What Are You Drinking?

[graffix_13]

Not right 'now' (since I'm at work) but tonight I plan on drinking some Founders Centennial IPA.

And I may possibly open another bottle of my Boulevard Saison Brett!

Along with video games and comic books, beer is another one of my favorite hobbies (drinking it, not making it).

[fastbilly1]

Well last night it was a nice White Zinfandel while killing zombies.

[noiseredux]

this thread has me interested in making my own beer. Has anyone used one of those beginner homebrewing kits that could recommend a particular one to get started?

[Luke]

this thread has me interested in making my own beer. Has anyone used one of those beginner homebrewing kits that could recommend a particular one to get started?

Doesn't matter as they'll all produce the same crappy "homemade" beer.

[noiseredux]

this thread has me interested in making my own beer. Has anyone used one of those beginner homebrewing kits that could recommend a particular one to get started?

Doesn't matter as they'll all produce the same crappy "homemade" beer.

assumed. But I was also assuming that starting there would familiarize me with the process?

[Luke]

You assume correctly on both accounts.

When brewing your own beer, it is like a crash course in everything beer. You'll learn a lot, but even with the best kits you'll end up with something that will make you say "DAMN! Budweiser ain't that bad!".

Not saying at all that someone can't make a good home brewed beer, but I've yet to taste one, and I've tasted a lot. I love a hefty beer, but usually my reaction to "This is a home made chocolate stout with a hint of coffee" is, "I'd prefer a Miller Lite".

[noiseredux]

fair enough.

Though it sounds like a fun hobby to give a shot. And probably something my wife could enjoy investigating with me which is nice.

Plus, there's worse answers to "what are you doing today" than "making beer."

[Hobie-wan]

One old friend was making beer and mead. He said the beers turned out well, but I know the mead was strong and delicious.

[Niode]

this thread has me interested in making my own beer. Has anyone used one of those beginner homebrewing kits that could recommend a particular one to get started?

Doesn't matter as they'll all produce the same crappy "homemade" beer.

assumed. But I was also assuming that starting there would familiarize me with the process?

I threw myself in at the deep end. I read this book How to Brew by John Palmer from cover to cover, it's fantastic. Excellent analogies and whilst it does go into the science in a fair amount of depth it's never overwhelming. It explains quite thoroughly why beer is beer and why you do certain things a certain way. The problem with beer making is the time it takes. It takes a long time to get good at it because it takes weeks to get to the end product. It's not like making bread where you can have an edible loaf within a day.

I started out all grain brewing, because I wanted my beer to taste good from the get-go. It's the only way to go in my opinion, those homebrew kits taste bad because they use something called extract. Extract is condensed wort made from pre-mashed grains. With no control over the body of the beer you're either going to get something akin to shagging in a canoe, or something undrinkably sweet, or even worse, something with way too much hops to mask the fact that it's undrinkably sweet.

I started out building my mash tun, I took an old cooler box. Like the ones you take camping or to the beach and fill with ice to keep your beers cool. Something that can keep things cool, theoretically can keep things warm as well. I filled the cavity where the poly styrene normally sites with expanding foam insulator. I then drilled a hole about an inch from the bottom and fitted a ball valve to it. What you then need to do is make something that will allow you to filter your water through the grain, extracting lovely wort (after you have steeped the grain and left it to rest). This can be done many ways and there are plenty of methods of creating a manifold on the internet. Some go with a false bottom, others build a copper manifold. I built my own copper manifold. Copper piping and elbow joints soldered together in a grid shape.

coppermanifold.jpg (102.32 KiB) Viewed 462 times

I then cut in slots at quarter inch intervals at a 45 degree angle to the underside. What this does is allow the wort to filter through the grain but not allow any grain into your extract. You can then recirculate (if that floats your boat, I've done that along with fly sparging and black malt to create Black IPAs, black beer but tastes like ipa with none of the roastiness) or simply fly sparge. Sparging is the process of pouring hot liquour (brewers word for water that goes in the beer but not for cleaning) onto steeped grain whilst extracting in order to wash the excess proteins and sugars off the grain.

Once you have a working mash tun you've got the hardest part out of the way. Mashing is easy once you understand the process involved. This is the point where you have way more control over your beer. You can buy milled grain that's super fresh, fresher ingredients = better quality product. It just tastes cleaner and more natural. All the extract beers I've ever tasted have been a little odd. There's something not quite right about it, and it tastes 'homebrewed'. The people who have had my homebrew have said on several occasions that it's something they would gladly pay good money for in a pub. So I don't believe homebrew has to mean subpar. When it's done correctly.

Mashtuns are not difficult to make, and it will pay for itself if you're going to brew often, grain is cheap. Extract is expensive. Having control over your wort is worth the time and effort it takes to build a tun. You can do high temp mashes for bigger body, or low temp mashes if you're interested in making cool refreshing lager style beers. It allows you to use whatever grain you desire as LME is only available in certain grain combos. Stuff like Vienna malt you'll never find in LME, also allows you to bulk up the protein content of brews with flaked barley or oats (I use oats in all the beer I make, it improves the body and can mask hiccups in the mash, too long a rest or too high or low a temp at strike, it also improves head retention and gives you a lovely smooth glassy head when poured gently). It might add a couple of hours onto a brew day but the taste of the first wort runnings is difficult to match. It also doubles as a hangover cure!

If you're serious about starting to brew send me questions and I'll be able to answer them. I've been brewing for a couple of years and done some professional brews so like to think I know a thing or two about brewing.

I brewed a liqourice and raspberry stout. It's quite tasty. Half a kilo of unwashed raspberries went into the conditioning tank, it's got a bit of a twang to it. In a nice way.

Sounds tasty, but I have to ask: why unwashed raspberries?

I wanted the wild yeast to add a second fermentation, wild yeast gives it a zesty sourness. Without that you just get the sweetness and to me that doesn't taste like raspberries, and why go to the trouble of acquiring (at a fair expense) a crap load of fresh raspberries when I could have just used raspberry syrup which is much cheaper. It does make the difference. I made a separate gallon that had washed pulverized raspberries and that one tastes like raspberry soda and not beer. The girls love that one, the men prefer the more complex one with the wild yeast and unwashed raspberries.

[noiseredux]

thanks, Niode - great post!