Messages

61

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Looking for a Good Online Supply Store

« on: January 21, 2013, 08:48:42 AM »

I've had good experiences with brewmasterswarehouse.com

62

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Planning my second batch on your suggestion. -- Vanilla Hefeweizen?

« on: January 20, 2013, 08:19:55 AM »

If you're trying for a vanilla hefe, I would highly recommend Wyeast 3638 (Bavarian Wheat) for your yeast. It gives vanilla and other sweet spice notes that will really compliment the vanilla bean addition well. My best results have been with one pack (no starter) in 5 gallons of 1.050ish wort, fermented at 65-66F.

well I made elderberry wheat with 3638, and it came out great!  I'm about to make the same beer again, all grain, same yeast, similar parameters.  The first batch was just liquid wheat extract and hallertau (plus the berries, obviously), and I was amazed at how good it came out.

63

All Grain Brewing / Re: how long with crushed grain??

« on: January 20, 2013, 08:05:54 AM »

I hate to say it, but I've gone 8+ months before. Beer turned out fine. I store my grain in sealed containers or bags in my cool basement.

I've gone almost six months without issue.  Kept sealed, dry, cool.  Beer was just fine.

64

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Apartment Home Brewing

« on: January 20, 2013, 08:03:35 AM »

texas brewers unite! 

at medina lake

65

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Impending Doom or RDWHAHB?

« on: January 20, 2013, 08:00:39 AM »

remember that scene in poltergeist II with the tequila worm...

well, that probably won't happen to you 

66

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Brew ruined??? Vodka drip in wort....

« on: January 20, 2013, 07:54:40 AM »

one of my buckets never bubbles.  I don't think it seals perfectly along the edges.  It works fine tho and hasn't ever gotten infected.

the other bucket doesn't fit in the freezer with a standard airlock, so I have a special setup that involves tinfoil and a flat top of a frying pan, along with sanitizer.  so I never see bubbling.  beers always come out good.

I don't have vodka in my martinis, BTW.  Strictly gin.  Extra olives. 

67

All Grain Brewing / Re: First all-grain, help me make a SMaSH APA recipe?

« on: January 19, 2013, 08:04:27 AM »

my first all grain batch was a maris otter / willamette SMaSH with us-05.  full details at link.  it came out good, but not what I expected.  I'd like to re-make it with cascade and 2-row, that sounds good!

68

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Apartment Home Brewing

« on: January 17, 2013, 11:28:01 AM »

When I was in an apartment, I used two pots to help get the wort up to boil, then combined.  Worked fine.

The induction plate will probably work fine too, although there's a small chance you'll pop the circuit breaker if your apartments aren't well wired.

69

Ingredients / Re: Belma Hops?!?!?

« on: January 16, 2013, 03:32:44 PM »

More on Belma hops.  I just popped the second bottle.

http://alcaponejunior.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/belma-ipa/#comment-1204

OK. It’s been a week, and I’m trying the second bottle of this one.

It’s better conditioned now, although will probably still do well with another week or so of conditioning.

Appearance is pretty murky, light brown or dark tan, with a great, lasting head and awesome lacing. Appearance could improve.

The bitterness is about right for what I had in mind. It’s not overly bitter, but is sufficiently so. I didn’t intend it to be heavily bitter.

Flavor is a bit less that what I’d find optimal for an IPA. I think it needs something besides just belma… cascade might be nice. Late hopping with belma probably isn’t the way to go.

Aroma is pretty good, but if you compare it to something like Ruination, this beer falls short.

Now I know I’m not an expert like Mitch at Stone, but I think this beer was done properly enough to draw reasonable conclusions from this tasting.

I am going to say that belma is a good bittering hop, good for milder beers that don’t require that sharp, pungent, in-your-face hop forwardness like AIPAs or DIPAs. It would probably be better suited to English styles, mildly hopped American styles, or as a general bittering hop.

I do like the aroma that the dry hops lent to this beer, but it’s again not really IPA worthy. Again, good for styles that are less hoppy than IPAs.

I am still quite pleased with my Belma hops, I just won’t use them for super cheep IPA hops. They won’t go to waste, however. I will use them as a general bittering hop, or a hop for milder beer styles. Short of doing a side-by-side with magnum or warrior, I can’t say whether they’d really be a replacement. I don’t intend to do such a comparison, BTW! These will be fine for bittering.

In the end, I’ll drink every one of my somewhat milder than expected Belma IPA. It was a good experiment, and the beer is pretty good anyway.

70

Ingredients / Re: Belma hops

« on: January 16, 2013, 03:32:18 PM »

p.s. same reply posted on other belma thread

More on Belma hops.  I just popped the second bottle.

http://alcaponejunior.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/belma-ipa/#comment-1204

OK. It’s been a week, and I’m trying the second bottle of this one.

It’s better conditioned now, although will probably still do well with another week or so of conditioning.

Appearance is pretty murky, light brown or dark tan, with a great, lasting head and awesome lacing. Appearance could improve.

The bitterness is about right for what I had in mind. It’s not overly bitter, but is sufficiently so. I didn’t intend it to be heavily bitter.

Flavor is a bit less that what I’d find optimal for an IPA. I think it needs something besides just belma… cascade might be nice. Late hopping with belma probably isn’t the way to go.

Aroma is pretty good, but if you compare it to something like Ruination, this beer falls short.

Now I know I’m not an expert like Mitch at Stone, but I think this beer was done properly enough to draw reasonable conclusions from this tasting.

I am going to say that belma is a good bittering hop, good for milder beers that don’t require that sharp, pungent, in-your-face hop forwardness like AIPAs or DIPAs. It would probably be better suited to English styles, mildly hopped American styles, or as a general bittering hop.

I do like the aroma that the dry hops lent to this beer, but it’s again not really IPA worthy. Again, good for styles that are less hoppy than IPAs.

I am still quite pleased with my Belma hops, I just won’t use them for super cheep IPA hops. They won’t go to waste, however. I will use them as a general bittering hop, or a hop for milder beer styles. Short of doing a side-by-side with magnum or warrior, I can’t say whether they’d really be a replacement. I don’t intend to do such a comparison, BTW! These will be fine for bittering.

In the end, I’ll drink every one of my somewhat milder than expected Belma IPA. It was a good experiment, and the beer is pretty good anyway.

71

All Grain Brewing / Re: First 2 all-grain batches in 2 days

« on: January 15, 2013, 10:09:41 AM »

Wort doesn't necessarily taste good.  Patience is a virtue.  RDWHAHB.  Give it time, but then if you're doing all grain, you probably already know that.

You might blend a sample, just for kicks, on bottling or kegging. 

72

The Pub / Re: Why does Budweiser just not get it?

« on: January 14, 2013, 02:31:41 PM »

I think the point is, they are losing market share to craft breweries and they put out psuedo-craft beer to compete with it but what they end up doing is just diluting their brand with more of the same.

Seems like an accurate summary.

I think their management remains focused on what has worked in the past - marketing, and they're stuck on that.  They might change when they lose more market share, which is inevitable and inexorable, but will undoubtedly be slow.  For the moment though, their corporate executives keep their cushy jobs, huge bonuses, and noon tee-times by making sure the shareholders get dividends, and I don't think they really give a flying rat's ass about what goes out in bottles, as long as it maintains their status quo.

73

The Pub / Re: Lone Star Bock

« on: January 14, 2013, 02:20:03 PM »

I have to admit I've drank a fair amount of lone star in my days.  It's cheep and it ain't bud or bud light, and thus it's highly preferable.  Sometimes cheep beer is the thing of the moment.  I can accept and live with that without any loss of my self-image as a beer-meister.

However, I've avoided buying it so far.  There are tons of craft beers available to me, and I have lots of homebrew too.  The days of requiring cheep beer are mostly gone (not that I don't enjoy a 40 of malt liquor after working every now and then). 

But yeah, I will try to find a single of this so I can review it and marvel in whatever assaults my taste buds.  I will try to not allow this thread to influence my reactions (I'm pretty good at remaining neutral though, and not letting other people's reviews or opinions affect mine). 

scores a 70 on beer advocate (only 14 ratings)

74

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 1/11 Edition

« on: January 11, 2013, 05:06:12 PM »

Bottling Juniper Pale ale and brewing Elderberry wheat II. 

75

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What were your gateway beers?

« on: January 11, 2013, 05:03:41 PM »

I'm not going to call craftbrew drinkers enlightened, or aleightened rather, but we're on our way.  It's a journey, not a destination.

So, what were the gateway beers that helped to get you to a higher plane of flavor?

For me, it was Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve that lifted me from my collegiate-era 40oz King Cobra dabblings (the Cobra being traditionally consumed with a loaf of french bread to provide that maltiness lacking in the beer).

Adding Samuel Adams Stock Ale into the mix helped me understand the appeal of bittered ales.  Took an unfortunate, but thankfully brief detour with Rolling Rock after college before coming around to the Trader Joe's line of Fat Weasel and Black Toad ales.

Learned a bit about oxidation from the many dusty brews stocked at TJ's at the time (circa 1995).  Fell in love with ales of oh-so-dark color via the sweet and rich Mackeson Triple XXX Stout.

Around the same time, I was lucky enough to taste Blind Pig IPA at Vinnie's Temecula brewery and at that point I knew there was no going back.  A true wortshed moment for me.

Great opener for a thread!

I'll bite.  I drank Henry Weinhardt's when I was I think 15.  I thought it was delicious at the time.  I haven't tried it since, should I?  Ratings indicate it's pretty meh these days.

In my pre-drinking age teens I drank the cheep stuff, Carlin's black label, Strohs, Heidelburg etc.  Less than $4 a twelvesky.  That's what you want when you're too young to drink legally.

At 21 I got lucky and started to actually enjoy some decent beers.  Back in the day, Becks and some of the imports were actually pretty good.  That was back in the dark ages of American beers...

When I was broke and in school, I switched to cheep malt liquor.  I'll still drink it, FWIW, but obviously my tastes have evolved and I prefer "craft" beer these days.   Still though, I do sometimes work construction with my brother, and after you've been pounding nails, laying metal roofing panels, or slinging trusses all day, you're not exactly going to drink wine and eat cheese afterwords... HELL NO!  You have a forty, and IIPAs/RISs don't come in 40's.   

Sam Adams Lager helped me to appreciate hoppy lagers. 

Then the breaking point came when I was in the military.  I had plenty of time and money to try new things.  Now while I've always liked to try new beers, the big difference was doing reviews.  Now I'm hooked on reviewing, and as always, trying to try something new every time I try a commercial beer.

The IPA rush came from drinking Stone IPA.  I wasn't that into IPAs, thinking them to be too bitter per flavor ratio, preferring Belgians etc.  Then I had a Stone IPA.  Delicious!  After that I started trying more IPAs and realized that they really were delicious, and not just overly bitter.  There are just a lot of examples to choose from, apparently it's the preferred style if you're trying to break into the craft beer market!

RIS, Belgians, sours, wild ales, and other such beers I've loved along the way at various times.  Did I mention that RR wild ales kick ass?

Now I'm a homebrewer, but still enjoy the evolving craft beer market.  I'll buy some, drink some, and brew some. 

Beer is good.  Fin.