Discussion Forums > The Lounge
What is your favorite beer?
Kam:
--- Quote from: banshee2008 on March 26, 2011, 08:25:56 AM ---I'd have to say my fav is Marstouns Oyster Stout, Harviestoun Ola Dubh 30 year special reserve, or Dogfish Head continually hopped IPA.
Tons of others, but those take the cake
--- End quote ---
Going on the list :)
datora:
.
--- Quote from: kam182 on March 26, 2011, 02:12:24 AM ---Would love to be able to brew my own brews too. Sounds like a lot of fun. How'd you get into that?
--- End quote ---
I generally hang with a do-it-yourself crowd of freaks, into everything from grow your own food, herbs, etc. to build your own computer, house, car etc. So, brew your own was a common project (some do wine &/or moonshine whiskey, too).
Anyway, I've always been a fair to pretty decent cook. Once you see how to cook up a batch, it's fairly trivial. I got a copy of Snyder's Brewmaster's Bible (which is trivial to download in *.pdf these days, see link). Discovered that teh usenetz haz alt.beer and a rec.beer (and others) and spent a few years downloading recipes & interacting with other brewers around the world.
Properly set up, you can set a batch ready to ferment in about three hours, plus an hour of clean up. Ferment for three to six days (or many other possibilities depending on what you're making), then "rack" it (decant the beer off into a container without all the sediment) for another two to five days. Spike it with some proper beer sugar (or honey) and bottle it. Start drinking in two to six weeks depending on what you made. Total time investment is about 10 hours over 8 - 10 weeks, generally speaking for common & easy beers.
If you're smart about it, you can set up good basic equipment for under $100, then about $35 to $45 for ingredients per batch. I used 7 gallon plastic buckets ... so, say at today's prices $50 for 7 gallons = ~75 x 12 oz. bottles. If you play around a bit, you can usually squeeze an extra couple bottles out of it and yield ~80, so you're under $0.65 per bottle. And it's premium microbrew.
So, yeah, I got into it because I couldn't find or buy beer for love or money that was better than anything I made, and I could get it down to ~50¢ per bottle (circa 1995-2000). Would trade six packs with friends, so everyone would usually have five to ten varieties on hand at any time you visit, and you never quite knew what there would be, but it was all pretty fantastic. It really helps if you've got a small circle of friends all into it because you can keep yeast cultures alive and help collect bottles and scrounge/share other equipment, etc. etc. to keep costs very low. And wide variety always available.
rostheferret:
--- Quote from: datora on March 26, 2011, 08:32:09 AM ---.
--- Quote from: kam182 on March 26, 2011, 02:12:24 AM ---Would love to be able to brew my own brews too. Sounds like a lot of fun. How'd you get into that?
--- End quote ---
I generally hang with a do-it-yourself crowd of freaks, into everything from grow your own food, herbs, etc. to build your own computer, house, car etc. So, brew your own was a common project (some do wine &/or moonshine whiskey, too).
Anyway, I've always been a fair to pretty decent cook. Once you see how to cook up a batch, it's fairly trivial. I got a copy of Snyder's Brewmaster's Bible (which is trivial to download in *.pdf these days, see link). Discovered that teh usenetz haz alt.beer and a rec.beer (and others) and spent a few years downloading recipes & interacting with other brewers around the world.
Properly set up, you can set a batch ready to ferment in about three hours, plus an hour of clean up. Ferment for three to six days (or many other possibilities depending on what you're making), then "rack" it (decant the beer off into a container without all the sediment) for another two to five days. Spike it with some proper beer sugar (or honey) and bottle it. Start drinking in two to six weeks depending on what you made. Total time investment is about 10 hours over 8 - 10 weeks, generally speaking for common & easy beers.
If you're smart about it, you can set up good basic equipment for under $100, then about $35 to $45 for ingredients per batch. I used 7 gallon plastic buckets ... so, say at today's prices $50 for 7 gallons = ~75 x 12 oz. bottles. If you play around a bit, you can usually squeeze an extra couple bottles out of it and yield ~80, so you're under $0.65 per bottle. And it's premium microbrew.
So, yeah, I got into it because I couldn't find or buy beer for love or money that was better than anything I made, and I could get it down to ~50¢ per bottle (circa 1995-2000). Would trade six packs with friends, so everyone would usually have five to ten varieties on hand at any time you visit, and you never quite knew what there would be, but it was all pretty fantastic. It really helps if you've got a small circle of friends all into it because you can keep yeast cultures alive and help collect bottles and scrounge/share other equipment, etc. etc. to keep costs very low. And wide variety always available.
--- End quote ---
My dad used to do it all the time to cut on costs. He ended up bringing a couple of kegs of homebrew to his own wedding reception :P
I've tried my hand at making mead - didn't go quite right, not sweet enough as the lemon overpowered it all a little - and I've made beer as well. Beer is pretty hard to truly fuck up. Learn to siphon (or get a keg with a tap if you can) and try to store it somewhere cold like in a garage or something. Oh, and never put in lemon. I don't know who the hell recommended that to me but it's messed up my mead brew and my ginger ale.
Might try making a fruit beer at some point. Hmmm....
--- Quote from: kam182 on March 26, 2011, 05:33:46 AM ---I'm writing these down - LOL
--- End quote ---
Some of those may be hard to find if you're in the US. The ales are all English (nobody else really does them right imo), Lager is Jamaican, Indian and Polish respectively and some of those Belgian beers are hard to find in Belgium :P
JoonasTo:
Innis Oak Aged Beer
La Trappe Dubbel
Velkopopovich
Goroshi-sama:
am I the only one who doesnt like beer..?? it tastes like piss.. I can only drink half a 0.33 beer and then it starts to taste bad..
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