What are you brewing?

[merithyn]

I keep losing the other brewing thread, so I decided to make a Grand Brewing Thread.

What do you all know about Midwest Brewing's kits? They have a Ale/Lager Kit of the Month that I'm looking at, and the kits look pretty close to what I find at our local brewing store. Anyone played with them?

Also, I was going to make five gallons of cranberry mead, but I've decided instead to make some cranberry lager. Any suggestions on what to be careful of when doing this?

[merithyn]

Hmm. Found this recipe and really want to try it: Cranberry Cream Ale

[mongers]

A revolution 


Actually this thread reminds my I should pull my finger out and do some ginger beer, just a chase of cleaning everything.

[merithyn]

My ginger ale (alcoholic) turned out incredible. Definitely worth trying again.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm brewing all the piss with heady, foamy goodness that I'm going to spray all over this fucking thread.

[merithyn]

I'm brewing all the piss with heady, foamy goodness that I'm going to spray all over this fucking thread.

[CountDeMoney]

Prohibition Now, Prohibition WOW!

[The Brain]

Call me Anketell.

[Scipio]

Hoping to hit a collaboration brew made of pale malt, rye bread, rye malt, and raisins with a farmhouse ale yeast we're calling Kvassholes.

Also going to refine my 3rd place old ale from a SMASH into a more balanced brew.

[merithyn]

What kind of contests have you entered, Scip? I've considered entering a few, but I don't know anyone who does them, and I'm not sure how to get started with them.

[Scipio]

I entered 2012 Sam Adams Longshot, and a Mississippi local BJCP contest.  I've entered our Hattiesburg local casual competition for the past three years.

I pick and choose.  If I have a beer I'm proud of, I enter it if I find a competition I like.  But I always try to enter Mississippi competitions.

[merithyn]

Do you have to use your own recipes for these things, or can you use someone else's, giving them credit, of course? Also, what should a person know before getting into one of these things?

[Scipio]

Recipes are recipes, like any other recipes.  It's a trade secret, but the only attribution is the description of beers as clones.

Buy some software, like Beer Smith 2.  That will help a lot; they have a huge recipe database.

I use stock recipes and modify them based on my personal preferences.  I like low-carbonation, heavy malt beers in the English style, and avoid brewing hop bombs.

The most important thing is to realize that those white plastic buckets wear out and get scratched easily.  Transitioning to all-stainless was tough, but thanks to unscrupulous junkyards, achievable (they pay cash for illegal kegs, and the brewers usually won't take them back since they're all gross).  Kegging is superior in ease to bottling, once you get the equipment.

Three things are required: attention to detail, Star San, and patience.  I have brewer three bad batches, only one of which was wholly undrinkable, out of 24 batches, in just over 4 years.  This is with no money, and a steep ramp-up into all-grain nearly immediately upon entering the hobby.  Above all, trust no one about your beer when they review it to your face.  Unless they are experiences home brewers, they will lie to be nice.

Brewing is about knowing what you like, and drinking what you brew.  Otherwise, it's way too expensive a hobby for the skint (or those like me who are paying off student debt at a record rate and own two 13 year old cars).  Brewing to a style helps you evaluate your quality control; that's the benefit of recipes and recipe programs like Beer Smith 2.

Above all, be humble and grateful when people drink your beer.  I'm still working on that one.

[merithyn]

WARNING: REVIVING A DEAD THREAD!

I've been on a brewing kick and wanted to share. My recent brews have been: Chocolate Stout (kit, pretty good), Cherry Scotch Ale (kit with additions, pretty good), Happy Holiday Ale (in the secondary, ready to bottle), Spiced Ale (kit with additions, really tasty!), Mugwort Chamomile Mead (dear god in heaven, this stuff is incredible, going in for a competition in January), Maple Treacle Mead (in the secondary, will need racked again before bottling), Spiced Cranberry Mead (in the primary right now, will be ready for xmas next year), and some ciders.

Several notes:

1) A hydrometer is a hell of a lot more useful than I once believed. How I brewed without that thing is a mystery to me. Even the mead is better when you actually pay attention to OG and FG. Who knew?!

2) Kits are okay, but I think I'm kind of past them now. I want more say in my ingredients, especially the hops.

3) Beer recipe calculators are awesome!

4) Starting in January, I'm going to start trying to recreate historical brews (think 11th and 12th century ales). I'll be shooting for one new historical recipe a month. I have one-gallon and half-gallon bottles ready to go. No point in brewing up five gallons of swill if I don't need to.

What have you all been brewing?

[derspiess]

I brewed a Gose most recently and think I maybe oversalted it, but we'll see once it's bottled, carbed and cold.  I came up with my own recipe for this one, and actually did it on the cheap since I had yeast, hops & sea salt already.  Just had to buy coriander, grains, and extract.

I also brewed a Christmas Barleywine from a kit; from the samples I tried the spices were restrained, thankfully.  I didn't want a fizzy Barleywine, so I used a bit less priming sugar than usual (half a cup).  Taking a while to carbonate, but that was expected.

Most of the rest of my brewing this year has been IPA variants, with a boring brown ale and surprisingly good hefeweizen thrown in.