Hero tag has veteran's day off?

What, no bacon?

/oh, BacoBits, well okay

How about beer that tastes like beer?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I love Nutella.

Ew.

What Grumpybollocks said.

Sounds like breakfast

This man will sit next to you on an airplane. And you get to enjoy the menagerie of odors all the orifices of his body produce. Enjoy.

zootsuit: Hero tag has veteran's day off?

THIIIIIS

/would do my best to savor and not chug the nutella brew

Water, Barley, Hops, and Yeast. No more, no less!!

This is the nonsense that brought about the Reinheitsgebot resulting in the best beer in the world.

You want to flavor beer? Then just put X-food product in your mouth, chew and then swallow it down with a good chug of your favorite brew.

So what does he want - eggs in his beer?

whooptydo: Water, Barley, Hops, and Yeast. No more, no less!!


/approves!

Chocolate sounds like it could be reasonable. Peanut butter and Nutella are kind of a stretch, but I'll try most things once.

But ham and cheese? I hope the meat is cured, at least.

Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Reinheitsgebot surrenders?

CygnusDarius: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Been homebrewing for slightly over a year, over 25 batches thus far. I buy everything from Midwest - they have a great selection, good prices. They will ship you a great DVD that shows how to do it. Look on Craigslist for someone who might be unloading some equipment, Freecycle for empties. There's a good how-to series on YouTube by a fellow named Craig from Canada.

CygnusDarius: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Start simple. Buy an extract kit from a supplier such as Northern Brewer or Midwest Supplies. You'll need some basic equipment as well. The easiest way (not necessarily the cheapest)is to buy a starter kit that will have all the equipment, ingredients and instructions to brew your first batch. Once you get the basics down, you can move on to more complicated stuff if you like. My brother and I started a little over a year ago using extracts, and we recently did our 3rd batch of all grain. So far it's been pretty standard stuff - pale ales, IPAs, a nut brown, St. Paulie Porter and some others. Now we're working on a smoked beer that we're going to try to coax into a bacon beer and eventually a bacon-tomato beer. The possibilities are limitless, and it is a fun and rather inexpensive hobby. Not only is it fun to do, but we can make really good beer for about the same price per bottle as buying the cheap watered down macro-brew crap at Wal Mart.

I say, put whatever the fark you want in your beer. The true joy of homebrewing is making what you want how you want it. I know guys that adhere to the Reinheitsgebot like it is actually a law and still others whose beer appears to be flavored with random things they found in their fridge (Rhubarb Wheat Ale anyone?).

For advice, check out Northern Brewer or Midwest for supplies. NB also has a good collection of how-to documentation and their tech support can also give you advice if need be. Prepare to spend about $150 in outlay costs for equipment unless you can find good quality used (always buy new tubing though). A kit will run you less than $35 for extract. Then a couple of hours to brew, a week or two to let ferment, a couple of hours to bottle, a couple more weeks to wait, and then.....beer. After some practice, start experimenting and make what you like.

This weekend, Slutty Elf is on tap for brewing. 9% holiday ale based on NB Spiced Winter Ale kit. Should be ready for Christmas morn!

/In the words of Sam Caligione: Keep brewing the big and weird shiat!

Benderbrau if it's an ale, Botweiser if it's a lager.

Raspberry Beaver Bock.
It's all about the anal glands.

mod3072: CygnusDarius: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Start simple. Buy an extract kit from a supplier such as Northern Brewer or Midwest Supplies. You'll need some basic equipment as well. The easiest way (not necessarily the cheapest)is to buy a starter kit that will have all the equipment, ingredients and instructions to brew your first batch. Once you get the basics down, you can move on to more complicated stuff if you like. My brother and I started a little over a year ago using extracts, and we recently did our 3rd batch of all grain. So far it's been pretty standard stuff - pale ales, IPAs, a nut brown, St. Paulie Porter and some others. Now we're working on a smoked beer that we're going to try to coax into a bacon beer and eventually a bacon-tomato beer. The possibilities are limitless, and it is a fun and rather inexpensive hobby. Not only is it fun to do, but we can make really good beer for about the same price per bottle as buying the cheap watered down macro-brew crap at Wal Mart.

I'm doing my first and second batches tonight from extract. It was a thread like this a few weeks ago that made me decide to try it. I'm in for about $200 with a starter kit and two extract kits.

/doesn't want to wait to try my first brew

The "purity" guys in this thread seem to have missed the point of the article. The guy was quoted as saying he brews with the odd things he does specifically because the varieties of beer he makes can't be found on the shelves. The home brewing workshop was just about teaching people how to brew, not particularly about how to make "weird" beers.

For me, I want to get into home brewing at some point. For now, I'm enjoying living in Colorado and sampling all the awesome micros around here!

xtonyx: I love Nutella.

Came here to say THIS

Leaving to go buy some nutella


/like vegimite too... but nutella more
//damn you frenchies, that stuff is awesome

I thought: wierd-ass beer flavors? Obviously a Portland thing.

So I clicked and... whatdya know?

Rainbrains and their wierd beers... I tell ya...

/former oregonian

CygnusDarius:
Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Civilian Sulco reporting for duty!

Been one for about 7 years. Tried many different recipies/styles. Some were awesome.. some others slightly better than swill. Like the others said, it's all about experimentation... then drinking what you experimented with. It's a fun hobby.

Relax, have a homebrew.

Have they no respect for the German Purity Law?!?!!

Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Get some water, add some barley, hops and then yeast.

Beer and chess, easy to learn a lifetime to master.

alabasterblack: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Get some water, add some barley, hops and then yeast.

Beer and chess, easy to learn a lifetime to master.

It's a little more complicated than that, but not a lot. And I definitely agree with your last statement! Have any of you homebrewers out there tried malting your own grain? We're thinking of giving that a go this winter as something to do once it starts getting dark around noon.

sulco: Relax, have a homebrew.

I'm reading that book now. Very interesting and appears to have good information from the whole gamut of experience levels.

A definite 'must read' for the prospective hobbyist. (new window)

CygnusDarius: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Another vote for Midwest. When you order from there, you can have them send out a free instructional DVD.

I've been brewing for about 7 years but haven't done it much lately because I haven't been drinking it. I got my starter kit at a local homebrew store, and was inspired to start after seeing the "Amber Waves" episode of "Good Eats."

A starter kit will generally not include the brew kettle. This is basically a stockpot, preferably something in the 16 quart range. Beer is acidic so no aluminum, please. Go with stainless steel. I think I got my kettle at WalMart or Target.

As I see it there are four levels of homebrewing: a) the 20-minute boil, which is all extract and no grains (and maybe even pre-hopped extract), b) basic homebrewing, with around 6 pounds of extract and ½ to 1½ pounds of grains, c) partial mash, with around 3 pounds each extract and grains, and d) all-grain. I live in an apartment so all-grain is impractical, so most of the time I do B. I did a 20-minute boil once because I bought a recipe kit and didn't read the label too closely. I don't recommend the 20-minute boil. Instead, go with B.

They have something called the Auto-Siphon. It's a plunger-type thing that costs about 11 bucks and makes siphoning a breeze. I recommend it.

This is the generic procedure for basic homebrew:
1. Bring two to three gallons of water to 155°F.
2. Add your specialty grains that you have placed in the provided muslin bag, and steep for 30 minutes at as close to 155°F as possible.
3. Remove the grain bag and turn off the heat.
4. Add your extract and stir until completely dissolved. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the kettle to avoid scorching (this is why we turned off the heat).
5. Once thoroughly dissolved, put the heat on full blast and bring the wort to a boil. If you want, you can put the kettle slightly off-center on the burner to make it easier to skim off the foam that will accumulate.
6. As soon as it's boiling, add your bittering hops. Start a timer. Decide how long you're going to boil (I usually do 60 minutes).
7. Usually you add flavoring hops with 15 minutes left in the boil and aroma hops with 5 minutes left. While there are different varieties of hops, "bittering" and "flavoring" and "aroma" refer only to when you add them. Your bittering and aroma hops could be the same amount of the same variety. There's also this great stuff called Irish moss, which is a dried seaweed that acts as a protein coagulant and precipitates out most of the suspended particles that make homebrew cloudy. Half a teaspoon in the last 15 minutes.
8. The boil is over. Now get the wort cooled down as quickly as possible. Stick it in a sinkful of ice, in the snowbank outside, whatever.
9. Add the wort to the sanitized fermenter along with enough water to make five gallons.
10. Once it's down to 80°F or 90°F (cooler is better), add the yeast. No need to stir. Close the fermenter, affix the air lock, and put it in a closet somewhere.
11. After a week or two, boil 2 cups of water with the provided 5 ounces of corn sugar. Add it to your sterilized bottling bucket and then siphon in the beer from the fermenter. Bottle, cap, and let them age for 2 to 4 weeks.

That's it. If you use 12-ounce bottles, you'll get somewhere around 51, which is two cases plus a few extra for a little more than half the price of what you'd pay for good beer in a store.

/does anyone sanitize a wort chiller? i just rinse mine off and add it to the kettle and let the boiling wort sterilize it.
//made mine from scratch with parts from Home Depot

xtonyx: I love Nutella.

This. If they made something like a stout or a porter with a nutella flavor....well, I think I could die happy.

winemaker myself, never could get into beer.

for newbies, I'd start with a winemaking kit, to apease the ladies. if you can figure that out dorrectly it is a small(and cheap) step to beer.

/third year
//about 120 bottles this season
///think odd beer combinations are weird, look at wine
////got into it to do something with the wild plums on my newly purchased property 3 yars ago, cant get the plums to work well, but people donate fruit and I cannot seem to fail on that

oneodd1: sulco: Relax, have a homebrew.

Had that book from day-1. It's about the only one I've ever referenced.

jimpoz

Bah, that's too complicated....



/just kidding and hot like wort

Sasquatch Hawkeye: Slutty Elf

Recipe?

Please.. couldn't seem to succeed at finding one.

CygnusDarius: Actually, I've been thinking to do a little homebrewing, but my chemistry is rather rusty, and I have no idea where to start.

Any homebrewing Farkers out there?.

Been at it since 1998.

Homebrewing Farkers FTW. Brewing a double batch on sunday, X-Mas IPA and X-Mas Porter. Nutella on the other hand should be eaten outta the jar :)

Sasquatch Hawkeye: I say, put whatever the fark you want in your beer. The true joy of homebrewing is making what you want how you want it. I know guys that adhere to the Reinheitsgebot like it is actually a law and still others whose beer appears to be flavored with random things they found in their fridge (Rhubarb Wheat Ale anyone?).

So Much THIS!!!

Look, brewing Reinheightsgebot is cool. It can be used to make some very good beers. It will surely help you to tune your technique, because there are things that you can do, and most homebrewers do do (huh uh huh, he said doo-doo) that will improve your beer that are not allowable under reinheitsgebot - irish moss, pectinase, unmalted grains, fruit, herbs, sugars - and if you're trying to avoid that you need to make up the difference by having better technique. Nothing wrong with the.

The thing to remember is theat the Reinheitsgebot is fundamentally a TAX law, forcing town brewers to use ingredients that were easily controlled and taxed at the time, and produced a beer of more or less uniform alcohol content for given amounts of malt - also easy to tax.

Going to brew a Pilsner? A Munchener Dunkel? A Bavarian Weizen? Javohl! Go ahead and do it the old Bavarian way. Going to brew a Barley wine? A Belgian Dubble? An Imperial Stout? A Basil Apricot Pale Ale (I had one of these last month that was ASTOUNDINGLY good.)? Then don't be held down by a 500 year old tax code.

Also, look at British, French, Scandanavian, African, Polynesian, hell, anywhere other than Germany. Their historical beer recipes are not by any means malt water yeast hops. (Well, some are. Lee's Harvest and Hardy's Rare Ale are British beers of that type.)

Nothing wrong with a Licorice porter. A chili-pepper brown ale. A double IPA boosted to 10%abv with liberal application of turbinado (actually that helps keep it from being syrupy.)

Experimentation is the essence of Art and or Cooking and of Drinking. Brewing is all three. Put the Reinheitsgebot in its proper place and you have nothing to lose but your chains.

sulco: Sasquatch Hawkeye: Slutty Elf

Recipe?

Please.. couldn't seem to succeed at finding one.

It is a personal recipe. I am taking Northern Brewer's Spiced Winter Ale kit (extract), adding an additional 6 pounds of extract, and an ounce of Fuggle at 60 minutes. I still haven't decided how much of the spices I want to use as they tend to overpower. Also, I will be making a 1L yeast starter with two smack packs of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale. In theory, should be out of primary fermentation and into bottles in seven days. Four weeks to mellow in bottles should make it about right.

/OG around 1094

Sasquatch Hawkeye: Slutty Elf

Malt extract of liquid or powder.. or doesn't matter? I was just doing the kegging math for X-mas morn!! I think I might just have to bust that one out.. thanks!

oneodd1: 'must read'

The Toad Spit Stout in the book is awesome. I added two cups of hot chocolate mix to it.... awesome! This recipe I have to let set for about three+ months though before it's ready.

sulco: Sasquatch Hawkeye: Slutty Elf

Malt extract of liquid or powder.. or doesn't matter? I was just doing the kegging math for X-mas morn!! I think I might just have to bust that one out.. thanks!

Oops, forgot that little piece of information. I am planning on using syrup extract (and pellet hops). You can certainly use dry, the gravity may be a little different, but still in the range.

Glad I could help and best of luck brewing Slutty.

What a slutty elf might look like:

zootsuit: Hero tag has veteran's day off?

I'm a mead brewer myself, and I made that decision based on two very important factors: 1) I'm young enough to wait for the longer fermenting time, and 2) I'm really lazy. The ingrediants for Mead are, by weight, Water, Honey, *optional additives* and yeast.

If the honey you buy is pure enough, you don't have to do anything to it, but pasteurized honey does loose a certain something, so I feel that pasteurizing it is a little far on the pure scale. Mix 2-4 pounds of the honey into the water, shaking it in a plastic jug works well for aeration, pour into the fermenting tank, and add the yeast. Put the airlock on it and sit it in a closet or cabinet to wait. About 1 month in, it should start to turn from a cloudy pale mix called a Must into a golden clear Mead, and after another month, the optional additives will start to fall to the bottom, which is a good indication of readiness. Bottle and, if brave, serve immediately, but this stuff can be stored forever. I recently read something about a archeological dig in Norway finding jars of Mead under the clay, and the mead apparently still being sweet.

there are recopies for a mix called JOAM, or Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. That's a GREAT starter recipe, and it's practically never fail. It's a little cheaper this way, because you don't need a lot of tubes, or a mash pot. Just a glass carboy, a rubber bung big enough not to fall in, and a plastic airlock.

Tater1337: winemaker myself, never could get into beer.

for newbies, I'd start with a winemaking kit, to apease the ladies. if you can figure that out dorrectly it is a small(and cheap) step to beer.

/third year
//about 120 bottles this season
///think odd beer combinations are weird, look at wine
////got into it to do something with the wild plums on my newly purchased property 3 yars ago, cant get the plums to work well, but people donate fruit and I cannot seem to fail on that

I just started on wine this past spring. I have 23 gallons (11 different varieties in different sized batches) in various states of readiness. The thing about wine that really sucks is that you have to wait a year or so before you drink it or you even know if it's any good. Beer is usually ready in about 6 weeks.

Total Morselization: Sounds like breakfast


This

I believe we already have this. It's called vomit.