Brewer's Club

[kidstokes]

This thread if for all Turkers that are interested in homebrewing .

 

[ekkirksey]

Yes! I'm starting up a brew day right now and was just headed over to start a post. Pics and updates coming soon...

 

[ekkirksey]

Before:

Hope everyone's having an awesome Sunday! Mine is being spent testing out my first imperial stout recipe. I've made several lower ABV stouts (with varying levels of success...), but today my old reliable recipe gets to grow up from a wee little pup of a stout into a giant, terrifying chocolatey Cerberus of a stout.

Already been an eventful brew day. I went down to the storage area for my grains and equipment and found some little holes around the bottom of my grain bags. I immediately spotted what I was dreading - literally thousands of mouse poops all over the corner of my storage room! It's been 2 weeks since my last brew day, how much shit can one (hopefully one...) mouse produce in that time?!?

Well I poured some of the stout that this recipe is based on to calm my nerves. Besides, everyone knows that it's good luck for brewing (and hopefully mouse catching) to drink a good version of what you're making while you're making it.

And now I'm in my first 1 hour waiting period of the brew day. I think we all know that means batch time

 

[scrmcasey]

Before:

Hope everyone's having an awesome Sunday! Mine is being spent testing out my first imperial stout recipe. I've made several lower ABV stouts (with varying levels of success...), but today my old reliable recipe gets to grow up from a wee little pup of a stout into a giant, terrifying chocolatey Cerberus of a stout.

Already been an eventful brew day. I went down to the storage area for my grains and equipment and found some little holes around the bottom of my grain bags. I immediately spotted what I was dreading - literally thousands of mouse poops all over the corner of my storage room! It's been 2 weeks since my last brew day, how much shit can one (hopefully one...) mouse produce in that time?!?

Well I poured some of the stout that this recipe is based on to calm my nerves. Besides, everyone knows that it's good luck for brewing (and hopefully mouse catching) to drink a good version of what you're making while you're making it.

And now I'm in my first 1 hour waiting period of the brew day. I think we all know that means batch time

Is there a name for it? I am not a beer drinker at all, but I love the names and it always makes me try them...and then make a face. I really need to stick with cider.

 

[ekkirksey]

Is there a name for it? I am not a beer drinker at all, but I love the names and it always makes me try them...and then make a face. I really need to stick with cider.

I haven't named any of my beers yet, only 1 or 2 were worth naming but we finished them before we could think of a good name! Hopefully I'll find some inspiration at some point in the next month or so until it's done. Also I may consult you for ideas during cider season then

At some point I want to figure out how to work rice into a stout recipe so I can name it "Midnight Mochi" after our rabbit Mochi. She would make a good label too ?

 

[scrmcasey]

I haven't named any of my beers yet, only 1 or 2 were worth naming but we finished them before we could think of a good name! Hopefully I'll find some inspiration at some point in the next month or so until it's done. Also I may consult you for ideas during cider season then

At some point I want to figure out how to work rice into a stout recipe so I can name it "Midnight Mochi" after our rabbit Mochi. She would make a good label too ?

Love the rabbit!!! She totally has the perfect pose for a label.

 

[ekkirksey]

All done and in the fermenter. We'll see how it tastes in a few weeks

 

[kidstokes]

Oooh awesome. I just finished a Raspberry/Starfruit wine. It is very good.

All done and in the fermenter. We'll see how it tastes in a few weeks

What liquid do you put in your airlock?

 

[ekkirksey]

Oooh awesome. I just finished a Raspberry/Starfruit wine. It is very good.

What liquid do you put in your airlock?

That sounds awesome! How long does wine fermentation/aging usually take?

I put bourbon in the airlock for this one. Usually use a cheaper liquor that's compatible with the flavor of the beer. The goal is to bourbon barrel age the final recipe for this, so if any gets in the beer it'll just be a good preview.

 

[barny]

I used to brew beer, but it's been years. Someday it would be neat to get back into it; it's really a nifty hobby. My favorite brew I ever did was an apple cinnamon porter; that was some tasty stuff.

 

[ekkirksey]

I used to brew beer, but it's been years. Someday it would be neat to get back into it; it's really a nifty hobby. My favorite brew I ever did was an apple cinnamon porter; that was some tasty stuff.

Dang that sounds good, how did you get the apple flavor?

 

[barny]

Dang that sounds good, how did you get the apple flavor?

Believe it or not, I cut up actual apples and put them in with the secondary fermentation along with cinnamon bark. It's been years since I brewed it so I can't remember exactly what kind of apple I used; I think it may have been Honeycrisp. The apple flavor wasn't super pronounced but the cinnamon was really nice. I tried recreating it a couple of years later and it turned out absolutely rotten and I had to chuck the batch away.

A friend of mine who's huge into brewing has done a lot of experimentation with various fruit beers. In my opinion, his best is a strawberry basil blonde ale. It sounds weird but it sure is good.

 

[ekkirksey]

Believe it or not, I cut up actual apples and put them in with the secondary fermentation along with cinnamon bark. It's been years since I brewed it so I can't remember exactly what kind of apple I used; I think it may have been Honeycrisp. The apple flavor wasn't super pronounced but the cinnamon was really nice. I tried recreating it a couple of years later and it turned out absolutely rotten and I had to chuck the batch away.

A friend of mine who's huge into brewing has done a lot of experimentation with various fruit beers. In my opinion, his best is a strawberry basil blonde ale. It sounds weird but it sure is good.

Ok was wondering if you'd used real apples. Maybe it got an infection the second time around? Sounds like it'd be really good if it works out. A subtle apple flavor seems like it would work well for that style.

Only experience with putting fruit in my beers was an attempt at a lemon-lime wheat when I started brewing. Saw someone online say that dumping a bottle of Simply Lemonade in during secondary along with some lime and lemon zest gives it a nice mild citrus flavor. Not sure why I thought that could possibly be true, but at least there was no debate over whether to dump that out or not ?

 

[kidstokes]

Have you guys made any fruit wines?

 

[barny]

Have you guys made any fruit wines?

I've tried really simple ones like strawberry wine and blackberry. It's been a long time, but I remember them turning out okay; very sweet if I recall correctly. A friend of mine used to do dandelion wine, which was pretty interesting.

Any recommendations as to what fruit wines work well?

 

[kidstokes]

I've tried really simple ones like strawberry wine and blackberry. It's been a long time, but I remember them turning out okay; very sweet if I recall correctly. A friend of mine used to do dandelion wine, which was pretty interesting.

Any recommendations as to what fruit wines work well?

Well.. I'm somewhat of a Fruit Wine Expert. It mostly comes down to which strain of yeast you use in my opinion. Pineapple Wine and Starfruit Wine are perhaps my 2 favs

 

[barny]

Ok was wondering if you'd used real apples. Maybe it got an infection the second time around? Sounds like it'd be really good if it works out. A subtle apple flavor seems like it would work well for that style.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure something got into my second batch during the transfer to the secondary. That happened to me on a few beers; I'm sort of an impatient person when it comes to that kind of thing, and I probably should have been more careful about sterilization.

Only experience with putting fruit in my beers was an attempt at a lemon-lime wheat when I started brewing. Saw someone online say that dumping a bottle of Simply Lemonade in during secondary along with some lime and lemon zest gives it a nice mild citrus flavor. Not sure why I thought that could possibly be true, but at least there was no debate over whether to dump that out or not ?

Ooh, yeah, I can imagine that a bottle of Simply Lemonade would just destroy a beer, haha. When I did my fruit beers, I mostly used simple store-bought extracts that I added to the secondary. It's sort of cheating, but it's a pretty easy and effective way to deal with making fruit beers. My friend uses real fruits if he does a fruit beer, and spends a good amount of time and energy making purees and such.

 

[barny]

Well.. I'm somewhat of a Fruit Wine Expert. It mostly comes down to which strain of yeast you use in my opinion. Pineapple Wine and Starfruit Wine are perhaps my 2 favs

Both of those sound really tasty, especially the starfruit wine.

 

[kidstokes]

Both of those sound really tasty, especially the starfruit wine.

YES! As far as yeast goes for Wine making. My personal fav is: Red Star Premier Cuvee Yeast

 

[ekkirksey]

Have you guys made any fruit wines?

I haven't had a chance to make any wine yet, any recommendations on a good starter wine?