so filtering is optional if you are careful not to suck up the scourge on the bottom.

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by Kanonfodder

Tried alot of homemade wines...some good some bad..but very few would I consider better than store bought...very very few....course I have had some real crappy store bought ones as well...bottom line is if you enjoy it and find pleasure in making and consuming it good on you...a noble hobby imo

You haven't tasted mine Kanon. Just like some people that have tasted venison once, and say they hated only because the meat wasn't properly cared for immediately after the kill, nor was processed properly. It'll turn them off forever and there's no turning them back. Same goes for home made wine, one bad batch made by a newbie will leave you forever with a disgust.

[Kanonfodder]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

You haven't tasted mine Kanon. Just like some people that have tasted venison once, and say they hated only because the meat wasn't properly cared for immediately after the kill, nor was processed properly. It'll turn them off forever and there's no turning them back. Same goes for home made wine, one bad batch made by a newbie will leave you forever with a disgust.

If that is an offer I will take you up on it..I drink wine often and have spent all my adult life in the liquor industry....so I will be happy to imbibe

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by Kanonfodder

If that is an offer I will take you up on it..I drink wine often and have spent all my adult life in the liquor industry....so I will be happy to imbibe

You're on. Should be a great get together. I'll also do some ribs on the Traeger, some corn. I'll keep you posted and look forward to it.

[Gust]

here's a very funny comedy routine that has a bit on home-brew near the end but watch the whole thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0BHo...eature=related

[Kanonfodder]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

You're on. Should be a great get together. I'll also do some ribs on the Traeger, some corn. I'll keep you posted and look forward to it.

I will let you know when I am down south sounds like fun...

[Selkirk]

Originally Posted by GustavMahler

here's a very funny comedy routine that has a bit on home-brew near the end but watch the whole thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0BHo...eature=related

There is some truth to that ^

Some of the 'worst' beer in the world is home-made, and some of the 'best' beer in the world is home-made. I know ... I've made plenty of both

TF

[Jimboy]

All home brewers think their stuff is the best , but any and most of the home brews that l ever tasted will kill a man in short order , l never taste home brew again , just go out and buy some brewhouse , save yourself time and grief.

[rhuntley12]

Any suggestions on a kit to try for starters? Keep telling myself I'm going to try to brew my own beer and wine, but still haven't tried it yet, seems a bit intimidating.

[DarkAisling]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

You're on. Should be a great get together. I'll also do some ribs on the Traeger, some corn. I'll keep you posted and look forward to it.

Be sure to give him some of your home brewed beer as well. Best home brewed beer ever! Really spectacular.

[pat brennan]

I've been making wine at home for a few years now. Reds, whites, and some fruit wines (rhubarb, raspberry, plum, blueberry, blackberry). I have a great rhubarb wine recipe, my wife's favorite!
One thing for sure, aging wine after bottling (reds most noticeably) definitely improves them.
I've tried lots of kits, and for us, the ones from Costco were not very good. I mostly use Vineco and Wineexpert kits.
Doing it at home has kept the cost down to somewhere between $2-$5 per bottle after we got our equipment.

[Loki610]

Originally Posted by rhuntley12

Any suggestions on a kit to try for starters? Keep telling myself I'm going to try to brew my own beer and wine, but still haven't tried it yet, seems a bit intimidating.

Cant go wrong with with the coopers kits, they're cheap so even if you screw it up horribly you're not out more than $20. Makes surprisingly decent beer too and they're pretty much idiot proof kits.

[grunger]

I make kits from the Brew House. They're just like a wine kit, no boil and just add some water and pitch. They are all grain with no added sugars to boost yeild.

An added bonus is that a $35 kit gives me over 40 pints of beer. Two dozen Kokanee costs more than that.

So far I've made an IPA, Pilsner, and a Lager and they've all been top shelf. My wife loves them so I know they must be good. She's pretty picky.

Again the main secret to good brew is cleanliness. If you've had or made bad beer or wine, chances are someone got lazy.

[Reeves1]

From the book "The Joy of Brewing".

What is Mead
In essence, mead is defined as yeast-fermented honey water. Now if one should do an imaginative
thing such as add fruit to the honey water, the resulting fermentation is technically called a melomel.
With the addition of grapes, you have a melomel called pyment. Becoming intrigued? Well, hold on,
there's more. A mead infused with herbs and/or spices is called a metheglin. Honey and apple juice
combine to ferment and make cyser. Finally, a spiced pyment (melomel) is called hippocras.
Getting back to simple mead and present-day palates, one is likely to find that haphazardly
fermented honey water is not to one's liking. Traditionally, mead has been and still is a fermented
beverage brewed with the ratio of 1 gallon of water to 2 1/2 -4 pounds of honey, often resulting in a
prolonged fermentation and an intoxicatingly sweet and very enjoyable honey winelike beverage.
As the amount of honey is increased, more of the sugar content of the mead "wort" will not ferment
due to the fact that higher alcohol levels inhibit yeast fermentation.
If you can find commercially made mead, it's likely to be sweet, old and stale, smelling like wet
cardboard or old garbage. Rare is the find of freshly made mead in good "health." But, finding a
commercially made mead in your neighborhood store is improbable. To locate a commercially made
"spiced" or "fruit" mead was impossible up until the early 1990's, when meads began to catch the
fancy of some small breweries and brewpubs. Sometimes you may be fortunate enough to sample some
at a local small brewery. And what a treat it is.
It's another kind of "Relax. Don't worry."

Note: always use Champagne yeast when brewing Mead
If done properly, it will ferment out lighter than wine: I like it dry.

[Reeves1]

From the same book.

Mead, Honeymoons and Love

Who would have thought that the bees, the moon and the magical brews of man could combine to add to the bliss, luster and memories of weddings?
Mead is a beverage of love. The drinking of mead has been held responsible for fertility and the birth of sons. This is where the tradition of the honeymoon got its start. If mead were consumed for one month (one moon) after a wedding, then in nine months a son would be born and the mead maker congratulated. The custom of drinking mead at weddings and for one month after initiated our present-day custom of the honeymoon.
Interestingly, mead drinking developed quite a reputation for its ability to increase the chances of bearing sons. So much so that a special drinking cup, called the Mazer Cup, was handed down from generation to generation. The couple who drank from the cup would bear sons to carry on the family name and increase the male birth rate, important in the days of constant war.
Fact or folly? Scientists have been doing animal experiments and have found they can increase the chances of bearing males by altering the body's pH. It is known that the acidity or alkalinity of the female body during conception can influence the sex of the newborn. Blood sugar levels do alter pH.
Mead is indeed a noble drink. For more than 5,000 years. Virgil, Plato, Plutarch, Zeus, Venus, Jupiter, Odysseus, Circe, the Argonaut, Beowulf, Aphrodite, Bacchus, Odin, Valhalla, the Sanskrit Rig-Veda, Thor, King Arthur, Queen Elizabeth I, the French, Greeks, Mayans, Africans, English, Irish, Swedes, Poles, Hungarians, Germans, present-day homebrewers and even the Australian Aborigines all likened part of their enjoyment of life to mead.
Centuries ago the making of mead was art, regulated by custom and statutes. The brewing of mead was not done by just anyone. Certain individuals were trained and held in the highest esteem for turning honey into the magic of mead.
Today every homebrewer has the know-how to become a dignitary and the maker of mead for those special occasions or for any occasion. The stronger versions keep for years, as does a good marriage.
And as for having sons, you will have to experiment on your own.

[BeeGuy]

Bump!

Anyone have any meads going?