Homebrew Blogging Day round up is complete...

There were some common themes. Wives, presents, books, trepidations, friends, fathers, stalls and starts and well you get the picture. I enjoyed this immensely. Thanks everybody. I hope these stories can inspire somebody to brew their own beer.

By the way an interesting thing happened the other day. I emailed Charlie Papazian 'cause well he's The Father of Homebrew. (mind you I don't know him) I gushed about how much I enjoy homebrewing and blogging and that he was partly responsible. Then I asked if he would participate in Homebrew Blogging Day. What was his reply? "I already did that." Evidently I didn't catch his contribution to the most recent iteration of The Session. I gave it a read and well Mr. Papazian does it again. What a great post tying craft beer and home brew together into one great story.

I'll get a schedule of hosts together and start looking to next month's Homebrew Blogging Day. Gotta work on that name too.

For anybody who didn't get their story in. It isn't too late. I'll still accept your story and add it to the round up.

Cheers!

The round up of all the stories for Hombrew Blogging Day

There are some outstanding stories with pictures, video, timelines, scanned recipes and candid comments. Thank you everybody for participating. If you still have a story, there is still time to post.

John @ Brew Dudes encapsulates a "typical", in my opinion, early homebrewing experience. Notice he got some advice :-)

Travis @ CNYBrew shows up fasionably late and tells his story. He gives us the keys to happiness and how to know when you have them ;-)

Bryon @ Home Brew Beer in true pro-blogger style links to his posts and video that chronicle his homebrew beginnings as a relatively new homebrewer.

The Dude from Akelas Biggins takes us from A to Z during his life with beer and homebrew. Again there is a certain someone as the catalyst.

Keith @ Brainard Brewing: Uninitiated homebrewers will find encouragement as Keith describes his ascent to homebrewer status.

Ry @ Eat Your Beer used this opportunity to launch his blog. Give him some web site visits :-) Husband and wife brewing from a start at Home Sweet Homebrew in Philly and continuing with Modern Brewer in Boston.

Ted @ Ted's Homebrew Journal takes this time to reflect. Looking back he's surprised that he kept with it after his first few failed attempts. Don't miss the link at the bottom of the post for the rest of the story.

Jon @ The Brew Site recalls his first cautious taste of home brewed beer, Toad Spit Stout, a Charlie Papazian recipe, brewed by a friend. Well caution turned to inspiration and the rest is history.

Chipper Dave @ Fermentedly Challenged took a break from brewing, but, is getting back in the game. This is the story of how he got hooked.

Meeting the patron saint of beer while brewing in college? ;-) Rooftop Brew recalls some good memories.

Rob at Pfiff! spins a wonderful tale and scans an old recipe for us. Hey Rob thanks for linking to the term blog carnival.

Matt at Sports Beer Wine Life Maybe not in that Order false starts with a Mr. Beer but after Germany and a gift he recovers swiftly.

Eric @ Bearded Brewing thinks about how far he's come. He's brewing in a more sustainable way with organic grains these days :-)

Dr. Joel from The Grain Bill kicks his post off like this, "...two obsessive worlds will now collide on a monthly basis as bloggers who homebrew (or vice versa, depending what the mirror looks like to you)..." Wow, I need him to write my blog :-) Dr. Joel tells a story of two friends embarking on a homebrewing adventure.

Justin at Muckney Brewing said it all, "After tasting the Missionary Position out of the fermenter the other day, I know we are doing a good job." LOL

Dave also at Muckney Brewing says, "Muckney Brewing started just over a year ago in my kitchen, but the idea had festered in my skull for about 5 years prior..." That in combination with a meddling wife ;-) and news of the Indiana Homebrew was too much for him. He caved.

Cosmic over at Fire and Beer Rock tells us of his youth in Ireland.

"So beer it was. Homebrewed beer. Me and my mate Steve were lucky in that his mother who was from Finland had left equipment and yeast in Steve's place."

Brew Dad shares his tasting notes with us from his first batch using gear his wife bought for him. How many of you remember the taste of your first homebrew? :-)

Over at The Panhandle Beer Snob and Redneck Brewery blog Bunz recalls how a friend introduced him to the hobby. That first invite to a homebrewing session can be so effective.

My story here @ Beer Bits 2

Keep 'em comin'! For more info on how you can participate read the following post...
May Homebrew Blogging Day: I remember when I started homebrewing.

Cheers!

I remember when i first started brewing...

Home Brew Blogging Day

Here's my entry. I pulled this from the archives over at The Brew Lounge. Ok...I cheated a bit. As I read this I cringe a bit at my writing. I hope I've improved a bit. This particular post was one of the first ones from The Brew Lounge back in August '05.

I became involved in brewing when my Dad started making his own wine. He started back in the early 90's. (Wow 15+ years ago!) His inspiration has its roots in his childhood. As a kid growing up in rural Central/Western, PA he helped make beer and root beer for each Forth of July. As he tells it, the finished product was a lot different. Not exactly up to par with the microbrews on the market today. They used to do some strange stuff like putting a raisin in the bottle before capping it for carbonation, but, that's a post for another day. His father also made his own wine back then. These experiences inspired my dad to try his hand at making his own wine.

During weekend visits with him we would sample wine from the previous year while preparing a new batch. It was so cool to think he made the wine we were drinking and it was good. He eventually suggested that I try it out, but, I'm not much of a wine drinker. Then the conversation turned to making beer. His friend Frank had been making wine and brewing beer for a long time. Eventually he offered to show us how to make beer. I was so "into" microbrews back in 1996 that I jumped at the opportunity. I think my favorite beer back then was...um let's see...this is a hard one ;-)...anything from Sam Adams...heheh...oh except the cranberry lambic (shudder).

The first beer we made was an awesome Octoberfest that Frank just knew how to brew from memory. No instructions at all! I'm still amazed at that. I split the batch with my Dad and I think it was gone in a matter of weeks. I shared it with my friends saying, "Hey we made some beer. Wanna try it?". When they said it tasted really good I was hooked. So there you go...I decided to get my own equipment and read everything under the sun about it.

I look back on that time fondly. My Dad still drinks my homebrew. I even brewed for his wedding last October. Frank actually brought some of his Octoberfest homebrew to the wedding as a surprise. How cool is that? I think I just decided what my first homebrew T-Shirt will be. "My Dad helped me brew my first batch." The second will be "My son brews my beer!". The challenge, can I get them printed before Father's Day?

Prost!

Friday is the day!

I'm sitting here while its beautiful outside, so this will be short. Tomorrow is the first Home Brew Blogging Day. Get your stories in. If you don't have a blog just make one at Blogger :-) It is reallllly easy.

Just got back from The Sly Fox in Phoenixville PA where I enjoyed a lovely dinner outside while tipping back a couple pints. Jasper the Maibock (named after the beer that won the goat race) was delicious. I would definitely put it up there with my favorite maibocks. Then there was the Helles bock, mmmm....delicious. Oh yeah, bought a couple Brew Crew T-shirts too. My kids wore them home :-)

Do I punctuate all my paragraphs with a smiley?

I guess not. Get your stories in! I'm going outside to have a catch with the kids. Does it get any better than this?

Cheers!

Cornelius (soda) kegs as fermenters

The following is a list of links to keg fermenter resources on the internet. I'll continually add to this list as I find more resources. If you know of others please post a comment here with a link. If you are interested to see what other resource pages I have created click on the "resource posts" label link at the bottom of this post or over there in the sidebar.

Some things I've figured out:

• If you need a secondary fermentation, it can be done in kegs. I do it all the time now.
• You can affix an airlock to the port where the pressure release valve screws in. Just get some vinyl tubing cut off about a half inch. Push your airlock into it then "screw" it in. Not sure of the exact hose size. (need to add a picture)

Things I've heard about, but, haven't tried.

• Primary fermentation in kegs. The head space isn't large enough to allow room for the krausen. Some drops can be added to the wort to decrease the foaming.

Paul's brewing homepage: soda kegs as secondary (entire brewing process is outlined with pictures) This is my favorite site for homebrewing with kegs.
http://cruisenews.net/brewing/kegging/page1.php (secondary fermentation)
http://cruisenews.net/brewing/index.php (main page)

Bodensatz Brewing's: Soda kegs for fermenter (primary, secondary and serving)
http://bodensatz.com/upage/index.php?page=mike_a_kegs

Real Beer Forums Thread: Cornelius as a Primary
http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=17044&highlight=cornie

things I'm just not sure about
http://www.kegpasties.com/index.htm
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=6120 (soda keg conversion kit)

Basic Brewing Podcast with some corny kegs fermenting info. Link courtesy of Brian. Podcast courtesy of Basic Brewing.
MP3 Link


Looking for kegs.  From time to time you can find some at Amazon

If you are looking for books about home brewing...

Amazon: Home Brewing

Cheers!

Three Days Until Homebrew Blogging Day

On Friday I'll be collecting links to all the posts you submit to me and posting them in a summary post. All the details are in this post. Feel free to send them all week if you like. I already have one collected. I'll also be passing the baton to the next host or hostess.

On another note, the beer I brewed last night is fermenting. All 11.5 gallons of it.

Cheers!

brewing by firelight

Making a starter for Belgian Ale...

target OG 1.040

get growler, stopper & airlock
sanitze them

1 quart water
4 or 5 hop pellets (probably optional, I use for antiseptic effect)
4 oz of dry malt extract (need see what that is in cups)



boil 15 minutes
cool in sink
pour into growler
pitch wlp575
aerate by shaking vigorously (be careful wet glass can be slippery)
add airlock
put towel around it

pitch after fermentation starts at some point

I have the ingredients...

Yard work, son's school project and then a yeast starter. This time its a Belgian style something or other. I have some White Labs Belgian ale yeast. Looks like brewing will either be later today or tomorrow.

Cheers!

Enough, its time to brew...

I have an long holiday weekend coming up, Memorial Day. I'm gonna brew my butt off. (If I write it here, I have to do it right?)

Cheers!

Homebrew Enlightenment...

Want to brush up on some homebrew terms?

Looking to expand your homebrew knowledge?

Homebrew enlightenment is just a click away.

(warning...I bable on about computer tech stuff below)

In an effort to make homebrew info easier to access I used MakeCloud.com to create tag cloud with all the glossary terms from HomeBrewTalk.com's Homebrew Wiki Glossary. Great site by the way. Maybe you can help make it better. Wiki's are meant to be edited/changed/maintained by everybody.

Cheers!

No more Chinoookadillo :-( the keg is kicked...

Yeah. Now there is no homebrew left. :-( Looking to make a mead next. And more beer of course.

In lieu of homebrew talk here's a world map showing the location of visitors to BB2. All together now.... ooooohhhh... ahhhhhh!

Yikes, only 8 days left until HBBD.

Wow...I survived the weekend...

There were at least 8 things going on over the weekend! It was nice to be away from the computer and the cell phone for a bit. Anybody read my post on Homebrew T-Shirts? I'll pick that up again this week. Have a Monday.

Cheers!

Homebrew T-Shirts...an idea...

Homebrew bloggers around the world! I'd like to design a Homebrewer T-Shirt (or ten) that we'd all be proud to wear. Remember I'm the guy who thinks everybody in the world should make their own homebrew. Why not? Lets spread the word with some cool T-Shirts.

The first idea that came to my head. Something having to do with the first homebrew blogging day. Maybe we could summarize each person's first brewing experience in a few words and put them on a shirt. Something like.

• Dad taught me to homebrew.
• My wife bought me my first kit.
• Uncle Joe taught me the secrets of making beer.
• College taught me how to brew beer.
• ...

What do you think? Cafepress is free and you could setup your own store with your own T-Shirts. Hell, I'd probably buy T-Shirts from each blogger out there! (As long as my wife said it was ok ;-) Heheh...anyway, what do you think? I'm designing one no matter what. To get an idea check out my fledgling Cafepress store.

Cheers!

Hi Res Pics of Hops Progress

Click on images to see a higher resolution version. This weather seems to be agreeing with the hops plants. Wet then sunny then wet then sunny. :-)

15 Days 'til Homebrew Blogging Day

Just in case you forgot ;-) I am looking forward to it. Gotta get my story about how I got started homebrewing together.

Lots going on in my non homebrewing/beer life right now (what does that meann?). Family getting together, work going well enough I guess, just bought a present for my sons birthday. Right now I'm downloading Puppy Linux to see if I can revive some old hardware laying around. I'm also staring at a basement full of crap. Gotta get it cleaned up before visitors come!

Cheers!

Hops progress pictures...

Sorry, some of the pics are a bit askew...


Cascade










Willamette or Hallertau with new trellis.










Willamette or Hallertau on the left. Chinook on the right.

Go Penguins! I'm buzzed...

Just watched the Penguins beat the Flyers. Pretty cool. I'm a fair weather hockey fan, but, it still feels good to see some good ol' Western PA butt kickin'. Did you see TBL and CBR are having some playoff fun?

Had an East End Three tonight. I gotta tell you it wasn't really something I like. Kinda stinky nose with some good gumball in the middle and a big sweet tang at the end. I wish I could be more technical about it, but, hey that's all I can muster. Penguins kicked butt, East End didn't...c'est la vie.

Anyway, when I have a few to drink I tend to let down my guard and reveal things. Sound familiar? Often we don't talk about the effects of alcohol. Well here goes...

I'm 6 feet tall with blond...heheh! Just kidding. This is about my "stats" ;-)

According to sitemeter I have 50 visits per day on average (whooooooo + sarcasm). Google Ad$en$ is about 10 c3nt$ a day. I'm rich! NOT! Doesn't matter. I'm happy with the way things are going. This site gives me an outlet and I hope it provides a service. I'm happy with the following I have now and I know it will continue to grow incrementally. Also, I have the beginnings of a cafepress store now too. Look over there on the right. Make sure you give feedback. It's very helpful when it comes down to creating things you, my readers, would like to see, read and buy. (the buy part seems awkward)

Oh yeah, slight rant. Ron's Original really needs to get a handle on there $8.50 and $9+ beers. Come on! Get a smaller glass and don't expect a huge margin. I ordered a Stone Russian Imperial Stout and was charged $8.50 for a glass (12 oz I think). Of course there were no prices on the beer list and I was pretty much gonna pay it, but, holy crap! It is delicious, but, not again. I won't do it. I will always ask ahead of time and find a cheaper beer. I did mention it to the manager. Hopefully they will get the message. Also, the service was awesome! Much better than many other places I've been to recently.

Rant over...time for bed.

Cheers!

Tornados & Beer Crier

Interesting BeerCrier activity last night as VADavid was waiting out the storm with his family in their basement. http://blog.beercrier.com/ Looks like everybody is ok. Recently my sister went through a similar experience in Suffolk, VA. Makes you think.

What else did I find out through BeerCrier last night?

• rave reviews of Ron's Schoolhouse & new drafts
• somebody drinking Avery IPA
• another drinking Ballast Point at The Drafting Room

What are beer people doing right now? What are you doing right now? BeerCrier

Cheers!

Drink up fellas the rain will do you good.

Oops! I mean ladies. We don't use the fellas for the brewing. Yeah its raining here. I'm talking to my hop plants (well not really talking to them). I'm sure this will do them some good. (the rain, not the talking) It might help me too. Nothin' like some rainy days to get you brewing in your kitchen again and there are rainy days for the foreseeable future.

So I missed The Big Brew and I've been drinking the Chinookadillo. I think its time to brew a Belgian beer again before I run out. Hmmm...what to brew? Bryan has a Saison brewing and he might be starting on a second. Gotta go look at my ingredients again and see what I have. Then I can go plug it into Beersmith and see what it looks like. Kinda backwards huh? There's a rhyme to my reason though. I don't brew as often if I have to formulate and then go buy. So I just buy a bunch of stuff and store it until I need it. The other side is all about creativity. How can I take the ingredients I have and make them into something that tastes good?

Cheers!

More trellis is up for the last two plants...

So now I have a week or so until they all start growing out over the roof of my shed. Oh and the Cascade hops are going crazy. Shoots everywhere. They're like some kinda green octopus :-)

Three weeks 'til Homebrew Blogging Day - May 30th

More information can be found here...

Homebrew Blogging Day

I also crafted a cool countdown widget for your blog. See the sidebar. Eventually I'll replace the dragon symbol with a new graphic for Homebrew Blogging Day.

Cheers!

NIN released "the slip" record for free :-)

http://theslip.nin.com/

Lower part of the hops trellis...

Until I get some time to figure out what the final full trellis will be this will have to do :-) They are dong pretty well. I'm happy I transplanted them.

Small Beer Bits

I did get to work on the trellis for the transplanted hops. I'll see if I can get some pics up tonight. Also the Bock Fest at The Sly Fox seemed to be a big hit this year. I stopped in later in the day for dinner with my family a couple friends. What a beautiful day. I missed the goat races, but, I heard there were 38 goats! That must have been a blast.

I think I need to brew again. The keg of Chinookadillo must be getting low.

Cheers!

Homebrew by the fire...

A gift from next door :-)

A Sierra Nevada Summerfest. Thanks Bryan!

Backyard Hops Progress Pictures

From the webcam on my EeePC.




Cascade between Bryan's house and ours. Almost 5 feet tall :-)












Chinook and something else. Yes they are in need of a trellis. Going to work on that now.












Willamette or Hallertau also in need of a trellis. Not too bad for being in a shady spot though.

Question: What does homebrew taste like?

You've invited a few friends over and offer them a homebrew. They look at you and say, what's it taste like? What do you say? How do you explain it? Do you tell them, "It won't kill you. Try it and find out." :-)

Youtube + Big Brew National Homebrew Day = ?

Now this is something I could get into. I might just be too late though. Tune in later to see what happens...

Big Brew National Homebrew Day
http://www.beertown.org/events/bigbrew/index.html

Cheers!

Beer + Freezing = ?

I read through my web stats every now and then. Ok...maybe like everyday. Is that healthy? Anyway, I keep seeing referrals from Google searches on things like...

• freeze beer
• freezing beer bad
• why does beer go flat before freezing
• my keg is frozen
• what does beer freeze at
• does beer freeze

Who cares? These referrals are all from the last month. Seems like some people are interested in what happens when you freeze beer. Maybe they want to know how to salvage or whether to throw it away.
In an effort to explore the answers I'll throw out some ideas to you my dear readers. Each idea is it's own. They may even contradict each other. First here is the summary of what your comments from the last time I brought this up.

• broken bottles and swollen cans from the ice increasing the volume of the beer
• we tend to think this shouldn't affect taste
• loss of carbonation

Now for some thoughts around the subject. These all assume that beer decarbonates (Is that a word?) when frozen.

• Freezing beer doesn't ruin it, but, it may decarbonate it.
• Freezing beer may cause some proteins to fall out of suspension. (via cold filtering link)
• Freezing beer is a way to make a special kind of beer called ice beer an example would be the German style Eisbock. Cold filtered beer doesn't seem to be the same thing.
• Would recarbonating beer that was frozen restore it to its previous state? (flavor, texture, aroma, appearance)
• Would this process work to recarbonate beer? You know dissolve the CO2 back into the beer. I mean its all still in the container right? Thaw to serving templ, keep cold, shake vigorously, wait X amount of time, repeat shake, wait X amount of time, etc. Try tasting the beer. I'll have to try this.
• Another process could just be to thaw and let it sit and dissolve over a week or so.
• Does the container make a difference? Can vs Keg vs Bottle

If it were me and I had a frozen soda keg full of homebrew, I would just thaw and recarbonate. I would expect it to taste a little cleaner or watery. Again, this is unfiltered hombrew I'm talking about.
What about commercial beer? I probably wouldn't hesitate to drink bottles or cans that were frozen. I might wait a week for recarbonation before serving them to friends after a taste test. If it were a keg of filtered beer, just thaw to serving temp and recarbonate by keeping it tapped on C02 for a while. To recarb faster increase pressure and shake keg.
Just my two cents.

Hopefully that answers your questions about freezing beer. Want to learn more about beer? Check out these books. They are some of the best!