Beers

[Skimba]

4 Yuengling

Ohhhh, how I mess thee.
Cannot get it outside of the east coast area of the US. Whenever I do go back east, I drink this all the time. ALL THE TIME.

[sum yun gai]

i've wanted to try homebrewing for some time, but i haven't had the space or time to pick it up. hopefully when i finally get my house (rant for another time ) i can figure something out.

also, if you live in america near this bar you can pretty much get a beer that you can enjoy, even if you think you don't like beer at all. i would stay away from the yard of beer unless you already have a pretty good tolerance for alcohol built up, as they can be quite unwieldy.

[Dusk]

Beer is good.
I really should have posted in this thread before now, but I've been so very very busy.
My problem with brewing my own beer is:
1. I get sick of drinking the same thing for a reasonable amount of time.
2. The bottle cleaning gets a bit annoying.
3. Storing all the crap. The equipment, the ingredients, the empty bottles and the full bottles.
4. It takes so long to refine a brew and get it to taste just right. I would rather sample the efforts of someone else and insult them.

I seem to remember posting on here about brewing some beers with my family members. I think the Labatts Blue mix that we tried turned out pretty well.. but probably ended up tasting nothing like the actual product.
My advice is: If you're using molasses, use a tiny bit less than the recipe suggests. This is probably only relevant for the recipes we tried, but the general consensus was that when we cut it down somewhat, it tasted better. Less sugar too, I suppose.

[EvilJekyll]

We brewed on Tuesday. Learned some things not to do. Malt extract sticks in the bag when steam hits it. Had a brief boil over. Hydrometer remains in carboy. Other than that things went well. Fermentation is slowing. Pictures later.

[EvilJekyll]

Bottled the kit Tripel today. Tasted some of it, not bad. Flavour will improve after conditioning though.

Jeez. Jek get some pictures up.

Yeah I know, what's with that guy.

[Binkatron5000]

Yeah Jek, tits or gtfo!

I mean, pics. Pics or gtfo?

[fanelian]

Better yet, mail me a sample.

[ntw3001]

Okay, Wikipedia isn't entirely clear on whether Hoegaarden is commonly available in the US, but it apparently has a presence in Texas. Hoegaarden is a personal favourite, and as you all know I'm something of a connoisseur (by which I mean, I am currently too drunk to use a comma in a way that would not give an English teacher second thoughts (I originally typed 'an apostrophe' rather than 'a comma'; it's a total party! (Also, I had to look up how to spell 'connoisseur', which is a little embarrassing because I never have to do that I am good at spelling (is drinking a direct cause of bracket abuse?)))).

[fanelian]

Bracketeering!

[EvilJekyll]

Hoegaarden

Yes. I had it a few weeks ago on tap in their large glass.

Fig. 3

[ntw3001]

so much

[chrismachine]

It is also very common here. I don't happen to like it much.

[Binkatron5000]

dang, and I thought the regular Hoegaarden glass was large! It makes me feel like a kid again, having to use two hands to grip the glass.

I don't know if it is commonly available in the US, but in Canada I've seen it on tap in a multitude of pubs in a multitude of cities in various provinces.

[James]

(is drinking a direct cause of bracket abuse?

I don't know, but programming definitely is.

[EvilJekyll]

dang, and I thought the regular Hoegaarden glass was large! It makes me feel like a kid again, having to use two hands to grip the glass.

so much

Hmm. Seems I was rushing last night and didn't realise the proportions in the pic as opposed to what I had. The large one in the pic is apparently 5L. I guess the regular size glass is just rather large, so I thought that the one I had was a larger version of a "regular" glass, as I never had it on tap before that.

Here's the regular size glass (which seems large.)

[EvilJekyll]

So this is how it went.

Step 1: Boil Water


Step 2: Steep Grains (Depends on recipe)


Step 3: Delicious smelling water.


Step 4: Stir in extract.


Step 5: Remain calm.


Step 6: Add some hops.


Step 7: Bring back to slight boil.


Step 8: Cool quickly.


Step 9: Pour into fermenter.


Step 10: Ferment.


This one required a blowoff hose, as it was rather high in sugar for the yeast to consume.






Always keep in a quiet dark place, like a corner in the pantry.


Finished fermenting:


Step 11: Add some priming sugar to the bottling bucket and siphon beer in there.


Step 12: Bottle.



So since it's supposed to hurricane tomorrow, we'll probably brew another of our batches of beer.

[chrismachine]

I guess the regular size glass is just rather large, so I thought that the one I had was a larger version of a "regular" glass, as I never had it on tap before that.

Here's the regular size glass (which seems large.)

It holds the same amount of liquid though, it is just a really thick glass.

[ntw3001]

It holds the same amount of liquid though, it is just a really thick glass.

I always fall for this with Hoegaarden glasses, but is it actually the same volume? In this case it seems plausible that the Hoegaarden glass could be a UK pint and the others could be US pints (not a greatly significant difference, but not a negligible one). It doesn't look like a perspective thing, but I swear there's no way those glasses hold the same amount. I'm a poor judge of volume though, I assume.

What size are the pint glasses in Canada?

[EvilJekyll]

Apparently the Hoegaarden glass is variable. They have 8.5 oz, 11oz, ~17 oz., ~25 oz and that super large 5L one. The one I had (I had two of) was either ~17, or ~25. I had to start out holding it with two hands.

We're making the non-kit Tripel as I type this. It's boiling and not doing much interesting.

[Skimba]

Good job Jek!
(I read this thread as Beets for a couple seconds before clicking)

[Dusk]

Nice work, EJ. For me it was quite eye-opening, seeing just how much sugar is involved in beer making.. and how drastically the taste and smell changes with the types of hops you use.

It is also very common here. I don't happen to like it much.

Ditto. There was a wheat beer I drank for a while with a lot of lemon.. I don't remember what it was... but I have somehow ended up with a number of Hoegaarden and Weihenstephan glasses in the bottom of a kitchen cupboard.
I tend not to want to drink anything from larger than a pint glass. Mainly because it gets warm before you have the chance to drink all of it (if you're being sensible). Speaking of Weihenstpehan, I want to try Infinium.
Also, these: End Of History.
Has BrewDog been discussed here before? I get so confused these days. Their "Sink The Bismarck" IPA is almost $200 per 330ml bottle here in Western Australia. It's 41%.

[EvilJekyll]

How do they get the alcohol up that high without killing the yeast? That's a large amount of sugar (yeast food) for that beer.

[ntw3001]

End Of History.
Has BrewDog been discussed here before? I get so confused these days. Their "Sink The Bismarck" IPA is almost $200 per 330ml bottle here in Western Australia. It's 41%.

Huh. Packaged in an actual stoat.

I believe they may have been mentioned, but not discussed at length. I have never guzzled any one of they brews.

[loofah]

How do they get the alcohol up that high without killing the yeast? That's a large amount of sugar (yeast food) for that beer.

Wikipedia claims it's a freeze-distillation process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer#Strength

[chrismachine]

Had UFO white Friday before watching the sox get it handed to them at Fenway, it was a pretty good summer beer.