Got a recipe for the xmas ale? I am from Ohio and go crazy for Great Lakes Christmas Ale when its on tap.
I'll get you what recipe I did, which was the homebrewers shop "winterfest" kit with a couple of extras. But how actually they'll compare? Id be interested. (@DexterDay) Dexter, mentioned it in his vacation conversation. So that's how I got interested in it but it sounded pretty yummy.
Ok was that due to MR Beer? Cuz I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo envious of your hops stash right now and if that kit started it Im gonna cry!
No it wasn't Mr beer. I planted those hops 10 years or so ago. They took to the southern exposure on my house real well. I'm really getting the urge to pull the mash tun and keggels out of storage.
Heres what I got: 3.3 lbs Briess Golden Light LME 3 lb Extra Light DME 2 lbs Clover Honey 8 oz Crushed Briess Caramel 120L Malt 4 oz Crushed Muntons Black Patent Malt 1 oz Chinook Hops (bittering) 1 oz Cascade Hops 1 oz Bitter Orange 2 Sticks of Cinnamon 1/4 cup fresh ginger (loose and shredded)
I may have to try that. I'm trying to get my next couple of beer recipes lined up. What kinda of honey would you recommend to try?
I always used orange blossom for mead. It might eliminate the need for the bitter orange in the recipe. I think clover is more neutral. It should serve more to lighten the body than to add flavor.
OK guys, looking to start a little setup with a buddy of mine. What is a good way to start without breaking the bank? Let's say we go with a <$500 setup. I see a lot of used stuff out there on CL, but have no idea what to look for. We can handle the drinking part.... everything else we shall see. Any rookie advice is appreciated!
Lot's of things to consider here such as: 1: How big of batches do you want to brew (A 5 gallon batch yields roughly 4 cases bottled) 2: Bottling or kegging? 3: Extract or all grain brewing? Extract is easier. All grain is cheaper, takes more time, and gives you more control. 4: How much room do you have for brew days and/or storing your brew equipment? 5: You can buy equipment ready to go OR most everything can be made/modified DIY......IMHO, DIY rocks....after all if we wanted to buy everything we'd just go to the liquor store for our beer too. Cruise the interweb....great home brew sites that sell everything. There are also some great forums. Northern Brewer is a one of my favorites for brewing stuff and recipes or ingredients. I HIGHLY suggest you see if there are any brew shops in your area. After starting out online, I found an awesome little local home brew shop. These folks probably don't make much money....they're just getting pursuing a hobby and helping others out along the way. All of them I've been to would bend over backwards to help and answer questions.
1. Something like 2 batches at a time (different brews) so sounds like 2 5 gal setups. 2. I don't know, bottles sound easier to start with. 3. All grain sounds more intriguing, but if its not for rookies then I may change my mind. 4. My buddies basement, which is rather barren. Plenty of room. 5. Gotcha There is actually a homebrew shop right down the road from him in Plymouth, MA. They have classes but have run very sparingly so we haven't "got in."
You have an adequate budget to get going on large batches and all grain if you want. You can start with extracts (and make some mighty tasty suds) then all you'd have to add when you "graduate" to all grain, is a mash tun. I built mine using a round 10 gallon Igloo beverage cooler and about $30 worth of stainless hardware that the brew shop helped with. Here is a pretty nice kit with everything you need minus a brew pot and burner. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...arter-kits/essential-brewing-starter-kit.html There are LOTS of these kinds of kits online and your LHBS most likely has everything for about the same price....and they have lots of free advice too!! You don't even need two buckets for most beers. I've never used a second bucket unless I was fermenting another batch in it. I started with this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...er-kits/1-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit.html It did about 4 extract batches with it before going to all grain. There's not much more to it...it's like baking cake. You just follow a recipe. I'm just starting to tweek my ingredients and make my own recipes....no total flops yet.
Its fun and rewarding. From tasting the wort to tasting the "green" beer and then finally getting to sit relax with a cold matured beer....
Just got done with 124 bottles of beer...Boulvard Wheat Clone / Fat Jack Clone / and Great Lake Christmas Ale Clone..plus I drank a few homebrews while bottling so as not to commit a beer bottling foul...
I have a batch of Imperial Stout that I might bottle tomorrow afternoon if I don't take a nap. Priorities you understand?
All grain BIAB brewer here. Mostly I brew lagers. I have an Oktoberfest on tap right now with a Bohemian Pils and Munich Dunkel on deck. Just recently got into decoction mashing to see if it makes any difference.
May I suggest that you NOT purchase glass carboys for fermenting. They break rather easily and when they do cause extensive damage to your flesh. The plastic ones are cheaper anyway. When my 6.5 gallon carbory broke in my hands earlier this month I not only had 6.5 gallons of sanitizer to clean up but the spurting blood and ER visit weren't fun either. I'm an extraxct brewer so far but about to try the BIAB just to avoid that extract taste and color. The chickens love spent grain too.
My buddy and I had a pretty intense day of brewing last weekend. We were focused on utilizing local, fresh ingredients. He has celiac disease so we also did gluten free brewing. We bought eight 1 gallon bottles to experiment with weird recipes and utilized our existing carboys. We previously brewed 5 gallons of basic mead. After 9 months it is really turning into something nice. It took us 9 hours but we brewed the following: 5 gallons of fresh pressed cider. We are going to dry hop this cider with low alpha hops in secondary 1 gallon apple cider cyser (Half cider and half honey) 2 gallon braggot (half honey and half sorghum extract) 2 gallons chai mead 1 gallon mint wine 1 gallon beet wine 1 gallon pumpkin/butternut squash dubbel (all grain using buckwheat. He sprouted, roasted, and milled the buckwheat)
