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Post by SensitiveSethPutnam on Jul 1, 2014 10:05:51 GMT -5
I was watching it for a bit, it's so gimmicky but it's fun as well. I think the last one I watched was when they harvested San Francisco fog as a source for the water for their SF themed beer. Ridiculous! I'll have to check the new season out.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Jul 1, 2014 10:21:39 GMT -5
I was watching it for a bit, it's so gimmicky but it's fun as well. I think the last one I watched was when they harvested San Francisco fog as a source for the water for their SF themed beer. Ridiculous! I'll have to check the new season out. As a still-fledgling homebrewer absolutely obsessed with sanitation every step of the way, I'm shocked what they get away with on that show. Like won't the fog nets catch tons of bugs, not to mention other contaminants? I know it's mostly pre-boil where the craziness happens, but I'm constantly afraid they've infected their beer somehow. In the Boston episode they soured their beer using their bodies. The two guys plus the head Sam Adams dude hopped into the wort in nothing but their skivvies. Um, gross? |
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Post by LazBro on Aug 21, 2014 8:28:45 GMT -5
Between the move and baby, been busy busy busy lately, but I'm ready to get back in the habit. Hopefully starting this weekend. Plus, almost all my beer is gone. Here's the late summer/fall brew schedule: Coffee porter - styled after Dallas' sublime Community Ascension Coffee Porter)Sour ale - I finally have the bucket capacity to take a shot at this long-conditioned style; won't be tasting this one 'til 2015 Pumpkin ale Apple cider - last year's was good, but a little wine-y; I'd like to nail a sweeter, bubblier cider this year Mrs. Snape also bought me some 12oz amber bottles as a gift, so in addition to my normal 1 liter EZ caps, I'll be bottling 1-2 small bottles per batch for aging. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 21, 2014 8:56:38 GMT -5
We're planning a beer to drink in early fall but we really need to get on that soon if we expect to have it ready in time... Letting the husband choose the style in honor of his early-fall birthday.  Love to hear how your pumpkin ale and coffee porter turn out, LazBro. I have a bottle of Yodo Con Leche at home just waiting for me to have a lousy enough week to drink the whole thing. (http://www.5rabbitbrewery.com/yodo-con-leche/) |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 21, 2014 11:11:44 GMT -5
My god, you guys, I had completely forgotten I have a homebrewing kit I got for Christmas. It's for jalapeno saison, and I need to stop being afraid and just do it. I'm gonna do it! Right now! Or maybe this weekend, or at least when I get home. But still! I want to be all cool like you!
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 21, 2014 12:44:13 GMT -5
My god, you guys, I had completely forgotten I have a homebrewing kit I got for Christmas. It's for jalapeno saison, and I need to stop being afraid and just do it. I'm gonna do it! Right now! Or maybe this weekend, or at least when I get home. But still! I want to be all cool like you! I have a kit too, and I haven't used it yet. It's not for a particular beer, although jalapeno saison- YUM. But several brewers have told me not to do it in my kitchen or I will completely fuck up my stove when it inevitably boils over. I've been told to do it outside, but figuring out a setup for that seems like a nightmare. P.S. Why don't you and Hugs stop by Cleveland?  |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 21, 2014 13:03:15 GMT -5
My god, you guys, I had completely forgotten I have a homebrewing kit I got for Christmas. It's for jalapeno saison, and I need to stop being afraid and just do it. I'm gonna do it! Right now! Or maybe this weekend, or at least when I get home. But still! I want to be all cool like you! I have a kit too, and I haven't used it yet. It's not for a particular beer, although jalapeno saison- YUM. But several brewers have told me not to do it in my kitchen or I will completely fuck up my stove when it inevitably boils over. I've been told to do it outside, but figuring out a setup for that seems like a nightmare. P.S. Why don't you and Hugs stop by Cleveland? We've done three homebrews so far, and have not wrecked our stove. You do need to have a few things ready to go, but if you're even remotely more prepared than we were our first time, you will not have a big mess... maybe a little one. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 21, 2014 13:22:10 GMT -5
P.S. Why don't you and Hugs stop by Cleveland? So many midwestern cities and so little time! You should come to Chicago!  (Weren't you talking about coming to Philly? We're near there! We can be in Philly, too!) |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 21, 2014 13:30:46 GMT -5
My god, you guys, I had completely forgotten I have a homebrewing kit I got for Christmas. It's for jalapeno saison, and I need to stop being afraid and just do it. I'm gonna do it! Right now! Or maybe this weekend, or at least when I get home. But still! I want to be all cool like you! I have a kit too, and I haven't used it yet. It's not for a particular beer, although jalapeno saison- YUM. But several brewers have told me not to do it in my kitchen or I will completely fuck up my stove when it inevitably boils over. I've been told to do it outside, but figuring out a setup for that seems like a nightmare. P.S. Why don't you and Hugs stop by Cleveland? The boil over is not inevitable. I've made I think 10 beers now and only had one boil over, and it wasn't my first batch either. The threat of boil over is imminent, so you gotta stay on top of it. The one hour boil (standard but kit recipe may be less) is not time to catch up on some TV or otherwise leave the room. Gotta be vigilant when making beer. If it starts to rise too rapidly, drop the heat a little, let the foam fade, then put the spurs to it again. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 29, 2014 12:06:06 GMT -5
We're finally going to brew this weekend, we've decided on a blueberry red ale. (The recipe calls for blackberries, but we prefer blue.) Should be fun. I'll try to snap some pictures along the way.
And I agree that the boil over isn't inevitable.
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 29, 2014 13:03:28 GMT -5
We're finally going to brew this weekend, we've decided on a blueberry red ale. (The recipe calls for blackberries, but we prefer blue.) Should be fun. I'll try to snap some pictures along the way. And I agree that the boil over isn't inevitable. That sounds fab PET. I need to recruit someone to brew with me before the summer is over! I have a large assortment of ingredients at my disposal from working at a brewery! I'm not going to be afraid of the boil over then. I know enough to keep a constant watch over it. If I can do it with the large kettles at work, I can do it on a smaller scale at home. Maybe once I get brewing we can get a trade going (whoever's interested)? |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 29, 2014 13:17:44 GMT -5
We're finally going to brew this weekend, we've decided on a blueberry red ale. (The recipe calls for blackberries, but we prefer blue.) Should be fun. I'll try to snap some pictures along the way. And I agree that the boil over isn't inevitable. That sounds fab PET. I need to recruit someone to brew with me before the summer is over! I have a large assortment of ingredients at my disposal from working at a brewery! I'm not going to be afraid of the boil over then. I know enough to keep a constant watch over it. If I can do it with the large kettles at work, I can do it on a smaller scale at home. Maybe once I get brewing we can get a trade going (whoever's interested)? Nice, what brewery do you work at? (You don't have to say which one if you don't want to - but is it tiny, small, medium, macro?) That reminds me too, I need to fill up our ice trays so we have plenty for the ice bath. |
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 29, 2014 13:30:21 GMT -5
That sounds fab PET. I need to recruit someone to brew with me before the summer is over! I have a large assortment of ingredients at my disposal from working at a brewery! I'm not going to be afraid of the boil over then. I know enough to keep a constant watch over it. If I can do it with the large kettles at work, I can do it on a smaller scale at home. Maybe once I get brewing we can get a trade going (whoever's interested)? Nice, what brewery do you work at? (You don't have to say which one if you don't want to - but is it tiny, small, medium, macro?) That reminds me too, I need to fill up our ice trays so we have plenty for the ice bath. It's small I think I would say, we have expanded into Kentucky though so we are spilling out of the state of Ohio, which I'm pretty proud of! I'll PM you our website! |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 29, 2014 13:45:36 GMT -5
We're finally going to brew this weekend, we've decided on a blueberry red ale. (The recipe calls for blackberries, but we prefer blue.) Should be fun. I'll try to snap some pictures along the way. And I agree that the boil over isn't inevitable. Best of luck on brew day. Brewing the coffee porter went well. Fermentation is probably done by now. Airlock activity has dropped to nil. So this weekend I'll rack to a second bucket and add in a healthy volume of cold brew coffee for conditioning. Gravity landed higher than the recipe suggested, so if it attenuates as expected I think I'll land around 7 - 7.2% all told. Then slightly diluted by the coffee. It'll be nice to make something that's actually drinkable for once. Not another one of my 9+ percent "wait, what time is it's?" |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 29, 2014 16:10:15 GMT -5
We're finally going to brew this weekend, we've decided on a blueberry red ale. (The recipe calls for blackberries, but we prefer blue.) Should be fun. I'll try to snap some pictures along the way. And I agree that the boil over isn't inevitable. Best of luck on brew day. Brewing the coffee porter went well. Fermentation is probably done by now. Airlock activity has dropped to nil. So this weekend I'll rack to a second bucket and add in a healthy volume of cold brew coffee for conditioning. Gravity landed higher than the recipe suggested, so if it attenuates as expected I think I'll land around 7 - 7.2% all told. Then slightly diluted by the coffee. It'll be nice to make something that's actually drinkable for once. Not another one of my 9+ percent "wait, what time is it's?" Thanks! We've done this enough we are a lot less messy now, at least, but it's still a process. I'd love to make a coffee porter or stout but TWBE isn't a coffee guy. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 2, 2014 12:02:02 GMT -5
Brew day went well, not a huge mess. It's currently a bit cloudy and but should clarify more as it settles. I think the yeast is about done with its initial burst of activity. We used a different sort of yeast that needed to be mixed with water first, so I really hope I didn't screw that bit up. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 8, 2014 9:25:53 GMT -5
So we did an all-grain brew this time and for some reason decided to save ALL of it... 8 cups or so. I just used two cups to make spent-grain dog biscuits (recipe in our beer "cookbook") and I'm thinking we might need to toss the rest because what on earth am I going to do with it all? My dog doesn't need four dozen biscuits.
The biscuits, btw, are grain, flour, peanut butter, pumpkin and an egg.
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Post by dＬᵒ on Sept 9, 2014 9:08:22 GMT -5
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Sept 9, 2014 9:19:29 GMT -5
So we did an all-grain brew this time and for some reason decided to save ALL of it... 8 cups or so. I just used two cups to make spent-grain dog biscuits (recipe in our beer "cookbook") and I'm thinking we might need to toss the rest because what on earth am I going to do with it all? My dog doesn't need four dozen biscuits. The biscuits, btw, are grain, flour, peanut butter, pumpkin and an egg. An all-grain brew for what, your fourth beer now? Fifth? Very impressive. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 9, 2014 9:32:28 GMT -5
So we did an all-grain brew this time and for some reason decided to save ALL of it... 8 cups or so. I just used two cups to make spent-grain dog biscuits (recipe in our beer "cookbook") and I'm thinking we might need to toss the rest because what on earth am I going to do with it all? My dog doesn't need four dozen biscuits. The biscuits, btw, are grain, flour, peanut butter, pumpkin and an egg. An all-grain brew for what, your fourth beer now? Fifth? Very impressive. Fourth! That was what the recipe called for... so we went for it. We're getting a lot better at the process in general, I just hope the actual beer turns out well. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Sept 9, 2014 13:25:16 GMT -5
So we did an all-grain brew this time and for some reason decided to save ALL of it... 8 cups or so. I just used two cups to make spent-grain dog biscuits (recipe in our beer "cookbook") and I'm thinking we might need to toss the rest because what on earth am I going to do with it all? My dog doesn't need four dozen biscuits. The biscuits, btw, are grain, flour, peanut butter, pumpkin and an egg. I'm sure you can freeze those biscuits, so Link can enjoy them months from now! (Says the person who freezes everything.) |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 9, 2014 13:55:24 GMT -5
So we did an all-grain brew this time and for some reason decided to save ALL of it... 8 cups or so. I just used two cups to make spent-grain dog biscuits (recipe in our beer "cookbook") and I'm thinking we might need to toss the rest because what on earth am I going to do with it all? My dog doesn't need four dozen biscuits. The biscuits, btw, are grain, flour, peanut butter, pumpkin and an egg. I'm sure you can freeze those biscuits, so Link can enjoy them months from now! (Says the person who freezes everything.) A very good idea. I think we'll gift some of them, too, as he is not super-duper thrilled over them. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Sept 9, 2014 13:57:46 GMT -5
A very good idea. I think we'll gift some of them, too, as he is not super-duper thrilled over them. HAHAHA! Poor little guy's going to be like, "Wait, we've got an entire freezer full of these things? But I don't even like them!" |
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Post by LazBro on Sept 15, 2014 7:56:30 GMT -5
Fourteen liters of coffee porter is in the bottles. I think I'll probably give it three weeks until first taste. Feels good to have something on the shelf again.
I was originally planning to do a pumpkin thing next, but this last weekend I sampled four different pumpkin beers at a festival and really didn't like any of them. I think the reality is that I just like the Southern Tier Warlock so much it's convinced me I can like pumpkin beers, when really I just like that one.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 15, 2014 8:05:20 GMT -5
We bottled our blueberry red ale last night. Give it two weeks or so till tasting. It smelled quite good going in. LazBro Warlock is quite good. And Pumking. BTW, given your enjoyment of coffee porters, have you tried 5 Rabbit's Yodo con Leche? I drank that on Saturday and it was gooood. |
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Post by SensitiveSethPutnam on Sept 16, 2014 9:42:56 GMT -5
Due to lack of time and energy, I haven't brewed since before my boys were born, but I'm getting the itch like whoa (did I just make a Black Rob reference?). I think I'm going to try to do the Oatmeal stout I did last, but make a concerted effort to hit my numbers this time around (I think I was a bit short on the amount of grains).
Any of you guys using software for your brewing? I bought BeerSmith, but I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of what it can do.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Sept 16, 2014 9:54:28 GMT -5
We bottled our blueberry red ale last night. Give it two weeks or so till tasting. It smelled quite good going in. LazBro Warlock is quite good. And Pumking. BTW, given your enjoyment of coffee porters, have you tried 5 Rabbit's Yodo con Leche? I drank that on Saturday and it was gooood. I have not, but doing some research I'm confident I need to if ever given the opportunity. They don't sell it down here, so it'd have to be a special tapping, or hey I'll be in Chicago sometime next year so I'm definitely planning a bottle budget. Maybe I could pick some up then. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Sept 16, 2014 9:59:02 GMT -5
We bottled our blueberry red ale last night. Give it two weeks or so till tasting. It smelled quite good going in. LazBro Warlock is quite good. And Pumking. BTW, given your enjoyment of coffee porters, have you tried 5 Rabbit's Yodo con Leche? I drank that on Saturday and it was gooood. I have not, but doing some research I'm confident I need to if ever given the opportunity. They don't sell it down here, so it'd have to be a special tapping, or hey I'll be in Chicago sometime next year so I'm definitely planning a bottle budget. Maybe I could pick some up then. Well, around here it's at Trader Joe's for around $10. I mean, there are plenty of great coffee stouts out there, but since I just drank it, thought it was worth mentioning. |
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Post by LazBro on Sept 22, 2014 8:59:09 GMT -5
"Brewing" a cider this week.* Maybe tonight.
Starting with a base of apple cider, frozen apple juice concentrate (for flavor and gravity) and some caramelized brown sugar (for flavor and gravity). After fermentation, going to secondary with stewed cherries and fall spices.
Mrs. Snape prefers ciders on the sweet and bubbly side - think Ace Pear Cider as a goal - and she's a lady who takes her cider seriously. Bubbly I can do, but sweet cider is particularly difficult to pull off in the home kitchen. You either have to cold crash your bottles after carbing, or stove-top pasteurize them. The first is easier if you have the refrigerator space for it, and I do, but I prefer the second because it lets me stop the fermentation in the bottle without keep the temp below 40. Better for aging. And regardless of method, you have to do it at that exact moment when you've developed enough bubbles, but haven't allowed the yeast to eat your cider dry. And of course you have to do it before your bottles blow up, since sweet means "too much sugar to start with" and that means BOOM if you're not careful.
*In quotes, because this cider is not really brewed. The base isn't cooked.
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Post by LazBro on Oct 5, 2014 9:50:35 GMT -5
Introducing... Everbound (The Kindred) Coffee Porter, 7.6% ABV, bottled September 2014
Baltic porter base with a healthy volume of cold-brewed coffee added in secondary. The flavor starts life as a stout, but it wears the coffee loud and proud on the back end. It's not at the level of its inspiration - Dallas' Ascension Coffee Porter - but it's damn good and drinkable, and at "only" 7.6%, it qualifies as a session beer in this house. Brewed in honor of Mrs. Snape who loves the Ascension and all things coffee.  |
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(Weren't you talking about coming to Philly? We're near there! We can be in Philly, too!)
