never really thought this would be such a great thread! but it keeps on giving...

Jedi nativity and props to e-friends, great

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never really thought this would be such a great thread! but it keeps on giving...

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Merry Christmas from the Dr!

After spending some time in the Word while drinking a homemade Tripel, I have come to the conclusion that homebrewing is indeed a spiritual discipline and should be experienced by all.

Now, I wouldn't expect that we can create on the same level as the Chimays...but after a couple, you sure think you do. And really, that's all that counts.

diehard03, maybe you should start a thread here about the joys of home brewing. I know the outdoor board has some going on, but it would be fun around here.

Hey, you know what's weird?

I expected a whole lot more Catholics to show up on this thread!

Maybe they're all at mass!

[This message has been edited by Dr. Mephisto (edited 12/2/2009 9:18a).]

or they are on catholicmatch.com (go go gadget google ads).

or, as I steal from pg's irish confessional thread:

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An Irishman goes into the confessional box after years of being away from the Church.

There's a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest cigars and chocolates.

Then the priest comes in.

"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be."

The priest replies: "Get out. You're on my side."

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maybe BOTH sides are the same, and they are all in confession (which means, maybe we should go too!)

I think diehard should transition this into a thread or FAQ on how to get started with homebrewing...always been curious

There should be more Catholics here, but alas, consumption of inferior beer affects all denominations despite any proud brewing tradition that may exist.

Brothers and sisters, it is our duty to evangelize!

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From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

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I picked up a bottle of Allagash, and another bottle of my favorite Chimay while I was there. I will report back later.

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Chimay > Allagash, but Allagash was still quite tasty.

I have decided that this will be the official, eternal beer thread of this forum.

Whenever I see that it is in danger of dropping down too often, I will post whatever necessary to maintain the importance of quality beer.

Perhaps it is my calling.

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Perhaps it is my calling.

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Nay, sir.

Our Ministry!

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Our Ministry!

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diehard03 approves.

If diehard03 approves, then it is only logical that we must be merry and drink beer to celebrate

Indeed... ministry.

___________________________________________________________________________________
From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

we must be merry and drink beer to celebrate
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i had some dental work yesterday, and i am not allowed to drink any beer for the next 3 days........ pray for me brothers!!!!

Dear Lord,

We come to you to pray for our dearest friend, and your humble servant, gordanvucko.

The devil (who we sometimes called dentists) has recently attacked this man of the cloth, such that he cannot be merry and drink beer for 3 days. Give him guidence through these tough times, and the strength to endure these hardships.

Much like our savior who suffered death and was in Hades for 3 days, only to rise up for our salvation, let gordanvucko also rise again to be merry and drink beer after these 3 days are past.

Amen.

sig check

"If diehard03 approves, then it is only logical that we must be merry and drink beer to celebrate" - Cyprian

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I think diehard should transition this into a thread or FAQ on how to get started with homebrewing...always been curious

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I will give you the condensed version, as homebrew is really simple.

Quick definition of terms:

Wort - beer before it's...beer (pre-fermentation)
Fermentation - yeast eating sugar and creating alcohol

How does one make beer? Making beer is essentially creating a sugary/bitter solution and letting yeast eat it up. End of story. We drink the byproduct. And it's fantastic.

5 main ingredients to beer:

1) Water. Beer is mostly water...even Chimay. (Forgive me, Lord)

2) Malt. This comes from malted barley. You can either get the malted barley itself or you can buy powder/syrup kits with the sugar already removed from the barely. I make mine from malted barley...because it's more awesome.

3) Hops. Hops add 3 different characters to beer - bittering, flavoring, and aroma. Hops are what keep the beer from becoming oversweetened alochol juice.

4) Yeast. Yeast eats the sugars and make alcohol. Yeast also likes to make a big mess..but it cleans itself up if you allow enough time.

5) Adjuncts. Germans say "Nein!" this, and Belgians say "YES". These are anything else added to beer for flavor.

Process:
These vary widely...I am assuming 5 gallon batch (40-50 12 oz bottles)

1) Get sugar out of barley. I will ignore this for sake of confusion and assume you have it powder form.

2) Boil sugar powder, water, hops according to what flavor profile you want (it's usually around an hour) (this is now wort)

3) Cool wort down to temperature range of your particular yeast.

4) Put in fermentation jug

5) Put in yeast.

6) Wait determined amoutn of time and bottle. Enjoy later.

Sounds easy? Right? Of course it is. Here's the rub though...it's sugar water...so bacteria loves it. A lot. MOST of homebrewing is creating an environment that yeast can win, and bacteria loses. That's right...homebrewing is mostly cleaning. Cooled wort cannot touch anything not santizied...and this is the juggling act.







[This message has been edited by diehard03 (edited 12/3/2009 11:24a).]

That actually sounds fun.

How do you rate your home brew vs the beers you love premade? Was the first batch any good or did you just have to JohnWayne it down? How long does it take--generally--to get good enough to start tinkering with thickness, darkness, flavor, and such? How long does it take before a batch is made before you can drink it?

I know I should just google it, but Google hasn't returnes any of my calls or posted on my thread, so . . . he can just go drink Miller!!

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How do you rate your home brew vs the beers you love premade?

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According to me, I think it is good, but there's a "homebrew effect" you have to worry about it. It can taste like complete ***, but you will think it's better than Chimay. You will. Trust me. Also, you can't trust your friends, because they will say "its good" to any free beer.

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Was the first batch any good or did you just have to JohnWayne it down?

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Kits are really good these days...so as long as you don't do anything silly, it will be good.

Mine was good. 20+ batches later, I am not using kits and simply buying ingredients and making my own recipes. There are cheap programs out there to help you do this.

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How long does it take--generally--to get good enough to start tinkering with thickness, darkness, flavor, and such?

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From the getgo. My opinion is that you should never make a batch that you don't learn from. Main varables affecting beer flavor:

*Yeast strain - some yeasts provide a HUGE flavor influence...like german hefe yeast. Others, are just there to ferment, like American Ale yeast used for IPAs.
*Temperature of fermentation - hotter produces more by-products that influence flavor...sometimes good, mostly bad.
*Hops Used - there are 30+ different hop varieties that add various amounts of bittering and flavors.
*Timing of Hops in boil - longer in boil, more bitter...if you add after boiling, all aroma.
*Types of malts used (and amounts). Character of the malt comes through here. Also, malt drives a vast majority of the color.
*Water characterisitics - since it's mostly water, water taste affects beer taste. For instance, pilsners tend to be a little harsher because of how the water in Bohemian region increases the hop bitterness.

Obviously, there's tremendous literature on the various yeasts, malts, and hops to help you pick the flavor profile you are looking for.

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How long does it take before a batch is made before you can drink it?

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If bottling, it's 6 weeks for a 4-5%er and 2-3 months for 8-10%. "Big beers" will need longer to condition. This means the little yeast in each bottles slowly clean up fermenation by-products and improve flavor. My Belgian tripel I recently made just became drinkable. The belgian 8% I made 3 years ago is beer candy.

Thanks for the reply. I asked a lot of questions.




I think you just became my new hero!

One addition to diehard03 excellent contributions on homebrewing... The pitching rate of yeast also affects fermentation in both speed and flavor. Not enough yeast can lead to slow fermentation, or it can even stall. Low pitch rates can also result in more esters from your yeast. Overpitching can also give your beer bad flavors.

With respect to big beers, making a yeast starter or two packs of yeast is generally recommended. However, I have had great success with a high gravity (read: lots of fermentables) weizen doppelbock and only one smack-pack of yeast. The banana/clove esters were a hit with my friends. I keep getting requests to make it again. Currently, I have an Imperial Smoked Porter fermenting. I used to packets of yeast on this one because I wanted a "clean" (read: minimal esters) flavor to allow the smokiness of the German rauchmaltz to come through.

A helpful calculator for yeast pitching rates.

As far as my homebrew being good vs. bad goes, I've never had a bad batch. I've had some batches that are certainly better than others, but overall, nothing that has been sink-worthy. I've had good feedback from friends, but I have never submitted a recipe for BCJP judging. I'm a bit scared of that!

Homebrewing is a great hobby, and it is something that all men should experience at some point, preferably brewing with friends. That sort of camaraderie is awesome.

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From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

The Czar speaks truth!

Man, you guys have me wanting to actually put something down on a Christmas list...

Home brew kit....

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Man, you guys have me wanting to actually put something down on a Christmas list...

Home brew kit....

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Do it. Immediately. In fact, buy it for yourself and put the empty boxes under the tree.

Top Reasons to Brew Beer:

1) Jesus did it. (ok, he made wine...but I think deep down, in places he doesn't talk about at parties, he really wanted to make beer)

2) Increased appreciation for the finer beers out there. Homebrewing is one of those things that's really close to how commerical enterprises do it...just scale is different. You gain an appreciation for other styles by trying to make them yourself.

3) Through Enron-esque accounting methods, you can claim a low price for high quality beer. When you buy it as grain, hops, and yeast (adn you can reuse yeast), the savings add up versus store priced beer. Reason for Enron comment is that it is a hobby, and thus, there's SOMETHING you can buy for any amount of money...so, as a lover homebrew, you end up spending savings on gadgets and things to make your brewing life easier. But hey, if you spin the numbers right, the wife will approve.

4) Your "favorite beer" is always available...because you decide how much to make!

5) Diehard03 has a draft beer setup/kegerator in his kitchen. No way this happens other than homebrewing.

6) General state of awesomeness that comes with creating your own beer.

7) 7th thing here. Because 7 is God's number. Or something like that.

04texag,

Not sure where you call home, but when I lived in Austin, the folks at Austin Homebrew Supply were awesome in getting me set up. My brother-in-law (Dallas area) deals with Homebrew Headquarters and has had good experiences thus far. I don't know much about other cities in Texas, but Craigslist is also your friend. You can often find used equipment on there at cut rate prices. My buddies and I have picked up some awesome stuff that way.

Additionally, these homebrew shops are staffed with good folks who love good beer as well as love to make good beer. They have good recipes and kits from which to choose, and there is usually an excellent selection of grains to choose from.

Do it! Do it! Do it!

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From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

Oh man, not only am I craving a cold frothy mug right now...but my DIY/tinkering self is getting an itch...

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1) Jesus did it. (ok, he made wine...but I think deep down, in places he doesn't talk about at parties, he really wanted to make beer)

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At the very least, our Blessed Lord is the zymurgist par excellence!

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2) Increased appreciation for the finer beers out there. Homebrewing is one of those things that's really close to how commerical enterprises do it...just scale is different. You gain an appreciation for other styles by trying to make them yourself.

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So true... plus it gives you knowledge and ammunition to mock Miller's "triple hops brewed" meme.

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3) Through Enron-esque accounting methods, you can claim a low price for high quality beer. When you buy it as grain, hops, and yeast (adn you can reuse yeast), the savings add up versus store priced beer. Reason for Enron comment is that it is a hobby, and thus, there's SOMETHING you can buy for any amount of money...so, as a lover homebrew, you end up spending savings on gadgets and things to make your brewing life easier. But hey, if you spin the numbers right, the wife will approve.

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My Imperial Smoked Porter is costing me $29.95 {Dude, free hops! Allsome!} for a beer that had 18 lbs. of grains (not malt extract). This is producing approximately 5 gallons of beer that I estimate will be around 8-9% ABV.

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4) Your "favorite beer" is always available... because you decide how much to make!

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But before you run out, you should make another of your favorite beers.

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5) Diehard03 has a draft beer setup/kegerator in his kitchen. No way this happens other than homebrewing.

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So does the Beer Czar... currently serving "Carrot Top" Amber Ale. Booya.

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6) General state of awesomeness that comes with creating your own beer.

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There is none cooler than he that brews beer. Plus, you'll make more friends, but of course they might be using you for your beer.

___________________________________________________________________________________
From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

Sheesh! Are you guys still drinking over here?

Yes. ** hiccup **

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From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world.

The church is near, but the road is icy; the tavern is far, and I will walk carefully.

For those of you lovers of good beer in B/CS, consider joining our brew club. (You don't have to brew yourself, but it doesn't hurt!) Our Xmas party is next Friday.

Group page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=35902700914


And Chimay is indeed a grand beer, although I enjoyed it more when it was $6-7 instead of $11-12 like it is now.

[This message has been edited by Drewmeister (edited 12/3/2009 11:07p).]

I can't believe it's only 7:02 A.M., and I already want a good beer.

Last night was Beer Nirvana. Went into the city (Chicago) for a homebrew/good commerical brew tasting. Wound up samples tripels, porters, and other goodness until late last night.

If one wants to know about homebrewing, go find a local homebrew club. If nothing else, it's usually free drinking as much as you want (albeit in small glasses)

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plus it gives you knowledge and ammunition to mock Miller's "triple hops brewed" meme

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Yes. I am still wondering how the second addition gives a beer body. Body is created by generating a certain amount of unfermentable sugars that remain after the yeast is done...not sure what hops have to do with it.

[This message has been edited by diehard03 (edited 12/4/2009 7:40a).]

I can't believe it's only 7:02 A.M., and I already want a good beer.
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You say that as if it is unusual???
In Dallas the are reporting possible snow in Houston today. I would recommend an amber or brown ale, like the Dr drinks.