OT - Home Brew Wednesdays: Who Brews?
Greetings brewers! Based on some interest from another thread, I am proposing a new recurring OT topic for the blog - home brewing. Hopefully there's enough interest and expertise on here, because I've certainly got tons of topic ideas and questions.
For our first topic, introduce yourself if you are a home brewer, or even if you are interested in getting into the hobby and have questions! There's no better knowledgebase on the web than MGoBlog as far as I'm concerned.
Brewer? (yes/interested)
# of batches? (approx # of batches brewed)
Batch size? (typical batch size, 1 gal, 3 gal, 5 gal, etc.)
Method? (extract, partial match, all grain)
Recipe Software? (BeerSmith, BrewersFriend, etc.)
Future topic ideas? (best recipe, favorite style, favorite hops, etc.)
Other?
Wheat, Stout or Belgian Strong.
I would be looking for something a bit lighter to appease many palates.
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Simple sugars from fruits are like candy for the yeast... I actually find the tartness and fruit flavor is what remains unless you kill the fermentation prior to adding the fruit. When I brew for a fruit beer I typically mash 1-2 degrees higher to keep some complex unfermentable sugars for balancing the sour/tart of the fruit.
Then I realized I was spending a shit-ton of money and more importantly a shit-ton of TIME to brew something that was decent but not fantastic.
Pro-tip: The good people at Dogfish, Bells, Great Lakes and countless other micro-brewries have this down pretty good IMO. I'm sticking with them.
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Brewer? Yes. Have been brewering on and off for 6 years.
# of batches? Haven't counted
Batch Size? Usually 5-10 gallons. Brewed a few 3 bbl batches at some breweries that my friends own.
Method? All grain. Death to extract.
Recipe Software? Don't use one. Go by feel and trial and error. I've learned that software can only tell you so much and it's harmed more than helped in my personal experiences. Granted, they're a great tool to help you learn and get a feel.
Future topic ideas? My favorite recipe was a stout aged with red wine. I prefer sours (not opposed to kettle sours), and I think I am enjoying more of the earthy hops as of late, such as Nelson.
Other? I know a lot of people picked up homebrewing to save money. Has anyone actually saved money? I think I'm in the red. I also find that I get more enjoyment out of trying beer, compared to making it.
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Brewer? Yes (mead, kombucha, and ginger beer. Will probably do beer in the future.)
# of batches? 50+ Kombucha, 2 mead, 10+ ginger beer
Batch size? Kombucha - 5 gallon, mead - 1 gallon, ginger beer - 1 gallon
Method? Continuous brew method for Kombucha
Recipe Software?
Future topic ideas? Creating and keeping your own yeast culture.
Other?
# of batches? (approx # of batches brewed)
Batch size? (typical batch size, 1 gal, 3 gal, 5 gal, etc.)
Method? (extract, partial match, all grain)
Recipe Software? (BeerSmith, BrewersFriend, etc.)
Future topic ideas? (best recipe, favorite style, favorite hops, etc.)
Other?
please forward your best batches to me.
and yes, that really is my picture. the lighting makes my XM look a little white, don't you think?
You got a 6 week class and you get to keep the two cases of beer you make. I have made a decent IPA and stout. It was pretty fun to do during the cold winter weeks of Jan/Feb.
You got a 6 week class and you get to keep the two cases of beer you make. I have made a decent IPA and stout. It was pretty fun to do during the cold winter weeks of Jan/Feb.
# of batches: 12'ish
Batch size: 5 gal
Method: Partial
Software: Brewersfriend
Future topic ideas: let's talk about wild yeast.
Beer styles: huge fan of sours, ipa's and coffee beers