[BikeGeek]

Brew Your Own Beer!

Seems we've got some brewers on here, so I thought I'd run with a thread idea from brungeman. Beer recipes.

Seeing as winter is right around the corner, I'll start with a big beer that will warm you up.

Belgian Dark Strong Ale
(Partial Mash)

8.8 lbs Munich Amber LME
1.0 lb Belgian CaraMunich Malt
1.0 lb Belgian Aromatic Malt
0.5 lb Belgian Special B Malt
2.0 lbs Light Raw Cane Sugar
14 AAU Perle hops - bittering (45 mins)
1.8 AAU Saaz hops - aroma (1 min)
Wyeast 1762 - Belgian Abbey II yeast - starter recommended
1 tsp yeast nutrient

Add cracked grains to 1.5 gallons of 160̊ F water. Hold the water and grains at 150-155̊ F for 30 minutes. Remove the grains, top off to 3 gallons and bring to a boil. Add bittering hop addition at beginning of boil. Boil for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add extract, sugar, and yeast nutrient, stirring until dissolved. Return to heat and boil for 14 minutes. Add aroma hop addition. Boil for remaining 1 minute. Cool to 75̊, adjust volume to 5 gallons, aerate, and pitch yeast.

Carbonate this beer with 6 oz corn sugar.

OG: 1.094
FG: 1.024
ABV: 9.3%

Let this one age in the bottle for several months before drinking.

 

[dogwonder]

I would say if you want to enjoy something this beer this winter, you better get cracking and brew it soon.

Looks like a nice recipe though...

 

[BikeGeek]

I would say if you want to enjoy something this beer this winter, you better get cracking and brew it soon.

Looks like a nice recipe though...

Mine's been conditioning since the first week of September. It tastes good now, but I know it will be better come Christmas.

 

[dogwonder]

Mine's been conditioning since the first week of September. It tastes good now, but I know it will be better come Christmas.

well I'll be more than happy to give you my feedback on the recipe if you were to drop some in the mail.

 

[TreeSaw]

Oh...I'd love some beer for x-mas :biggrin:

 

[llkoolkeg]

Springfield, eh? I grew up just off Old Keene Mill Road, my units still live off Braddock Road and I would be more than happy to assist should QC testing be in order. :biggrin:

 

[BikeGeek]

Springfield, eh? I grew up just off Old Keene Mill Road, my units still live off Braddock Road and I would be more than happy to assist should QC testing be in order. :biggrin:

North Springfield. Lake Accotink is a 5 minute walk, Wakefield is a 10 minute ride.

 

[MMcG]

What's the cost involved for purchasing a home brew kit? Is it Mucho Denero?

 

[llkoolkeg]

Small world. One of my fraternity brothers lived in the townhouses by the intersection of Highland and Hanover and we used to ride and fish there all the time. There is a little path that heads back to Accotink Creek from the westernmost bend of Highland that we used to access the park after hours for years. I cannot fathom how many evenings were spent partying where that path hits the creek. There is even a large depiction of a bong carved into a tree along the creek bank perhaps 300 yards downstream of the dam. :biggrin:

 

[dogwonder]

What's the cost involved for purchasing a home brew kit? Is it Mucho Denero?

Depends. On the cheap you could get going for a hundred or few hundred bucks. If you want to mash your own malt, control your fermentation, and get crazy, it gets more expensive. Some of the cadillac type systems will get you into the thousand plus.

 

[MMcG]

I guess I'll just keep buyin stuff from the Packie then.

At least for now.

 

[BikeGeek]

What's the cost involved for purchasing a home brew kit? Is it Mucho Denero?

My sister just bought the starter kit from a local brew shop for $100. I was impressed with what it included: primary (large bucket) and secondary (glass carboy) fermenters, stopper, airlock, racking cane, tubing, capper, large spoon, grain/hops bag, thermometer, hydrometer and flask, and a brewing book. Pretty much everything need you for extract/specialty grain brewing except the ingredients and a large pot to cook it in. Like dogwonder said, if you want to get in to mashing your own grains, then you'll need some more equipment and it can run anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand $. Once I own a home this is going in the garage.

Mashing is when you start your beer from scratch with grains and water. It involves holding large quantities of grains and water at various temperatures so that the starches in the grain convert to fermentable sugars. Extract brewers start one step into the process with a canned extract. Basically, someone else does the mash and cans a concentrate that you just add water to. In the recipe above, I'm doing a partial mash. Instead of starting with 20 or so pounds of grain, I'm using an extract as a base, but then I'm mashing some specialty grains for flavoring.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Here's my bud's set up... i haven't had any of this batch of Red Ale yet... maybe this weekend...

 

[N8 v2.0]

tastes like a cross between Skullsplitter and a Newcastle