paced reading horror and thrillers discussion

So addy mentioned a thread to talk about alcohol, what better time to start it than new years eve? I'm actually not drinking tonight, but I have dogfish head 90 min ipa in the fridge as well as some Heinekens and my homebrewed pumpkin Apple hard cider which is the best hard cider I have ever made. I also have a dry hopped hard cider in one of my kegs that I plan on tapping for the first time tomorrow night. What are you drinking?

I have some Yuengling Lite and some Irish Creme stuff in the fridge. Not sure if i'll drink any tonight. I prefer drinking with people then alone.

A three/four years ago i got my dad one of those Mr. Beer brew kits and he really enjoys it and still makes his own beer with it today. I will have to try one his beers sometime (i never bothered before).

if he has been using it that long and enjoys it he should upgrade to a five gallon size kit, those Mr beer kits are about the same price you would spend for a five gallon batch and all you need is a couple buckets with airlocks on them. I have about $20 into a five gallon batch of ipa that I am going to be brewing soon, you can also buy clone kits of your favorite beers but they all come in fave gallon batches. Some are more expensive than others.

I've been drinking chocolate wine all night which tastes like Baileys. I meant to buy some kind of champagne but forgot. Oh well. I usually don't do much for new years. Wish my parents would take the kids but didn't feel like asking.

Was thinking about trying something new for January that we all could try and then discuss if we like it, etc. Any suggestions? Maybe something seasonal?

I have two carboys that I found for super cheap at a yard sale but before that I used two buckets from tractor supply ($5 each with kids) and drilled holes in the lids to fit a rubber stopper and airlock in each one ($1 per stopper and airlock) it was a $14 set up and I still use it, I have just expanded and added more to it for brewing more than one thing at a time. I am almost ready to get into all grain brewing which is the cheapest yet most difficult method, the first recipe I am going to try says it will end up being .12 per 12oz beer according to the recipe

Your hard cider sounds good Justin. My favorite right now is Angry Orchard.

I am curious about that chocolate wine but haven't tried it yet, I like Bailey's so maybe I will pick a bottle up sometime.

I thought about carbonating the cider in my keg at Champaign levels to drink tonight but I'm not in the mood. The only difference between Champaign and wine is the carbonation level and the only difference between apple wine and hard cider is the amount of alcohol in it, mine is a little over 9% abv which is closer to wine than your average hard cider anyway.

Yes. Its called chocolate Rouge, sweet red. There is another one my mom bought which has a creamier look and tastes more like Baileys. I'll have to check the name. You can definitely taste the chocolate in both.

Is it alot of work to carbonate the cider?

In the keg it's no work at all, just turn the screw on the front until the psi reads what I want it to or use the pressure release valve to lower it. In bottles you use priming sugar and if you use to much the bottle explodes and if not enough it won't be carbonated enough so that's a little trickier but it's not like you have to figure it out on your own or anything just look up your measurements for the volume you have and make sure it is completely flat when you prime it then leave it long enough to carb up in the bottle before you open it.

We have lots of good beer and wine on hand right now. My wife teaches yoga and brought wine to her NYE class tonight but no one drank it. Also, I found Sierra Nevada tall boy cans of Torpedo IPA for 3.99 (four cans), so I bought a bunch.

Getting thirsty just writing about it. No booze around, but I like good whiskey, bourbon, scotch or rye depending on the day.

I've wanted to take up brewing, but haven't ever gotten around to it. hats off to you, Justin.

I finished off a six pack of Sierra Nevada 2013 celebration earlier this week, that is pretty good beer also. I found an all grain clone recipe for it I may try someday. I have some wine going as well, it is my first attempt at it. It has another 2 months before I bottle it and then needs to age for at least a year hopefully it is worth the wait.

I rarely break into the hard stuff but my tastes are the same as yours when I do. Most usually I like bourbon and if I drink it with water or just a couple ice cubes depends on the day.

I'm not usually a beer fan, but I do like me some hard cider! I think my favorite cider that I've had so far is Crispin. I prefer hard liquor though, vodka to be exact

I brewed up an ipa Sunday night and doubled the amount of hops that the recipe called for, can't wait to try it! I also made a hop tea that I haven't decided what to add it to yet, maybe a hard cider, maybe a non alcoholic ginger beer or lemonade. Or maybe an alcoholic ginger beer out lemonade, I just don't know!

I'm drinking 3rd shift amber lager tonight. It's not bad but I would rather have an ipa or porter. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/...

Have you tried Lagunitas Sucks ale. It's a seasonal. Really well balanced hoppy pale ale.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/...

It's my newest vfavorite

No but it sounds good I will have to look for it. the next beer I brew will be an all grain brew and I considered making it a languitas hop stoopid clone, that's the only languitas I have had and I really enjoyed it.

Sucks is a seasonal. I had never heard of it til I ran across it last month.

Andy wrote: "Sucks is a seasonal. I had never heard of it til I ran across it last month."

Brew your own and drink it year round.

Lagunitas sucks clone

5 gal. batch
90 min. boil
primary 17 days @ 64
secondary 5 days @ 67
tertiary 5 days @ 69
brown bottles 21 days @ 72
1.085 OG 1.025 FG
53.5 IBU
8.0% ABV

10# Great Western Premuin 2-row Malt
3# Rahr Red Wheat Malt
1# Rye Malt
1# Thomas Fawcett Oats, Malted
10oz Briess Torrified Wheat

1 ea Rice hulls 75 min mash
1 ea Whirlfloc tablet 15 min boil
1 ea yeast nutrient 15 min boil

.5 oz Columbus 90min
.5 oz Simcoe 20 min
.5 oz Columbus 10 min
1 oz Centennial 5 min
2 oz Amarillo 30 min post boil
2 oz Centennial 30 min post boil
3 oz Citra Dry hop 10 days
1.5 oz Simcoe Dry hop 10 days

English Ale (WLP002)



Mash @ 155 for 75 min 5.859 gal
mash out 2 gal @ 212 for 15 min 2 gal

I have been stuck on dogfish head 90 min ipa lately
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/...

I just discovered it a few months ago and can't get enough, I look forward to trying the seasonal 120 minute ipa when it is available again.

Thanks Justin, one of these years brewing will become a hobby. It's been years since I've had 90min. I usually have a hard time spending more that $10 for a six pack.

Yea me too, but I tell myself it is research to see what I want to brew next. I don't buy that but it is how I try to justify it. Usually I have something a little cheaper so I can drink one of my more expensive brews and then have something like the third shift lager or something afterwards. Brewing your own is a great hobby and much cheaper, the hop stoopid clone ended up being about .20 per 12oz bottle and I paid $5 for a 24 oz at the store

Brewing up some cream ale (for my Budweiser, cores, and Miller drinking friends) and an ipa tonight. Five gallons of each for my kegs. I always hear homebrewers talking about trying to convert their friends to craft brews but when I can brew up a Miller clone for a penny per ounce I just don't see the point in trying to get them hooked on the good stuff. It will be nice telling them to help themselves to the keg and I will just brew more since it costs under $10 bucks to fill it.

And I will be drinking Sam Adams New rebel ipa while brewing it, a buddy told me it was good and I feel like trying something new.

Yummy. Gotta take up brewing. All together I spend too much on beer.

Went to get started and realized one of my yeast packets is wrong I will have to go back in tomorrow before work and brew Tuesday morning.

Bummer. Once you have the supplies and ingredients you need. How much time expenditure goes into producing one keg from start to finish?

Depends on the beer, usually I use the 123 methods which is one week in primary, two weeks in secondary, and three weeks in the bottles. When I keg it will only take about three weeks start to finish before it is ready to drink. Even though the kegs are great I still bottle alot though because I like to trade with other homebrewers and hand some out to friends and a few guys I work with.

If you are brewing a stout or high abv beer it may take longer.

The time that go's into the actual brewing depends on your brewing methods, malt extract brewing takes about an hour just to boil the hops in it that long but you can get some malt extracts with hop extracts right in them that only take 20 min to make. I am going to be brewing my first all grain so I have to mash it and it takes much longer, this particular recipe calls for a 90 minute mash and then a 90 minute boil when you add in the time to bring 10 gallons up to temp and cool it down plus all your cleaning (though most of that can be done while mashing) it is about a 4 hour or so process.

There is also mini mashes that are extract for the base malt but you steep specialty grains in your boiling wort so it is kind of a half way between all grain and extract, and step mashing which has you mashing in your brew pot and holding difrent temps for the set time and can take longer than the 90 minute single infusion mash I will be doing. And like I said earlier it depends on what you are brewing because no matter what method you use the style of beer will take different times.

Oh yea, i am also batch sparging which will add another 20 minutes or so. You can also fly sparge to get a higher efficiency (more fermentable sugars from your malt) and that method slowly drops hot water over your grains as you drain your wort and takes much longer than what I am doing. I have never done it so I don't know exactly how long it takes though.

So I guess the quick answer would be anywhere from 20 minutes to half a day for brewing and 3 weeks and up to ferment and age depending on the brew. Wines, cider, and mead's can take years but most beer will be 3 to 6 weeks

If you are interested I can send you some homebrew books in mobi or epub. All you need to get started is a couple food grade buckets which you can get at tsc or Menards for about 3 or 4 bucks apiece, a couple airlocks and rubber stoppers to fit them with are about a buck each, and a long enough piece of tubing to siphon it from one bucket to the next with I just bought some of this today for .59 per foot. if you are bottling it you can re-use your bottles from the store as long as they are not twist off and just have to buy caps around $5 for a gross (I think that's 144) and a ten dollar bottle caper. That should all be around $30 to or so just for the basic stuff you need to do malt extract brews. Starter kits are a bit more, usually starting around $100 but they include stuff that will make brewing easier like a auto siphon instead of the tubing and a bucket with a spigot to make bottle filling easier. They also come with a hydrometer to check abv, which is nice but not needed.

Thanks, Justin! That was a most excellent answer. I'd love to take a look at those books. I'd prefer Mobi, but can also read ePub. Maybe I'll have to go for it and make my first brew over Spring break.

Are there certain styles that are less difficult to mess up for first timers?

Beer styles no, brewing methods yes. A malt extract with hop extracts in it is the easiest. Just put half your water in your ferment and the other half in a pan, warm it up and dump your extract mix in. Boil it for however long the recipe says and then dump it into the fermenter with the other half of the water. Check your temp and if it is to hot let it cool to the proper temp for the yeast. Add the yeast, airlock it and let it sit and ferment. After a week it will be mostly fermented so you siphon it to a second bucket to get it off the dead yeast and continue fermenting. Then bottle it let it age a little bit and drink it.

I will send the books tomorrow.

The next step up as far as difficult is an extract recipe kit. It is the same thing as above except you add the hops to the boil and strain them out at the end. It is not much harder and you have lots more recipe choices, because adding hops at different times effects the flavor differently. Early edition hops add bitterness and late edition hops add hop flavor and aroma but no bitterness. Usually a recipe will have you adding hops at 60min 30min 15min 5min or some combination of those times and adding different hops at different times adds a little more complexity to your finished beer and gives more variety than what can be offered in a extract with hops right in it. You can buy clone recipes of your favorite beers like this.

This is the website I like to buy kits from. The coopers canned kits are the ones with hops in them, I believe all their other recipes including clone recipes are available in extract kits.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.p...

I'm kind of getting excited...

I was going to send you those homebrew books and ran out of time, I will try to do it tonight when I get home from work

I am thinking of either a Rogue Dead Guy Ale or Bell's Two Hearted Amber (actually in IPA) clone for my first brew.

Have you tried the house kits from Austin? Any recommendations?

I have only had their budget brews, I actually recently discovered the site and their prices and shipping where much better than the sites I have bought from before. (Midwest supplies, northern brewer, and morebeer.com) also I was impressed with their huge selection and when my last batch from them want bad the customer service was great and helped me figure out what went wrong. Turned out to be a sanitizer problem, words of advise for when you first start would be that even if you buy a no rinse sanitizer, rinse anyway. I will probably buy their siera Nevada celebration clone next.

Any brew kettle recommendations? That seems like an important piece of equipment.

Oh yea that is kind of essential and totally slipped my mind. For five gallon batches I used a 8 gallon stock pot that we have had so long I don't know where it came from. I recently bought a 20 gallon stock pot on Amazon for really cheap.

Is stainless the way to go? Should I start with 10 or 15 gallon?

the one i just bought was aluminum if you think you will eventually want to do 10 gallon batches you may want to buy the bigger pot now just so you dont need to buy two. otherwise 10 is fine.