Thread: Home Brew Maggots

Who here brews there own beer, and whats your brew.

So far Ive done an Irish Red, Amber Ale, Madrian Maize ale, Summer Ale, and I currently got a Cherry Porter and a Hard Cider fermenting. My personal fave so far is either the 15.75% Amber and the Summer Ale, wich was ~13%

Originally Posted by mtbakerskier

Who here brews there own beer, and whats your brew.

So far Ive done an Irish Red, Amber Ale, Madrian Maize ale, Summer Ale, and I currently got a Cherry Porter and a Hard Cider fermenting. My personal fave so far is either the 15.75% Amber and the Summer Ale, wich was ~13%

I've done a bit... just bottled an IPA a couple days ago. I've brewed a couple reds, a porter, an ipa, a couple shitty light ales, and an amber. So far my favorite was the porter, took a long time to develop flavor, but when it did it was goooood.

I have done a few batches, a couple of ambers, a kolsh, california steam and am just finishing up a scottish ale. My favorite so far has been an English bitter, it is too bad that I am almost out of it. I need to get a kegging system so that I do not have to deal with bottling. It has really slowed down my production.

A nut brown and stout among others. I haven't done anything in awhile though. Bottling is a PITA. Kegging and forced carbonation works sooooo much better.

Ales, a porter, an amber, but mostly ales.

Best one I have done tastes like a Sierra Nevada and came out 6.2%. I have done that one a few times and has always been good.

Living in Utah where is illegal to keg it, I haven't brewed in a while as bottling is not so fun. Plus time has been a factor. Plus I make excuses why not to brew and I shouldn't.

I'll look for the ale receipe I like. Someone asked about that last night at MD9's party too.

I'm lazy so I use a u-brew place that does most of the work. I just go in and bottle it when it's ready. It's always the same -- a darkish pale ale.

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

I'm lazy so I use a u-brew place that does most of the work. I just go in and bottle it when it's ready. It's always the same -- a darkish pale ale.

What is a u-brew facility???

Originally Posted by skiing-in-jackson

What is a u-brew facility???

You go in, pour the yeast into the 5 gal fermenter, and come back in a couple of weeks to bottle your chilled, filtered, carbonated beer. You can make whatever type of beer suits your fancy and it's about half the cost of buying beer.

Most of these places do wine too.

Shitty pale ale for first batch. Decent IPA and currently an imperial stout that I'm gonna age till this fall. Anyone ever do a barleywine? Buzz, let me know if you find that ale recipe.

That is not homebrewing. Homebrewing you put work and pride into your beer. It is more than just about "getting it done".




But, half the price and freshly brewed beer is good too. Kinda cool idea, never heard of one.

In BC all liquor is sold through the government (and heavily taxed) but these places don't sell beer; they rent space and equipment to make the beer.

I had a hippy friend who, 20 years ago, homebrewed but started with a 45gal drum and an oar for mixing. He drank a lot of beer.

ive brewed about 20 batches now or so. The best thing ive found is to brew really dark beers first so that way even if you mess up a little bit, the overall bitterness of the beer should cover it up. It masks all your mistakes until your ready for a real delicate beer.

this year weve brewed about 6 or 7 tasty brews. An amber, a wormwood ale, a pale ale, 2 harpoon IPAs, and a barley wine. The harpoons and the wormwood ale were the best bang for the buck. The barley wine is still in bottles, but when that is ready to drink in July, it will be about 15%.

Criscam, I think it was this one. You'll just have to brew it to find out.

.25 # crystal malt, 80 lovibond
1/2 cup roasted barley
6.6 lbs munton & fison unhopped amber malt extract
2 oz english kent goldings hops 60 min boil %5.0 alpha
2 tsp gypsum
1 tbsp irish moss 20 min
.5 oz fuggles %4.0 20 min
.5 oz fuggles %4.0 2 min
london ale yeast
1 tsp ascorbic acid
1 tbsp polyclar

.75 corn sugar

bring grain to a boil and remove
boil extract, kent hops and gypsum for 60 minutes
add irish moss and .5 oz fuggles for last 20 mins
add .5 oz of fuggles last 2 mins

primary carboy for 8 days
secondary for 5 days

boil ascorbic acid and polyclar and corn sugar for 5 mins and then prime and bottle


note: 1 tbsp of Irish moss may seem like too much, so you can go down to 2-4 tsp, but it is just a clarifier and won't hurt anything.


Call me when it is done.

Very basic:

6.6 lbs pale extract syrup
1 lb crystal malt
1 OZ Perle hops
2.25 OZ Cascade hops

Originally Posted by Buzzworthy

Very basic:

6.6 lbs pale extract syrup
1 lb crystal malt
1 OZ Perle hops
2.25 OZ Cascade hops

What yeast do you use?

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

You go in, pour the yeast into the 5 gal fermenter, and come back in a couple of weeks to bottle your chilled, filtered, carbonated beer. You can make whatever type of beer suits your fancy and it's about half the cost of buying beer.

So I'm guessing they take care of the cleaning/sanitizing and do the transfers for you? So it's almost like homebrewing where you choose what you make, but they take care of some of the pain in the ass parts for you. Not a bad idea.

I do only "wine". It has been succesfull everytime. It does it's job In finnish: Potkii päähä kun Joensuulainen uusnatsi(Kicks your head like neonazi from Joensuu).

Originally Posted by nopainnojane

What yeast do you use?

Wyeast 1056 does the best job for American style pale ales. It is a bit more work than dry yeasts, cause you have to make a starter, but it is the only way to go to make quality beers.

I also agree that kegging is the only way to go, I was about ready to quit after 10 years of bottling...

Steve

Originally Posted by Buzzworthy

Criscam, I think it was this one. You'll just have to brew it to find out.

.25 # crystal malt, 80 lovibond
1/2 cup roasted barley
6.6 lbs munton & fison unhopped amber malt extract
2 oz english kent goldings hops 60 min boil %5.0 alpha
2 tsp gypsum
1 tbsp irish moss 20 min
.5 oz fuggles %4.0 20 min
.5 oz fuggles %4.0 2 min
london ale yeast
1 tsp ascorbic acid
1 tbsp polyclar

.75 corn sugar

bring grain to a boil and remove
boil extract, kent hops and gypsum for 60 minutes
add irish moss and .5 oz fuggles for last 20 mins
add .5 oz of fuggles last 2 mins

primary carboy for 8 days
secondary for 5 days

boil ascorbic acid and polyclar and corn sugar for 5 mins and then prime and bottle


note: 1 tbsp of Irish moss may seem like too much, so you can go down to 2-4 tsp, but it is just a clarifier and won't hurt anything.


Call me when it is done.

Thanks Buzz. May give it a try next wknd. I'll let you know how i make out and try and get you a few for comparison.

I have been slacking lately on the brewing, but definitely not on the drinking

First batch was an ale, that turned out all things considering. If you want a good laugh, check out this thread >>> http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=42468 .... I ended up calling it Fish Scale Ale.

Second batch was a Mirror Pond clone, yum. I need to get some supplies and get back into the game.

There was a time I brewed 4 to 6 batches a year. Got into kegging to reduce the hassle of bottles. Had a pair of refrigarators in the garage so I could lager. Started with pale ales and dark ales, ended up brewing a fair number of dunkels, marzens and pilseners. All grain, no extracts.

Don't brew anymore - hard to justify with my average consumption now well under 6 per month.

Thinking about letting my gear go. I've got grain mills, kegs, pretty much everything you could ever need.

I don't brew but I think anyone who does, and does a good job, is a real craftsman.

Here's to you, homebrewers!
(I wish I could toast you all with some of my buddy's homebrew - scratch that, it's not even 10 am yet!)

Originally Posted by grrrr

There was a time I brewed 4 to 6 batches a year. Got into kegging to reduce the hassle of bottles. Had a pair of refrigarators in the garage so I could lager. Started with pale ales and dark ales, ended up brewing a fair number of dunkels, marzens and pilseners. All grain, no extracts.

Don't brew anymore - hard to justify with my average consumption now well under 6 per month.

Thinking about letting my gear go. I've got grain mills, kegs, pretty much everything you could ever need.

I prety much have a full set up, but I could be intersted in the kegs. and some other stuff. Send me a PM.

Used to brew quite a bit but haven't done a batch in a couple years. Mostly stouts and dark ales as there's less margin for error. My lighter beers always seemed to turn out too bitter or sour. Have to be way more precise with the hopping in a lager. Always did 10 gallon batches but that's a helluva lot of bottles to wash and sterilize, major pain in the ass. So then I started doing 5 gal batches, tried a lager, and it turned out great, but there just wasn't enough of it. For a few years I'd brew every 4th of July. Seemed like a perfect day to do it. So many tourons up here in Tahoe, it was the perfect excuse to just hang out at home all day. Some friends would come over and help a bit, then we'd bbq and watch the fireworks. Guess I'm overdue for a batch, maybe this summer.