Category: General

It’s Cheap

After the initial cost of equipment, the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch of beer start at just $35. That’s only about 70 cents per beer. Drive to the super market and craft beer is $10 a six pack or $12 for a 4 pack. When you home brew, you make exactly the beer you want to drink. With a little practice, you’ll even be able to create amazing beer right in your kitchen that rivals many craft breweries and you will do it with your own touch of love.

It’s Easy

The brewing process is surprisingly simple. If you can boil water, you can make beer. By far, the most difficult part of making beer is waiting for the fermentation and carbonation to finish. Probably the worst 4-6 weeks of your life. After that first batch, you will get a rythm and you will never run out of beer again.

It’s Fun

Making beer can be a great way to spend time with friends or just relaxing in the garage with a cold one keeping an eye on your boil kettle.

It’s Educational

When you see a brew go from raw ingredients to finished beer, your better able to appreciate all that goes into making beer and how each ingredient impacts the final outcome. This will help you understand what beers are your favorites and why.

It’s Legal

Homebrewing is officially legal in all 50 US states. Check the law in your state to see what restrictions may be in effect regarding quantity and transportation of your homebrew.

Yeast is very sensitive to temperature. Different strains of yeast have different ideal working temperatures for fermenting beer. You want to follow instructions for your yeast to make conditions optimal to produce a great beer.

Fermenting ale’s generally require a temperature between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand, lager requires a temperature between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not maintaining the proper temperature for your wort during fermentation can result in off flavors. Many of the off flavors will be produced in the first 3 days of fermentation as that is when the yeast is most active. Not to mention that the process of fermentation will produce heat and will raise the temperate of your wort above the room temperature.

For me, I’m considering making a fermentation chamber. The keezer build went very well and it maintains a chilly 36°F. Way too low for fermentation, but great for serving. The best thing is that I didn’t have to wire anything to make it work. I just bought a chest freezer, made a wood collar to make it taller for kegs, provide a medium for installing the taps, and added a temperature controller that turns the freezer on and off to maintain the temp just 3 degrees above freezing.

This time, I can’t spend $180 of a chest freezer, but would love to convert my old mini fridge into fermentation chamber. Still need to get a temperature controller, but the price on those has come down significantly since I purchased the one for my keezer.

Are you ready? The deadline is almost here.

Entry Fee: $6
Entry Deadline: 05/15/2018
Competition Date: 06/02/2018
ohiostatefairhomebrew.com

I might be a little late for this one. But I will enter a competition this year. Dang, I need to be on top of these things. I wonder what other deadlines I’m missing.

Actually, after reading a little more on their website, I need to register by May 15th. I have until May 29th to get my beer to them. Hmmmm, this might be possible. Too bad I just finished off a keg of my best beer “Dead Ringer”. It was very clear and tasted great. I have an English Pale Ale on tap now, but it’s cloudy and probably wouldn’t score well. I have 2 batches Fermenting right now:

1. Rocky Racoon Honey Lager. I never made this before, I brewed it on April 14th.
2. Rogue Chocolate Stout which is also a new recipe for me and was brewed on April 19th. The chocolate nibs need to be removed on May 11th and I should be able to keg it then.

I usually like to condition the beer. While I don’t have a hard and fast rule, I think they taste best 6-8 weeks after brewing. I guess, if it’s in the bottle by May 15th and the Event isn’t until June 2nd, that would fall right into the sweet spot.

Wow, with 10 days left to register, 279 entries have already been received.

Well, I got it from a couple of sources now that beer (wheat beer in particular) reduces muscle inflammation. The articles I’ve read so far, mention specifically studies done on marathon runners. The phenols in the beer are being given the credit and the runners were drinking non-alcholic beer because the alcohol could cause dehydration. My question is, if I’m not an athlete, will beer reduce my back pain which is caused by inflammation?

I’m brewing a Chocolate Stout today. I don’t drink a lot of stouts, but I had a couple of really good stouts recently and wanted to try it out. My friend Erik just made this same recipe and it turned out really good. Unfortunately, he drank it all and I only got 1 pint of it:(

When Erik made his, he used the chocolate extract that is called for in the recipe. I bought the chocolate nibs to add in secondary.

Today is Sunday you might be interested in this Russian Proverb

Beer can do more than quench your thirst after a day working in the garden.

Stale beer left after a party shouldn’t be poured down the drain. Instead use it to fertilize the garden. Be cautious to use beer without preservatives.

Another use for beer, preferably some cheap brand not your best home brew, is to control slugs. Place a shallow dish at ground level and fill about three quarter full of beer. The smell of the beer attracts the pests and they die happy.

Beer can also efficiently clean your metal garden tools. Just pour beer on, leave it awhile and wipe it off. Because of its acidity it cleans and shines the metal surface.