Any Homebrew/Craft brewers on WF?

bb_wolfe

Medicinal KFC
Jan 1, 2008
3,114
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I've been brewing for a bit over a year. Extract kits only, taking the plunge into all-grain this Spring.

I brew mainly Northern Brewer kits because I kinda know the COO there and he's good shit, but bought 3 Brewers Best kits that I'm gonna try this weekend.

anyWHO, if you're a brewer, let's start a dialogue! Would love to have an AM brewers meetup this spring. I can guarantee if we ship enough kegs to the event, there will be some networks interested in sponsoring!


topless-beer-wench.jpg
 


I've been wanting to get into for awhile, just haven't had the time. My buddy does it and always keeps 4 homebrews on tap at his house and I know a lot of the local brew masters at some of the Michigan micro-breweries like Founders, Bell's, Jolly Pumpkin, New Holland and a few others that don't distribute like Fort Street. In fact, this thread reminded me I have to get my hotel in Grand Rapids for the Winter Beer Festival next weekend.
 
It just so happens that I purchased a homebrew kit and also some extra gear for winemaking yesterday from my friendly neighborhood home brew shop (BrewStock in New Orleans).

I'll be making a German Apfelwine and also a Fat Tire clone.

I've never tried homebrewing before, but have been wanting to try it for some time now.
 
When I was living in Seattle 2 years ago, I tried my hand and brewed ~5 batches (over a 10 wk period), haven't picked it up since. I keep wanting to start again, but I used to have some baller equipment -- corny kegs, a copper heatsink, the works -- and getting back up to my previous equipment standard would prolly set me back $1000.

My first two, I used extracts. First try, I heated up the water first, then poured in the extract, which sunk to the bottom, and burnt on the pan -- The beer came out alright, but it tasted pretty carmelized; still tasted like "the best tasting beer of my life". For #2, I poured extract first, then heated the water, and everything went well.

For #3 and #4, I went whole grain, and the results were FANTASTIC (but the cleanup is HELL). #3 and #4 went so well, despite my having no clue what I was doing, that I'll probably never brew with an extract again. Go to your brew store and get lots of that oxygenated cleaning solution they have for malt, you're gonna need it. The shit sticks to pans like clay when it gets wet, the cleaner solution busts it right apart.

#5 was an experiment -- Brewed with Apple Juice, it turned out weak and champagne-y, but tasted OK all around.

If you're having fun and enjoying it, look seriously into gear upgrades. Copper heatsinks can save you two hours in the brewing process (and produce better flavors too), carbonated kegs will cut about 2 weeks off the fermentation phase, and an old fridge covered in spraypaint and bumperstickers with a tap on the front door will give you 2x the enjoyment in drinking your brew.
 
I got into it a about a year ago with some buddies. We all have our own setups (extract brewing), so we brew together sometimes and then do our own brews and have little tasting sessions at each others homes. There's been some really good beers and a few really funky ones. My friend did a cinnamon red ale, but went a little to overboard on the cinnamon and it turned out awful. But after letting it condition for about 6 more weeks, it mellowed out and tasted pretty damn good.

I haven't brewed in a few months, but now that temperatures are warming up a bit, I'll do another one soon. I brew ales, so low temps don't favor good ale brewing. My last brew was a version of Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale. It came out close and tasted pretty good. I got the ABV up to around 9% on that one, so it was nice and strong.

My previous brew was a vanilla porter, which turned out very good. I'm thinking of doing a double IPA for the next one. I think I'll order up some ingredients today.
 
Yep - I just went all-grain. It's not that bad. You just have to do a few more steps. It seems scary at first compared to extract but using my low-baller gear I have made a west coast style IPA with my own homegrown Cascade hops. I have 6 gallons of Belgian Strong Ale (Duvel clone) fermenting right now. I'll probably bottle it tomorrow or Sunday.

I'd recommend joining a homebrew club. You can gain a lot of knowledge hanging out with more experienced brewers.
 
what the fuck is going on - this is the 3rd thread in a row I visited that had a boobie icon and no boobies

this is a total break down of the system


but any way,

I was cleaning a place in the basement to brew as soon as winter breaks,
I have been looking at it for the past couple years.
 
It just so happens that I purchased a homebrew kit and also some extra gear for winemaking yesterday from my friendly neighborhood home brew shop (BrewStock in New Orleans).

I'll be making a German Apfelwine and also a Fat Tire clone.

I've never tried homebrewing before, but have been wanting to try it for some time now.

"Flat Tire?"

If so I made that as my first homebrew attempt.

Came out decent!
 
I've never been a big Fat Tire fan. I've found it to have an inconsistent taste from bottle to bottle. Not bad on tap, but still not one of my favorite micro brews.
 
Yeah, the name they give it is "Bicycle! Bicycle!" but it's supposed to taste like Fat Tire. I figured I'd give it a shot, and then after that try their Abita Amber clone.

If neither one of those work out, I'll just buy a bunch of Abita Amber and hand it out to my friends and tell them I made it myself. I'll have all my homebrew equipment as proof.
 
Got a buddy that is really into it. I think he did 3 maybe 4 brew sessions with extract and bottling then swiftly moved to all grain and sankes. He hasn't looked backed since. He went all out and started growing his own hops, built a really nice 6 tap kegerator. He finally broke down a couple of years ago and got himself a BrewMagic set up.

BeerAdvocate is alright, but they seem a little uptight sometimes. Might wanna check out HomeBrewTalk.com - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Community. , just as knowledgeable and less beer snob'ish.