Brewing Beer

I really want to try the beer. I am not a beer person but am really interested in tasting yours.

osean wrote:

I really want to try the beer. I am not a beer person but am really interested in tasting yours.

well by damned! once the brewery is famous, ill put you on the guest list too!!

seriously, once its all up and running and the money is pouring in, im sooooo gonna be arranging a Coven meet up and sending ye all plane tickets and stuff!

*crosses fingers*
*knocks on wood*

Penthesilea wrote:

A bus ticket will do for me. I'm not that far away and I don't like planes!

I probably should bring my own root beer though....

ye know, i have the knowledge to brew root beer!!!

Penthesilea wrote:

With a 0% alcohol content?

for a rootbeer, yes! my brother has actually brewed rootbeer a few times. the process isnt much different than brewing normal beer. cept ye dont add yeast which is what eats the sugar and produces alcohol.

ok, well it looks like Blakus and i will be brewing on tuesday. still not sure if we're gonna try to brew all 20 gallons though. i dont know if we have the bottle compacity for it. it might be close though.

we failed to buy more bottles on our last trip to the beer supply store due to finances. but we could seriously use atleast 4 cases of 12oz bottles easily.

ok, so the brewing got pushed back to today. of course ive tried calling Blake's home phone and cell phone but never got an answer and he hasnt called back yet... i know they were heading down south just north of st louis yesterday, but surely they would be back by now. and surely if something had happened someone woulda let me know.

ok, brewing went fantastic! amazingly fantastic!!! in fact, unbelieveably fantastic!!

yes it did!! i decided not to go for a 15% ABV beer though. of course, all 4 batches should be around 10% give or take a few decimals. but all in all, the flavors and aromas should be outstanding!

ok, its been roughly 48 hours since the brews were bucketed. my first batch and Blakus' 2nd batch are fermenting nicely. his 1st batch is just starting to ferment. and my 2nd batch hasnt done diddly squat yet. so if it hasnt started by tomorrow, im gonna have to do an emergency opperation on it to add more yeast. (brewing yeast this time!!) which i really dont wanna have to add more to it. theres already 22g of yeast in each batch.

well, i didnt add more yeast to the one that isnt fermenting, BUT!! i did move all 4 barrels downstairs to the only heated room in the entire house. mostly cause the temperature of said barrels was only sitting about 10 degrees below room temp and room temp in my house is about 15 to 20 degrees lower than most people like.... which is around 72*F.... which the current temps of the barrels being far lower than the norm.... doesnt fare too well with ales. lagers, yes. ales, no. but lager yeast is a different strain of brewing yeast. a bit more pricey yeast. meant to ferment at lower temps. thus destoying flavor and bitterness and lowering alcohol content (which my brother tries to say otherwise dispite the fact that ale beers have anywhere from twice to four times the EVERYTHING that lagers do!!!). but hey, homos. sissies, girls, and designated drivers have to have something to drink too!

awesome!! all 4 batches are fermenting now!

on a previous note, my Victory Ale that i brewed a while back and said that the grains i used shouldnt be used alone in a brew has turned out fucking incredible!! a grade A light beer that has flavor!!

well, one of Blakus' brews is going crazy. ive had to take off and clean out the air lock once today, then take the lid the rest of the way off and clean it up and put it back on. yeah, it built up enough pressure that it blew the bloody lid off about 3.5 hours after i had cleaned up and replaced the air lock! looks like im gonna have to monitor it frequently tonight. mental note to self: 22g of yeast is prolly way too much....

yeah, operation complete. i ended up scooping out prolly over a pounds worth of yeast and sediment that was floating on the top.

ok, well, the fermentation is running pretty much on schedule. all 20 gallons should be ready to bottle by saturday. which means they've been fermenting for 10 days. which on average, is twice as long as normal home brews.

ok, the brews are bottled. both of mine came out identical which is a good thing.
Blakus' two batches came out slightly different. so far, from what ive gathered upon the sample tasting, its primarily due to him using two different brands of maple syrup. which i wasnt thrilled about starting at the time of brewing cause i know how little it takes to throw a batch of beer off flavor wise.

anyway, they all turned out pretty damn good nonetheless. my batches came out at around 10.3% ABV. Blakus' batches came out around 10.6% ABV.

and we thought my 9er ale had some kick!!!! LOL

i should prolly start coming up with names for the beers sometime eh?
also, im thinking about sampling one of the latest ones sometime today. its been since this past sunday that theyve been bottled. and our recent luck with the carbonation process has typically only been taking roughly 2 days.

that it would!!

and i also just discovered a home brew store up where RD goes to university at thats only like 50 minutes away from home!!

piss on driving all the way to springfield!!

i hope so. ive never been to this beer supply store so i dunno what all they carry. but i certainly hope its more than friar tuck carries there in springfield. cause the last 3 or 4 times ive been there, they havent had jack.