The Ginger Beer turned out really well, or at least it appeals to my tastes. I like a bit more ginger than most people. I had to do some finagling to get it into the kegerator though! So as you can see from this picture, my kegerator is already too small. Also, I developed an air leak but didn't get around to topping off my co2 tank to hunt it down untill it was time to go back to work. Now all that ginger beer is just sitting in a keg waiting for me to come back off the road.
Making Beer, Wine, Mead and other fermented things is a hobby that was impressed upon me by my family at an early age, and one day I hope to actually own/run a microbrewery. View this blog as a record of my means to that end. Thanks for stopping by.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Food
I spent all my time this time home from the boat on an organization project which led to spending all my time playing with the new food saver we got for the house. I really like this thing! So I put up 3 pounds of asparagus and 4 pounds of brussel sprouts today. If you don't have a food saver, you should put it on your Christmas list. I'll be back to brewing after the first of the year with a cherry chocolate stout. Happy holidays!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Kegerator
Here you have it, 4 taps, and 4 kegs. Orange Cream Ale, Pumpkin Pie Ale, Experimental GF, and the latest, a from scratch Ginger Beer.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
New Hardware/Ginger Beer
Picked up a few kegs over the last couple months. Finally got around to turning one into a "keggle." I prefer to just call it a brew pot though.
Here I'm giving it a test run with a batch of Ginger Beer. Thats a nonalcoholic version of 'ginger ale' with more of a ginger bite to it. I formulated my own recipe as I went along, so I'll update you on the finished product in a few days.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Filtering
My parents got me this nice new filter and it showed up just in time to try it out on the pumpkin beer. This simple yet handy gadget cuts nearly a week off the brewing process.
Friday, September 28, 2012
This was all part of an experiment to make a friend a gluten free beer. Because, well because commercial GF beers are lame. And I succeeded! I have no idea at what, but I did. What I ended up with is a beer like product that taste like black coffee and raw cane sugar. Which is convenient because that's how I take my coffee... It's sitting in a keg to condition for a month, with a few nice oily vanilla beans, so we will see how she is when I get back to the brewery for the final assessment. Not sure what I'm gonna call it yet, but I'm leaning towards 'Rainy Day Stout'.
Apple Pie
A lot of people refer to it as apple pie flavored moonshine. However it is more of a cocktail by nature of creation.
I make mine by taking a gallon of regular old apple juice and a gallon of apple cider and bringing them to a boil in a large pot. As soon as it starts to roll, remove from heat. Then, you are going to mix in a cup and a half of white sugar, and a cup and a half of brown sugar, stir till dissolved. Add in two or three cinnamon sticks.
Now, this part is important. Clean 8 quart mason jars and drop a cinnamon stick in each one. Once the juice has cooled off to 150 degrees add just shy of one 750ml bottle of 191 everclear and mix well.
While still hot, pour into mason jars and seal up quickly. The cooling will suck the lids down creating a nice seal. I've kept these jars in the pantry for up to three months like this with no ill effects.
(NOTE: If yah add the 'moonshine' before the temp gets low enough, it will boil off.)
The new and Improved Keezer
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Waiting on a shipment.
Just put in an order for grains and what not to brew a pumpkin pie ale because my lovely assistant wants everything to taste like Thanksgiving...
Also grabbed a bunch of gluten free ingredients to start on a gluten free stout project for a friend.
In other news, I'm still working on a design for my keezer remodel and collecting parts.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
The latest brew is a cream ale partial grain that I tweaked a little to be easy on the hops. I made a full 5 gallon keg and am planning on taking it up to Mississippi with me in October for a peanut boil/shin dig. Nice medium gravity fall beer and easy on the hops so as not to be a shock to the non beer snobs in the crowd.
For this brew, I took one of my Corney kegs and converted it into a primary fermenter. This allowed me to keep the beer from coming into contact with oxygen until it pours into a glass.
I was pretty fond of this method, and I think I'll be using it a lot in the future.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
My Garden
Getting started on the spring garden. So far I put down asparagus, garlic, onions and potatoes. I'm using a combination of raised beds, smart pots and buckets. I'm off to a good start.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Fischer Amber Ale
This is a French ale with a crisp taste, slightly bready or fruity with a light bitter clean finish. I can see my self making a clone of this with summer fast approaching.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sauerkraut
I love all things fermentation. Sauerkraut is not only delicious, it's very healthy and a great easy way to preserve your cabbage crop. Sailors found out years ago that it is packed with vitamin C and is essential for warding off scurvy if you are living off salt pork and rum.
The quick and dirty way is to get a head of cabbage, two quart jars and a home brew. Slice the cabbage into long strings and lightly dust with salt and squeeze it with your hands to bruise it till the juices come out. Now pack the cabbage into the jars. Dissolve about a tablespoon of salt into a gallon of water and cover the cabbage with this brine. Now put the lids on nice and loose and put jars in something to catch the mess. It two or three days they will begin to bubble, that's the fermenting. Give them a month and then scrap any of the harmless white mold off the top of the brine, tighten the lids and store in the fridge
Preparing it this way gives you pure unprocessed kraut. Which has all kinds of good stuff in it. Now, drink the homebrew and be merry!Monday, February 13, 2012
Vanilla Porter
Over the weekend I brewed up a vanilla porter at the request of my lovely assistant. She did most of the work though, as I directed and provided the heavy lifting. She did a great job on her first batch. Two days later and the fermentation is roaring away. The whole house smells like malt and bread dough. I love it! Can't wait to get this one in a keg.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Homemade Vanilla Extract
Thought I'd post this because it is an ingredient that will be used in brewing future batches of goodness.
The process is ridiculously easy. Simply find a water tight jar, pack with vanilla beans, cover with vodka and wait a year. Strain off the organic bits and the result is vanilla extract.
Here I have packed half a pound of beans into each quart jar. Just from the little packing I did, I already had a tablespoon of oil in the bottom! I just guessed at the weight. No big deal because I will combine the two before packaging.
And that my friends, is how you make vanilla extract.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Saratoga IPA
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
First glass of chocolate stout
Test glass of the stout, I put it back to force carb a little more.
It's more of a porter than a stout, and the chocolate is slightly overpowered by the hopps.
But, I like it! Can't wait to see how it taste after a month of conditioning in the keggerator.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Adventures in Kegging
And here you can see the whole set up. I have room to expand for at least three more kegs, and I could fit a 3 gallon in there as well if I mount the co2 on the out side.
The second keg that you see there is a batch of old fashioned cream soda I made to play with the kegs and learn the system before I ruined a batch of beer on them. I think I have the carbonation all figgured out right and I'm glad I did this. Also, who doesn't like cream soda?
HME Chocolate Stout.
Then I snagged a 2 gallon cheapo stainless steel pot that I had previously used for a sourkraut project. Added in the ingredients and ran through the boil. I also used a one cup coffee strainer to add the bittering hops. It was a pain in the ass, but it worked.
And here is the final product. Now I'm off to set up my kegs for some old fashioned home made cream soda while I wait on my stout to ferment.
Apple Cider
I kept this one real simple. All it contains is three gallons of "pure apple juice" kroger brand. Very important to make sure there are no additives or preservatives as they will kill the yeast. And some Lavlin 1118 yeast. Oh, and a clove. A little clove goes a long way with this sort of thing. I left in it the primary for 4 weeks and then bottled right off the lees.
Now I need ideas for some dish I can serve mass quantities of cider with.