Home Brewing

[koshersmoke]

Home brewing is the best thing ever. You can brew what you want when you want. one of my favorite places to get stuff is from -northern brewer-. They sell more of anything brew related than any other home brew site on line so you know that all the stuff you order is the freshest it can be. They also have a ton of vids and info to get just about any body up and brewing like a micro brewing pro in no time. They have alot of stuff on mead and wine too......And baronsamedi I too have had a love for the green fairy. im so lucky i have a friend who owns a distillery in my home town of Walton NY. She makes absinthe and whiskey at her shop The Delaware Phoenix distillery. I do however disagree, this american made absinthe ranks right up there with the big boys. you can find some reviews of the 2 blends she makes as well as others from all over the world on the worm wood society web site. They are called "Meadow of Love" and "Walton Waters" i can agree that absinthe from alot of places sucks. Its just nasty fake flavor and food coloring crap. no louche at all. but this stuff is the bomb. I started out with lucid when it first came out....crapp then i tried Van gogh absinthe.. even worse. By far this is my favorite. Even over some of the vintage stuff i tried when i went to europe. Its not cheap..like $80 bucks anywhere else, but she sells it for a home town advantage price of $63 for a 750ml bottle. It is well worth it. you gotta check it out. If i had a money tree id send you a bottle to try...... well some day maybe

 

[baronsamedi]

American Absinthe has gotten better! I tried some that was made locally up in Montana and it was tha Bomb! Right up there with Duplais, which is my favorite! We're on the Absinthe map now!

 

[roudoudou]

baron,
I read an article about the Swiss trying to 'appellate' (like Champagne, Cognac, etc) absinthe only for the canton of Neuchâtel. If they finally succeed (France will appeal, as other countries), nobody outside the canton will be allowed to use the name absinthe!!
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Absinthe_receives_European_protection_label.html?cid=33327856

 

[baronsamedi]

Well the Swiss do it best IMO, but I think measure is ridiculous at this point, since well-recognized, quality stuff is produced elsewhere. A purity standard would be a better endeavor because it would benefit Absinthe makers world wide.

 

[jameral]

I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of our members enjoy homebrewing. Reading this thread has now peaked my interest in giving it a try for myself. If all goes well I'll be brewing my first batch by the following weekend.

 

[gnatjulio]

Down to my last fifteen bottles. Time to brew up a couple more batches. Almost ready to try all-grain. Hopefully I'll have my cooler mash tun manifold finished before its time to order my recipe kits.

 

[roudoudou]

Just went to my homebrew store to pick up 23l of unpasteurized apple juice!

It is now fermenting!!!

Girlfriend is happy... and so am I!
Wasn't cheap: $49.50! Last year it was $34.50. Apparently, the harvest hasn't been good.
+1 baron: about having a purity standard. My little finger tells me that absinthe is an 'abused' term.
Jameral: Have you homebrewed yet?

 

[baronsamedi]

I love me some Apple wine! In Germany I used to drink a bottle every morning on the way to school.

 

[smoker49]

Does anyone have a cider recipe to share? I am going to brew my first batch of mead and cider this fall. Thanks to all of you I can't resist.

 

[roudoudou]

smoker49: the cider I made today is just unpasteurised apple juice + yeast. Simple as that!
In a previous batch, I added a Kg of brown sugar (demerara) (to 23l of juice).
You can also check these: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/

 

[smoker49]

Awesome! Thanks for the link.

 

[jameral]

Jameral: Have you homebrewed yet?

As a matter of fact I have. Last weekend I did my inaugural batch, it is an Irish Red Ale from an extract kit. Didn't realize how much work is involved, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Today I will be transferring it to a secondary. I expect to be sampling it sometime around Halloween. This waiting part is killing me. I think I'm gonna try a stout for my next batch. :D

 

[baronsamedi]

+1 roudou. Now is a great time for it, too.

 

[brewshooter]

Hey jameral, probably too late for this batch, but no need to transfer to secondary in the future. That's an old technique that's still thrown around a lot out there. Many homebrew shop instructions tell you to transfer at one week to secondary. Just leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks and, assuming the gravity is stable, you can go ahead and keg or bottle. The only time I might transfer beer is if I'm going to dry hop or add fruit.

 

[jameral]

Yeah, it's already done. I've heard arguments from both sides on whether or not to transfer to a secondary; since I've gotten your opininon now, I won't transfer it next time unless I need the primary for another batch. I was planning on leaving this brew in the secondary for 3 weeks. Maybe I only need 2 more weeks; what do you think? My OG = 1.042 ... at the time of transfer = 1.012 I really appreciate the advice.

 

[brewshooter]

I would probably leave it for another two weeks in secondary and then bottle it. I tend to leave most of my beers in primary for an additional two weeks beyond the end of initial fermentation and let the yeast clean up and deal with some of the things they throw out as a result of fermenting the wort.

 

[roudoudou]

jameral,
I usually do 4 to 6 days primary, then 2.5 weeks secondary. But this is very personal. Some people will leave it 2-3 weeks primary, then bottle. You could also leave in secondary for a couple of months. From my readings on homebrewtalk.com (and I'm sure Brewshooter can testify), everybody has its own opinion.
So go with what seems good to you. The only advice is: don't transfer until fermentation is over. The rest is up to you.

Just keep brewing!!!

 

[jameral]

Thanks roudoudou. My head was spinning from reading all the different opinions on this subject and what I came away with was that transferring to a secondary mostly aided in the clarity of your brew and that there are some beers that would not benefit as much as other by doing so, such as wheat beers; or if dry hopping or adding fruit as Brewshooter mentioned. This being my first brew, I wanted to follow the instructions as best I could. I'm sure that once I get a few more brews under my belt I'll be more comfortable in knowing whether or not to transfer.
Right now my biggest problem is getting my fermentation temps under control. We just had a couple of really warm days here in the Bay Area and my fermometer read some pretty severe swings in temp. It's looking like some kind of fermentation chamber is in my near future. Man, I need to find a hobby that makes me money next time, lol, but I don't care 'cause I'm having fun! :D

 

[peteross]

New to the site and I wanted to make my home brewing known. I've been brewing for two years. I've made about 10 5gal batches. My go-to brew is of the weizen persuasion. I've also had success with an amber ale, and a India pale. It's time to start thinking about a holiday brew!

 

[johnnyxpipe]

I love home brewing. I am currently preparing to take the BJCP Beer Judge Exam to become a certified beer judge.