Official Shmups.com Booze Thread

[CMoon]

Cool! I was just at a brewers' meeting and they mentioned that we should expect to see more small breweries getting into booze. Now where's my Stone Whiskey?

[gabe]

Just picked up some Dansk Mjød Viking Blod...

http://www.mjod.dk/node/236

Described as a dry-hopped mead, made from a recipe dating back to around 1700. Comes in a rad ceramic bottle. At 19% ABV, it's a crusher. Pretty stoked about giving it a whirl.

[Acid King]

A dry hopped mead? Sounds pretty awesome. I'm waiting for this weekend to drink this years Dogfish Burton Baton alongside a year old one.

[CMoon]

I need to try making mead. It is apparently MUCH easier than brewing beer. But damn, 5 gallons of mead (minimum batch size), holy shit!

Just opened my russian imperial stout and its fucking awesome. I think the batch after it is screwed up, but this one is really rich and complex. Score!

[RGC]

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[Klatrymadon]

That sounds fantastic, gabe. I've heard of "vikingblood" before, but that was some hideous mixture of mead with red wine, or something equally vile. A staple of rubbish metal festivals.

[gabe]

I need to try making mead. It is apparently MUCH easier than brewing beer. But damn, 5 gallons of mead (minimum batch size), holy shit!

I have a friend who makes it in 1 gallon batches... He says it's painfully easy. Here's his latest:

Back Row from left to right:
Apple Cinnamon
Vanilla Cinnamon
Orange Cinnamon
Natural Mead
Front Row left to right:
Pear
Cherry

[RGC]

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[Acid King]

I need to try making mead. It is apparently MUCH easier than brewing beer. But damn, 5 gallons of mead (minimum batch size), holy shit!

I'm more put off by the cost of buying that much honey. But gabe's buddies one gallon batch set up is sick and looks much easier to handle.

[Klatrymadon]

You can use any old shite, though, mate. I think jars of cheapo supermarket honey are usually around 75p, here. You'd probably need about half a dozen for one gallon of mead, though. Of course, if you want to make something on the cheap, you could always try a cider. A few one-litre cartons of apple juice shouldn't cost much.

[Acid King]

You can use any old shite, though, mate. I think jars of cheapo supermarket honey are usually around 75p, here. You'd probably need about half a dozen for one gallon of mead, though. Of course, if you want to make something on the cheap, you could always try a cider. A few one-litre cartons of apple juice shouldn't cost much.

That's true, but I at that rate I could also buy enough ingredients to brew 5 gallons of mild ale for $10-15. Cider might be good though.

[CMoon]

Uhrgggg, those aren't one gallon carboys shown. Each and every carboy in that picture looks to be 5 gallons+ (actually they look like the 6.5 gallon carboys to me!) That's like 30 gallons in that picture! Still, 1 gallon of mead might be a little easier to work with.

Sounds impressive. So, how did you get into brewing your own beer then, CMoon? Did you purchase one of those kits with everything but water included? I've thought about having a stab at it, but I'm not sure we have the right conditions at home. What comprises a basic rig, if that's the term?

Yeah, I started with a kit from a brewing shop. This is probably the easiest and most economical way to start. Don't FUCKING waste your time on Mr. Beer--with minimal time and effort you can make crappy tasting beer, congratulations! Even without a local brewing shop you can get good starter kits and good ingredients online. If you have more questions, shoot me a PM. Keep in mind, you won't save money on homebrewing for a long time, so if you are interested in it ONLY for that reason, it probably isn't worth your time.

On the other hand, my stout (which I'm drinking now) is fucking awesome.

[CMoon]

You can use any old shite, though, mate. I think jars of cheapo supermarket honey are usually around 75p, here. You'd probably need about half a dozen for one gallon of mead, though. Of course, if you want to make something on the cheap, you could always try a cider. A few one-litre cartons of apple juice shouldn't cost much.

That's true, but I at that rate I could also buy enough ingredients to brew 5 gallons of mild ale for $10-15. Cider might be good though.

I was about to point out that you could get any ol gut-rot (pick your poison) for pennies on the dollar without the hassle of brewing, but instead wanted to know how the hell one's location can be 'Dead Babies'? Is that in Texas?

[Acid King]

Uhrgggg, those aren't one gallon carboys shown. Each and every carboy in that picture looks to be 5 gallons+ (actually they look like the 6.5 gallon carboys to me!) That's like 30 gallons in that picture! Still, 1 gallon of mead might be a little easier to work with.

nah, those are definitely one gallon jugs.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1-gallon-jug.html

I was about to point out that you could get any ol gut-rot (pick your poison) for pennies on the dollar without the hassle of brewing, but instead wanted to know how the hell one's location can be 'Dead Babies'?

Magic?

[gabe]

Uhrgggg, those aren't one gallon carboys shown. Each and every carboy in that picture looks to be 5 gallons+ (actually they look like the 6.5 gallon carboys to me!) That's like 30 gallons in that picture! Still, 1 gallon of mead might be a little easier to work with.

nah, those are definitely one gallon jugs.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1-gallon-jug.html

Correct. Here's a picture of one of them next to a 5 gallon for comparison (pic is from the same friend):

[CMoon]

Yeah, I feel dumb. The finger hold should have been a clear give away. I'm not used to looking at bottles so small...

Just brewed 5 gallons of smoked porter today. Went really smooth with a nice final gravity of 1.072. Using the california ale yeast which should munch right through that and give me a great beer. Hah! Only have to wait a month+ to find out how I did!

[RGC]

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[CMoon]

Space-wise, it isn't that bad. I'm an apartment dweller and worked out enough space for brewing (I have a balcony), storage (a closet), and even incorporating a temperature regulated chest freezer for fermentation (got to be creative!--I used some hallway space.) If you have a basement, space is not an issue, period!

Beer requires controlled temperatures. It depends on the yeast strain, but the ale yeast tend to like it in the 60's (F), lager yeast like it cooler. I've been fermenting at @72F and my beer has been fine, but I'd like to lower that. Lighting is also an issue. Beers should either be fermented in an opaque container or in the dark. This is true of storage as well--and why good beer comes in dark glass.

I know I've said this before, but saving money isn't really a good reason to homebrew--at least, not right away. With a lot of practice and initial expense it can eventually become very cheap, but that's not going to happen for a while.

If you are just looking for cheap booze, I think some of the booze at the store is incredibly cheap (though incredibly shitty.)

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[CMoon]

Yeh like I said, it would be about trying to produce my own quality ale over and above saving cash. I'm quite a fan of Adnams Broadside and Explorer, if you've tried either of those? To brew anything even close to their quality would be sweet.

Try googling the beers you like followed by 'clone'; you should find lots of recipes out there. What I've found so far with homebrewing is that if the beer comes out good, it will be REALLY good. This might be because of the quality of the ingredients or the freshness. Or rather, that many mediocre beers fail at one of those two things. It really isn't hard to make great tasting beer at home. It also isn't hard to fuck up, so it is important to learn about good sanitation, temperature control and get your procedure down early. The sooner the better. You can absolutely make beer as good or better than the best beer you've tasted at home, but there is a LOT to learn.

The first thing to do is find out if you have a local brewing shop. This is indispensable. Otherwise, get acquainted with online shops like Northern Brewer. Get yourself a starter kit and preferably a 'boxed ingredient' kit for your first batch. Obviously you'll want a good beer making book, and I find Drew Beechum's 'Everything Homebrewing Book' to be a great point of entry.

So, yes, you can make really fucking awesome beer. At fist it will be really expensive and frustrating, but if you persevere, it will get awesome and you're initial investment begins to hurt less. Of course you'll find there's a lot more shit you'll want to buy, but that can all come down the road.

[RGC]

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[Acid King]

Producing something more palatable than urine on my first attempt would probably give me confidence to keep going. Thanks for the advice!

Unless you are completely incompetent, that shouldn't be a problem.

[CMoon]

Producing something more palatable than urine on my first attempt would probably give me confidence to keep going. Thanks for the advice!

Unless you are completely incompetent, that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know, Mr. Beer does a pretty good job of making urine.

[Acid King]

I don't know, Mr. Beer does a pretty good job of making urine.

A lot of people like urine.

[Acid King]

I just opened a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura Dark Dawn Stout and it is one of the strangest beers I've tasted. It's a stout but it's a sour. The nose is dominated by brett by it's also roasty and full of coffee. The taste is similar; roasted barley and coffee with a strong tart finish. Definitely a unique brew.

[CMoon]

How are you coming along with a strongly flavored but lower alcohol content beer? I've got nothing but sessions kegged right now and they're boring the crap out of me. Maybe this is why people start going toward the sour beers because their pallet gets blown out? Hmmm, I'm either going to have to convince the guy I brew with to occasionally brew stronger beers or figure out a way to make some really tasty session beers.

[Acid King]

I'm splitting my next session stout (~4%) into 3 batches; one straight, one with coffee and one with vanilla. I'll probably start tinkering with spices and other secondary additives soon. That's probably where you'll have to start playing because too many nonfermentables will ruin the FG and the only way to add flavor is by adding to secondary or boiling with other ingredients that aren't going to add starches for the yeast.

I'd like to mess with brett but I don't know how much I could take. I had a hard time finishing that bottle of Dark Dawn because of how tart it was, I don't know how I'd handle a couple of cases.

[CMoon]

Yeah, I haven't started exploring additives yet (other than wood chips). A friend of mine, having some orange trees, wants to make an orange porter. I'm excited to make it, but that's not specifically what I'm looking for. I've used coffee malt before, but that was in the boil. How would you do a post-boil addative for coffee? Boil the coffee beans and add those directly to the fermenter?

[Acid King]

You do cold extraction for the coffee and add it before bottling/kegging. Most of the things I've read say that using cold extraction is the way to go because it takes the harsh edge off that brewed coffee sometimes adds. I just have to figure out what kind of coffee to use since there are a bunch of small roasting companies in my area.

[CMoon]

*nods* I was just reading about that on homebrewtalk.

What other spices or additives have you tried?