Win a Beginning Home Brewing DVD

Interested in home brewing but nervous about how to begin? I know when I started I had all the equipment and a few books but I still wish I had some visual tutorial. Well look no further than this DVD. This DVD specializes in extract brewing which most every beginner starts with. It’s a great video to start with and a great reference. Personally I am the kind of person who prefers to visualize and I sure wish I had this when I started but that being said I still found some useful tips inside. Right now I have an opportunity to give away a DVD of this for free. All you need to do to enter is be the first person to send me a picture of your unused kit and the DVD will be shipped to your house.

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Check out their website.

Shirley Furioso, my homebrew Furious clone

Home brew number two has come and gone, got about two bottles left and it is going down fast. What can I say? I really liked this one. Number one was a bust, in fact I still had seven bottles of it and I tried one the other night and it is still flat and tastes pretty gross, I dumped them. This one though was a winner. Well, it wasn’t an exact replica but it was pretty close. A bit grassy, I heard from some people that when you dry hop you should only do it for 5 days or so. I did about 10. Though I did tend to notice that the grassyness faded after time. Right when I cracked the first one I could tell that it was going to be at least drinkable. The nose was all Furious, very piney. And the taste, as I said grassy but other than that, not bad, not bad at all. I didn’t use a hop bag so I had lots of hop flakes floating around but those all settled with the yeast and by then end of my bottles I got really good at pouring the beer and not getting any yeast in the glass. But I did notice that, since I used bombers to bottles it so I got two glasses worth of beer, that the second glass had a, and it’s hard for me to find the right word for it, a tingle. I am assuming that this is the settled hop flakes that probably broke down. Either way it wasn’t anything disgusting or too awkward so it didn’t deter me at all. So being that this was a success I am very tempted to do this again, like tomorrow, but I really should try a different style. But maybe not. I mean, why brew something I just simple like when I can brew something I love and get really good at it and possibly go off the recipe a bit and tweak it to make it my own? I guess that will be something for me to ponder over.

Homebrew: Surly Furious Clone

Round two with my foray into home brewing. This time around I decided to make one of my favorite beers, Surly Furious. Furious was what got me into hoppy beers. I remember when they first came out I was at Old Chicago and their feature beer was Furious from this new brewery here in the Twin Cities. I jumped all over it because I love local stuff and I have to say I was not a big hop fan at the time but I was starting to get into craft beers more and though probably just a few months prior I would have cared little for this, I was in love. Since then I have become a hop head.

So when I was at Northern Brewer looking for a new beer I was on the look out for their Furious clone. Funny story about this though. I am known to have “blonde moments” I don’t think of myself as a genius or anything but do think I am pretty sharp and not a moron but I spent forever looking for this beer. I knew it had a different name but I couldn’t find it. So I came across this one called “Shirley Furioso” which said it is mimicked after a local favorite. I checked the ingredients and the description and it sounded like this was the one but I had no idea the play on words with their title till I got home and my wife pointed it out. Of course in hindsight it is very obvious. Duh.

Brew day went much smoother than the first one. I had most everything ready before I got to each step. The wort cool down went much faster with the ice bath and I think I may invest in a wort chiller one of these days. I had it in the primary for about two weeks and it bubbled the whole time, even when it was in the secondary but that was only for a few days. The transfers went smooth and I did get some yeast to transfer over to help aid in the fermenting and maybe help prevent what happened last time which was no carbonation. (Side note: I got 8 bottles left of my EPA and all but 2 were not carbonated, the ones that were carbonated were fairy well carbonated but still pretty weak) I dry hopped about a week ago and bottle yesterday. I’m pretty sure that when it comes to dry hopping I just drop them right into the secondary. I did get some flakes in my bottling bucket and in the bottles. If I did this wrong please let me know. I still didn’t use my short tube because I don’t think I have the right tube for it, I would think that the gave me the right size but it fits well on the bucket nozzle but not the short tube. I didn’t check the gravity this time either but I think I will be more vigilant about it next time.

Either way I tasted it and it seemed to be right on the money, warm and flat of course with flakes of hops floating in the glass. I hope that this one turns out well. I would really love to have some of my beer and not be disappointed and dump the last half of the glass. I also put some in a growler. I heard from a lot of people that say this is not a good idea. But I heard from one person who actually does it say it works just fine plus the guys at Northern Brewer said this would be fine also. I used a poly cap so that might help keep it more airtight. I will let you know how it works, if it does this might help bottling less labor intensive, that is until I get a kegging system.

Final thoughts on my first homebrew.

Well, after about 3 months since I started this I decided that it is ready to be indulged. Why have I waited so long? Carbonation. It never really happened and I am not sure why. I could have not done the priming sugar part right. Maybe when I transferred from primary to secondary and then to the bottles it was too clean (not enough yeast transfer). I am really not too sure. But, it aint bad. A little sweet and after the second bottle it kinda gets old instead of growing on you in a good way and I think that has to do with carbonation which to me is the big problem. I wont call it a success and I wont call it a failure. It is still drinkable and I will drink it and share it but it could have gone better.

Up next is the Surly Furious clone. I started it last weekend and will probably move it to the secondary this weekend, probably Friday so that will make it 1 week and 5 days in the primary, it is still bubbling at a rate of about 2 blurps per minute. This time I am not going to be so “clean” about it, I will sanitize obviously but I wont be so concerned about keeping the yeast at the bottom of the carboys.

And of course I would love to hear your suggestions.

Stuart’s EPA kit from Norther Brewer

D+

First Brew Day

My first brew day was last weekend and today I moved it into the secondary fermenter. The day last Sunday went pretty smooth. I got myself an Extra Pale Ale beer kit because it is pretty straight forward and I wanted something easier to work with for my first batch. I pretty much did everything you are supposed to, didn’t really deviate from the plan at all except that I read in the book “How To Brew” by John Palmer that when you cool the wort you can use a wort chiller, a tub of ice water or a handy snowbank so I picked the snowbank being that it was 10 degrees out and I had a nice snowbank right outside the door. Well, that really didn’t work so well, I think because unlike the ice bath the cold water is constantly touching the pot and in the snowbank once the snow around it melts there leaves a space in between the pot and the snow. After about 30 minutes I brought it inside, put it in an ice bath and in went down from there pretty fast. One other thing I deviated from was that I did not checked the gravity. I know, you homebrewers probably want to slap me right now but I have to say I tried but it just wasn’t working out because I already poured it into the carboy and all I had was a turkey baster and it didn’t reach the liquid. Then I found my beer thief but by then I already had it sealed up and I figured, oh well, first batch. Though I did try using the beer thief when I moved it to the secondary but you are supposed to put your thumb on one end like a straw and draw it out but the hole was too big for my skinny thumb so I said forget it. Next time though I am really going to be more accurate. But all in all I think everything went well. When I was transferring it to the secondary it smelled just like an EPA so I guess it wont be so bad, I was actually getting thirsty just moving it. Now we wait another week or so before I bottle it. I am thinking using a couple growlers and the rest in 22 oz bombers just to cut out the monotony of bottling plus I rarely drink one beer at a time so might as well make it a double. So now lets see what happens next. I am thinking once I start bottling I am going to start on an IPA next. Happy Brewing!

OK, now what?

Start homebrewing that’s what. After about 3 or more years I have finally got a home brewing kit. And now that I do I am sitting here thinking how to start. So this is where I come to you, fellow readers and hone brewers themselves. For starters I am going to head on down to Northern Brewer and see what is the best to start out with, I am guessing a pale ale. If any of you have pointers on where to start and how to please let me know. Or if any of you are not busy this Saturday and want to come on by or are doing a batch sometime soon and don’t mind if I watch I would be much appreciative. I am really excited to start brewing but at the same time very nervous. I know that I will make mistakes down the road but I at least want to start out on some solid footing, like making sure I have everything, where the best place is to put stuff and whatever else I don’t know but should know. Other than that I am stoked to be part of the club and able to use my new category on this site. I plan on documenting as much as I can and posting it here so people can get a feel for what it is like from the very beginning as this was my intention for this site all along. Cheers I will keep you up to date.

Bearded Brewer’s El Muerto and The Gringo

Time to see if I have a green thumb. Last fall my wife and I decided that we should really get into gardening. Before the snow fell I built a simple box in our backyard and we planned on what we were going to grow. We decided on growing the majority of the ingredients of my homemade salsa plus a couple of other vegetables. So in about the next few weeks or whenever the night get warmer we will be planting and transplanting some tomatoes, sweet corn, hot peppers, bell peppers and cilantro. I am excited to get into this. I’ve always tried to shop at the farmers markets or my local Fresh and Natural Foods but it is so much easier and cheaper to get my vegetables at the chain stores. I am not a stickler at all when it comes to this, if I have to I have to but I try my best to buy organic, real organic, and try to stay away from Franken foods. But with Delia growing older and more aware of what we do I want to give her the best impression me as possible and also have her grow up in a family that doesn’t solely rely on fast food or bagged meals.

When I grew up, like other my age, my grandparents had a huge garden and they always made real home cooked meals. My mother did the same but when she took on a full time job her garden slowly went away and we started to eat strictly boxed meals or hot dogs. And this is sort of how I lived for about the next 15 years. My god did I eat bad, compared to now at least. When I moved out I think I lived on the dollar menu for about 5 years or other quick and cheap and fake foods.

When I met my future wife and my friend Zach moved in with me things began to slowly change. My wife at the time was a quasi-vegetarian so I picked that lifestyle up for about a year. I started to eat better but nothing was balanced, and I was also still in college so that left little time to focus on cooking. Then when my friend Zach moved in he inspired me to, one, start eating meat again and two, cook meals, like interesting meals not the run of the mill standards. Now, don’t get me wrong I am no chef and I really do not cook that often but I do enjoy my foods to be made, not heated if you get my drift.

These days my wife usually does the cooking and she does such a great job. I get home after her and there is almost always some new recipe she made up, some have stuck with us while others have not. I am the griller in the family so that is my duty but I am sort of a minimalist when it comes to that and I have yet to get away from the steak, burger, chicken or brats but I am planning on this summer to experiment more on more complex grilling techniques. Any suggestions feel free to let me know. And with the garden soon to be in effect I am really excited to break away from the chains of the supermarket and the questionable practices of the mass growers in the world.

So while we were tilling the garden and applying the new dirt and compost, which if any of you have the word on a cheap compost bin or a easy set up let me know, while we were doing this I decided on my break to enjoy a local home brewer brews. The Bearded Brewer is out of Minneapolis and has been brewing beer for about 3 years now. What caught my eye with him is his labels that he makes himself. They say you cannot judge a book by it’s cover but if the cover is dull then it more than likely will not catch the attention of people that are just browsing. We met at Town Hall so he could drop me off some of his new brews. We talked for a bit over a Raspberry Chocolate Milk Stout which was freaking awesome and we realized how similar our attitudes were about beer, the beer community and even our lives. I had a real nice time even if it was only a half hour.

The first one was the El Muerto which was one of his first beers he brewed and was a clone of Dead Guy Ale from Rouge. He tweaked the recipe since the first time and what came out was a very interesting beer. At first I was thrown off by the flavor. I t had a very unique combo of fruits and hops. I don’t want to say I was not impressed because I was, it just was very different. The hops lingered throughout and the flavor that I was thrown off by quickly adapted to my palate and by the time I was finished I wanted the other one. The aroma was very subtle, malty and hoppy but nothing that stuck around for too long. The body was light but chewy enough to make it bold. The appearance was very cloudy with unfiltered remnants floating around that added to the character. I have to say I liked this one but still think there need to be some more tweaking. Not sure what but just a bit more or less of something. I will leave that to the expert.

Next after the yard I had what was probably one the best beers I had in quite some time. The Gringo which is an imperialistic Mexican cerveza. This was the second time he has done this one and I am not sure how the first one turned out but this one was fan-freaking-tastic. He wanted to jump aboard the “imperial” bandwagon that we all seem to be on these days so he did something that others have not, at least not that I am aware of. He basically made a Mexican cerveza but hopped it up and added some Agave Nectar. Jesus H. Christ, I wish I had a case of this. Now we all know Corona, most of us hate it. I for one do not hate it but will never buy it but you have to admit that in 90 degrees it goes down pretty smooth with a lime. This is like a Corona but hoppy with a hint of bitter sweetness. It pours a transparent gold with big frothy head. The aroma is very crisp with citrus and sweet honey. The taste has a very sweet and hoppy feel to it but the Cerveza qualities come in at the end. To me this could be a style that helps a up and coming brewer take off. This beer could be a great starting point for those that have not crossed the MillerBudCoors line but still be special enough for the die hards to still enjoy. I implore the Bearded brewer to double his batch for next year.

El Muerto

B

The Gringo

A+