The official beer and homebrewing thread!
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I like beer. Do you like beer? Discussion of all things beer-related!
I've been sampling fancy-pants beers since the early aughts, and am quiet pleased the incredible growth of the craft beer industry that has happened since then. I recently received a "Mr. Beer" home-brewing kit as a gift, and have caught the bug. Initially I was afraid that getting into home-brewing might cause me to be over-analytical and objective about beer, but so far I've been enjoying it more than ever.
Here's my first batch with the "Mr. Beer" kit (aka the Betty Crocker, just-add-water method):
The result was okay. Before bottling it had a bit of a white wine taste, but also a definite alcohol taste. After bottling, there's a slight off-flavor that I initially thought was from the sanitizer, but it seems a bit acidic, so I'm thinking maybe there was some contamination during the ferment. Regardless, it's drinkable and it hasn't made me sick, so I'm calling it a win.
My second attempt was an all-grain batch that ended in total disaster due to me not realizing that mashing and boiling the wort were two different steps. Yikes. Luckily, I learned where I'd gone wrong before the "wort" ever made it into the fermenter.
The third attempt was a DIY liquid extract recipe that I came up with using an online brewing calculator and the BJCP style guidelines for an American Pale Ale. Here it is in the "Mr. Beer" fermenter next to some 4-gallon water bottles that I've picked to use as fermenters for my next batch ($3.69 ea at Woodman's, I bought 4!):
The OG on this one was 1.061, which was substantially higher than what I was aiming for, and the FG:
1.011? Much lower than what I was expecting. What the hell does that mean? It means it's going to be really dry and/or have a really high alcohol content. Regardless, it tasted pretty good coming out of the fermenter, so I think it will turn out better than the "Mr. Beer" stuff.
Next batch I'm planning to do the same recipe except water it down a bit and add a bit more hops.
It's been a lot of fun already, and I'm just getting started!
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Bells two hearted is one of my personal favorites!
A good friend of mine's parents were home brewers for like 15 years and have been teaching myself and a few others how to make some pretty good beer. So far we have made an irish red ale, an oktoberfest, and a spiced winter ale. In that time frame we also lost three batches of beer (at the same time) because of some bacterial contamination that soured the beer, which sucked. We deep cleaned everything and the most recent batch (spiced ale #2) came out pretty good so I think we are back on track! I am hoping to make an IPA soon as I am a huge hop head, so we will see how it goes!
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I'm definitely working towards making IPA. Right now I'm keeping things as simple as I can, but I want to experiment with different hop varieties and adding them at different times to get a clearer idea of how it affects the aroma and bitterness.
I motion that future WiBimmers meetups should include a brewery tour.
The roommate and I stopped at Riverside Brewery in West Bend when I picked up the e34 from Earl's place. The beer was good, but more malt-centric. My amber ale almost reminded me of a scotch ale. Definitely on the strong side, but not much hops. However, the Sunday brunch there was excellent and the prices were really good too. Next time I'm in the area I really want to check out there regular menu.
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batch #3!
Before starting this batch, I sampled the last batch a few days early. At first I was disappointed because it still has a slight sourness. On second taste I think I was a bit hard on myself. My newest theory is that I've been fermenting at too high of a temperature, so I've moved this batch underground. We'll see how it turns out!
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A good friend of mine makes flavorings for this sort of thing.
Check him out www.bruflavor.com
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Currently drinking Fanstasy Factory, bought it because of the labels (how could you not?) and its pretty good!
I love their labels! Lady Luck is a good one to. I'm not a huge fan of red ales but I enjoy it.
On another note, I found a place that can get me 3 Floyds Zombie Dust!
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While I was in San Diego last year I bought a bottle of Stone Brewing Enjoy By and it was awesome! The San Diego airport also has a Stone Brewing restaurant in it so I enjoyed a nice flight before my flight home!
I'd recommend 3 Floyds Gumballhead or Alpha King. Just depends if you like a wheat or an APA.
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I love their labels! Lady Luck is a good one to. I'm not a huge fan of red ales but I enjoy it.
On another note, I found a place that can get me 3 Floyds Zombie Dust!
I've heard Zomdie Dust is incredible, I'm going to have to try and find some
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Went to One Barrel in Madison after work yesterday. My new favorite local brewery! Really liked the imperial IPA and the kolsch. On average, I would say their beers are on the dryer side, which I like.
Also went to Vintage last week. The beers I tried there were really sweet, but still good. The food and the atmosphere however, came across like a hipster version of Applebees... über-meh.
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Consumer Outlet on Hwy 100 has ZD once a month, but you can only buy 2. Same deal with Oklahoma Liquor on 51st street. I wish they restocked Arctic Panzer Wolf already.
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Zombie Dust seems to be pretty popular, so I'll just leave this right here:
http://isthmus.com/events/zombie-dust-costume-contest/
If anyone wants to do something during Madison craft beer week, let me know. I'll be working a crappy shift during the week, but I'm still planning on making my way around town
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Wish I would have seen that early last month, I would have gone.
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I made a batch on Saturday, 4 gallons with regular yeast, one gallon with some sourdough bread starter that I fed malted barley to for a week beforehand. Might be good, might taste horrible, I like experimenting. Also started a half gallon of strawberry Mead.
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