The Beer Thread

[von Corax]

For everything you need to know to get started, and enough to get you well beyond that point, there's How to Brew by John Palmer. The third edition is US$19.95, and the first edition is online, for free, on the author's web site.

(Apparently, Palmer is also an amateur blackmith and armourer. Hmm... Have we recruited him yet?)

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

That is very helpful, thank you. I saw a kit online for $230 and another one for $135. The more expensive one came with two things the cheaper one didn't - a 5 gallon glass "carboy" bottle, and a submersible wort-cooling coil. If those two things are necessary, then I guess I would want to get the more complete kit. In either case, it would definitely end up being the most expensive beer I ever drank! 

Ok, the glass carboy is traditionally used for things that ferment fairly slowly - wines and meads - on the grounds that something that ferments slowly doesn't need much 'headspace' above the bubbbling liquid, whereas something that ferments quickly will bubble out all over the place. You wont need a glass carboy for beer. They are also heavy, and the 5 gallon ones usually have no handles. When they are wet and slippery from being washed, they are a pain to haul around and rinse (yes, I do use them for mead).

You only need the wort cooler if you start brewing from grain rather than kits or from liquid extract. Save your money for the moment and add the cooler later on if you are starting to brew from grain (you'll need a few other pieces as well, like a mash tun, but you can make them). NONE of the gear you buy to brew from kits will go unused if you move up to grain brewing, you will only be adding gear.

For the moment, I'd say go with the cheaper kit, then add to it in due course. Brewing from grain makes better beer, but the good quality kits are good enough that they will make BETTER beer until you get the hang of all the ins and outs of basic brewing. Jumping in with grain brewing is much more of a learning curve.

[MPsy]

I still had a small home brew kit at home somewhere.  I should really try my hand in it after the friend who gave it to me made me a beer he calls 'Pee' that has a bit of cinnamon taste.

[von Corax]

I still had a small home brew kit at home somewhere.  I should really try my hand in it after the friend who gave it to me made me a beer he calls 'Pee' that has a bit of cinnamon taste.

Now I have an uncontrollable urge to brew a beer and call it "Angel Piss." I'm just not sure what it should be. Maybe a Wit? A trippel? Any suggestions?

EDIT: All right, it's actually quite controllable, just very, very intense.

[Skinner]

I still had a small home brew kit at home somewhere.  I should really try my hand in it after the friend who gave it to me made me a beer he calls 'Pee' that has a bit of cinnamon taste.

Now I have an uncontrollable urge to brew a beer and call it "Angel Piss." I'm just not sure what it should be. Maybe a Wit? A trippel? Any suggestions?

EDIT: All right, it's actually quite controllable, just very, very intense.

Something with a light colour, and a great deal of froth. And thin, as opposed to thick and creamy?


As for me, It all depends on what's on tap. If there are any local brews on offer, and real ales, I'll dive straight in to the one with the strangest name. I found Silver Adder by doing that.

The more widely available brews however would be; Newcastle Brown, John Smith, Fursty Ferret, Fosters Stop sniggering in the back, Fuller's London Pride... Any sort of Winter Warmer is lovely, and I recently started drinking Kopperberg in it's various fruity incarnations...but I have a long way yet to making a definative list. I'm still fresh in the beer world, as it were.

Anyone ever had Pumpkin Ale? You can find it in Tesco by the bottle around October- lovely taste!

Still. Lager? Pisswater. I will not drink Stella Artois for love nor money... well maybe for money. Certainly for love... But you get the idea!

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

The more widely available brews however would be; Newcastle Brown, John Smith, Fursty Ferret, Fosters Stop sniggering in the back[/i

That would be us Australian retching. 

[von Corax]

Anyone ever had Pumpkin Ale? You can find it in Tesco by the bottle around October- lovely taste!

* von Corax consults "the List"

Apparently I tried Hart Pumpkin Fall Special Reserve once, back before I started dating my notes. (I have a hunch that Hart Brewing have gone flat since then, as well...) My notes tell me that it was suggestive of a Belgian red ale (which I quite like, by the way) but had no particularly pumpkiny characteristics aside from the colour. Ah, well — there are still far more beers I haven't tried than those I have.

Still. Lager? Pisswater. I will not drink Stella Artois for love nor money... well maybe for money. Certainly for love... But you get the idea!

I, too, am unimpressed by Stella. Pilsner Urquell, on the other hand, is one of the few lagers I would go out of my way to keep in stock (when I'm stocking anything other than Black Sheep.) I prefer my PU in cans, as the bottles are prone to Green-Glass Syndrome. I particularly enjoy the expression on the faces of friends who have only ever drunk Labolsons/Budmilloors megaswill, as PU looks almost exactly like the... stuff... they're used to drinking.

[MPsy]

I still had a small home brew kit at home somewhere.  I should really try my hand in it after the friend who gave it to me made me a beer he calls 'Pee' that has a bit of cinnamon taste.

Now I have an uncontrollable urge to brew a beer and call it "Angel Piss." I'm just not sure what it should be. Maybe a Wit? A trippel? Any suggestions?

EDIT: All right, it's actually quite controllable, just very, very intense.

He also brewed a chocolate flavored beer called 'Poo'.

[clairdelune]

Anyone ever had Pumpkin Ale? You can find it in Tesco by the bottle around October- lovely taste!

I've tried a few, I think the one from Dogfish Head is pretty decent, but for some reason most of the others I've sampled have been more carbonated than I'd like. Yeasty Pumpkin Soda.  Will give it another go round this fall-although I'm sure to avoid the one from Michelob-yeech!

[leeps]

For everything you need to know to get started, and enough to get you well beyond that point, there's How to Brew by John Palmer. The third edition is US$19.95, and the first edition is online, for free, on the author's web site.

I got the book yesterday - very informative. (Although a lot of it was exactly what Prof Blakehurst had already explained above  ) And, I am happy to report that I ordered my beer making kit today!

[leeps]

Mr. Leeps and I just finished brewing our first batch of beer. We're going for a pilsner for our first try. We just put the fermenting brew to sleep in the nice cool basement so those little yeasty buddies can work their magic. Mmmm, it smells so good in here.

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

Mr. Leeps and I just finished brewing our first batch of beer. We're going for a pilsner for our first try. We just put the fermenting brew to sleep in the nice cool basement so those little yeasty buddies can work their magic. Mmmm, it smells so good in here.

Yay!

Unfortuantely you don't get a membership pin, just a few lost brain cell! 

[leeps]

A few more brain cells down the drain...ok by me!

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

I never found any use for the buggers anyway.

Let us know how the beery darlings get on, Mrs. Leeps?

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

I know this isn't beer, but I though I'd throw it in here - I have just set by yeast slaves working on a batch of parsnip wine, as I discovered that I seem to have been collecting parsnips recently. Must be something subconsious at work...

[Cpt Wallace]

My dear fellows it has to be the gentlemen's porter of course.

A smooth dark lady with a strong malty taste and rich hoppy aroma and just that fraction of sweetness to make her superior to a stout

[Colonial Steele]

The more widely available brews however would be; Newcastle Brown, John Smith, Fursty Ferret, Fosters Stop sniggering in the back[/i

That would be us Australian retching. 

Oh yep, fosters, that attractive cats wee of a drink.

I am long way from home but fosters does not tempt me.

I have found Little Creatures andCooper's Pale Ale   here in the UK.
I like real ales although due to my expanding waist line have had to cut back on them.
I have Old Speckled Hen and Greenwich beer in the fridge at the moment.
When it is warm in the UK I do like a chilled Lager.
I drink cider, cloudy or clear as well as perry.
I miss Carlton Draught and Cascade

I will miss cheap Gin when I go back to Australia, like Gin a lot.

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

Plus, of course, the yeast sludge in the bottom of the fermenter is the main ingredient of Vegemite. Yay!

[leeps]

Mr. Leeps and I bottled the brew today. It smelled soooo good. I was very proud. Too bad we still have to wait several weeks, apparently, before consuming it!

The only thing we will do differently for the next batch (tomorrow!) is that we're buying a propane burner to boil the wort. Our kitchen stovetop is electric, so there is no flame and it took forever to get things boiling on there. With the propane burner, we should be able to heat things a lot more quickly.

[Sean Patrick O-Byrne]

Old speckled Hen's not bad. Ever tried Hen's Tooth? 

[Capt. Dirigible]

One of the great joys of travelling this sceptered isle is sampling the local ales. I always have a thorough look at what's on the hand pumps looking for something regional before ordering.
When forced to chose a bottled ale (coz the draught choices consist of one Guinness pump and 8 lager taps) Newcasle Brown is widely stocked in most pubs up and down the country so that's my fall back pint. Old Speckled Hen is another excellent bottled ale. My favourite brewery must be the Wychwood Brewery whose Hobgoblin is sublime and whose Fiddler's Elbow I find particularly refreshing after a long day's toil.

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

Hobgoblin Ale Clone
 
Author Tess and Mark Szamatulski
(5 gallons)

OG =1.059; FG =1.016; SRM = 17.5; IBU = 28

Ingredients - Extract:
6 oz. British crystal malt (55° Lovibond)
1 oz. British chocolate malt
0.5 oz. British black malt
6.5 lbs. Muntons extra light dry malt extract (DME)
4 oz. malto dextrin
7 AAUs Progress bittering hops (1 oz. of 7% alpha acid)
3.4 AAUs Styrian Goldings flavour hops (0.66 oz. of 5% alpha acid)
2.5 AAUs Styrian Goldings aroma hops (0.5 oz. of 5% alpha acid)
1 tsp. Irish moss
London Ale yeast (Wyeast 1028) or English Ale yeast (White Labs WLP002)

Step by Step
Heat 1 gallon of water to 155° F. Add grain and steep at 150° F for 30 minutes. Strain the grain water into the brew pot. Sparge the grains with 0.5 gallons of 150° F water. Add the malt extracts, malto dextrin and bittering hops.

Add water until the total volume is 2.5 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes then add 0.66 oz. of Styrian Goldings flavour hops and Irish moss. Boil for 13 minutes and add 0.5 oz. of Styrian Goldings hops. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to obtain 5 gallons. When the wort is below 80° F, pitch the yeast and aerate well. Ferment in the primary at 68° to 72° F for 5 to 7 days.

Rack to the secondary and let ferment at 70° F for 2.5 to 3 weeks until target gravity is reached. Bottle and let prime at 70° to 72° F for 2 weeks. Store at cellar temperature. Serve in a pint glass at 50° F.

Partial-Mash Option:
Mash 2 lbs. Maris Otter two-row pale malt with specialty grains at 150° F for 90 minutes. Then follow the extract recipe, omitting 1.5 lb. Muntons extra light dry malt extract at the beginning of the boil.

All-Grain Option:
Mash 10.75 lbs. Maris Otter two-row pale malt with the specialty grains at 150° F for 90 minutes. Add 5.3 AAU Progress bittering hop (24% less than the extract recipe) for 90 minutes. Add the Irish moss, flavor and aroma hops as indicated in the extract recipe.

[Dr cornelius quack]

Crabbie's are now making an alcoholic Ginger Beer which is rather nice as a summery thirst quencher.
They are also using the word 'Spiffing' in the posters, which is......er, spiffing.
Plus, it matches my hair colour.
(Well....used to.)

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

September bump!

I was with Jinglejoe in the Cracke last night, and they were selling one of the most deliciois beers imaginable - It was called Cherry Bomb and came in at a manly 6%.

Fairly light in colour and the most incredible cherry taste. Very pleasant. I can highly recommend it.

[Prof Eumides Blakehurst]

I started another batch of my Bellringers' Surprise Triple last weekend. It's one of the few brews I make using a kit or malt extract, simply because doing it from grain would be a HUGE amount of grain to physically handle.

The idea originally was "what would it be like to brew a Belgian style trippel using British style ingredients ?". Plus the group of lunatics charming bellringers I ring with were practising a complete peal to inaugarate teh new set of bells locally, and the first batch was to made in time to celebrate afterwards.

Ingredients:

3kg ESB 'Nut brown ale' kit.
1.5kg liquid amber malt extract.
1kg dark crystal malt liquid extract.
500g light spray malt.
60g extra fuggles hop pellets.
Water to 25 litres.
Safale S04 yeast - 22g (2 packs)

The ESB kit is hopped anyway but you need extra hops with all that extra malt. The hops are 'dry hopped' meaning you just toss the pellets into the fermenter when all the other ingredients are in. Bung everything into the fermenter and let it go. Fermentation is slooooow because that's a lot of malt and the yeast is a bit stunned by it all. That would be almost 12kg of grain if doing it by mash...

Started at 1.080 and should end up about 9.2% alcohol in the bottle. Trouble with it is that you don't notice the alcohol with all the residual malt and hops flavour. I aged the first batch a year in the bottle before we drank it at the bell tower party. Big, luscious, dark, intense and people fell over. A lot. 

It takes almost three weeks to ferment out in the fermenter, so I wont even think of bottling it for another fortnight, but I cant wait for this to be ready in a year's time!