Official Alcohol Discussion Thread!

[DaMexiRican]

Can we get a sticky for this?

What do ya'll prefer to drink? Beer, Wine, Hard Liquor, Wine Coolers? All of them?

I only drink Beer and Hard Liquor. Mint Mojito is about the only thing close to a wine cooler I'll drink though LOL

 

[Illiciter]

got bored waiting on the doublewide orange ipa to finish up so I brewed up my oatmeal stout. However I put a little wheat twist on it this time by adding about 1.5 lbs of wheat extract to the mix. I guess my hope here is to give it a very rounded smooth flavor without giving away that I used wheat malt... my idea came from drinking a norwegian wheat stout called Darkforce which is brewed entirely with wheat, and has a unique smoothness to it that I'm proposing is largely due to the wheat malt itself. Will just have to find out.


The IPA is still bubbling away.. it had a massively aggressive two and a half day primary fermentation and has been cleaning up ever since.. It's been a week now and it's still glugging along around 62 degrees.. hopefully it's getting all the sweet cloying flavors out and making me a crispy hoppy beverage.


By the way the 4oz cascade late hopping idea I got came from this article from MrMalty:

The Secret to Big Hop Aroma and Flavor

 

[Off_contstantly]

G_d and I got to talking this weekend, and I might be jumping into the home brew world this summer/fall. Once I get the hang of the basics, I want to try and copy a beer that one of our local micro breweries made, but haven't made in 6 years. It's an Irish Stout with graham cracker extract. It was crazy how good this stuff was. They also did one called the Mammogram Stout, an Irish Stout brewed with molassass and brown sugar. Also really good.

 

[Illiciter]

G_d and I got to talking this weekend, and I might be jumping into the home brew world this summer/fall. Once I get the hang of the basics, I want to try and copy a beer that one of our local micro breweries made, but haven't made in 6 years. It's an Irish Stout with graham cracker extract. It was crazy how good this stuff was. They also did one called the Mammogram Stout, an Irish Stout brewed with molassass and brown sugar. Also really good.

Sweet! Drinking a westvleteren beer tipped me over the edge to get me to start brewing so I could learn to clone it.

Its an addictive hobby, and it feeds your creativity.

Good luck to you! you got a few brewers around here if you have questions.

 

[Off_contstantly]

Sweet! Drinking a westvleteren beer tipped me over the edge to get me to start brewing so I could learn to clone it.

Its an addictive hobby, and it feeds your creativity.

Good luck to you! you got a few brewers around here if you have questions.

My squad leader in my NG unit is a major home brew afficianado as well. There's even a home brew section in the forums for the Army Bands.

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

Alpha/ Splax,

Do you guys bottle or keg your beer? My next paycheck will have bonus on it so I'm thinking of using some of it to build a homebrew kegerator with a dual tap on top I was curious of how long the beer stays fresh when it's kegged and attached to a CO2 tank/regulator. Building the thing won't really be a problem, I found some plans that look easy enough. It's just wether or not I want to go through with it. You guys have any experience kegging?

 

[Illiciter]

Alpha/ Splax,

Do you guys bottle or keg your beer? My next paycheck will have bonus on it so I'm thinking of using some of it to build a homebrew kegerator with a dual tap on top I was curious of how long the beer stays fresh when it's kegged and attached to a CO2 tank/regulator. Building the thing won't really be a problem, I found some plans that look easy enough. It's just wether or not I want to go through with it. You guys have any experience kegging?

With the exception of gifts for my family or a REALLY special batch I always keg my beer. It's the easiest, the beer will keep for a long time, you can condition in the kegs, you can prime in kegs or you can force carbonate the kegs. It's only one vessel to deal with rather than 53 smaller glass ones. Cleaning is easy, sanitation easier than a bunch of bottles. You can keep the beer in the keg as long as you normally keep your beer in bottles as long as the kegs are sealed and have a CO2 blanket they are essentially a giant bottle of beer. I think the longest I've gone was 8 months in a keg and it tasted just as fresh as could be.

It's an all around well placed investment. Looking back I would have done at least a dual tap tower. You will not regret it for even a millisecond.

You just xfer your beer to the keg, put the lid on, purge the keg with some CO2 real quick, let the headspace pressurize and there you go. You can leave it on CO2 to force carbonate over a few weeks, or if you're letting it condition still you can just set it in a cool place in the basement for however long you want it to settle out. If you really wanted to prime the keg use only 1/3 cup priming sugar (or use a priming calculator), but this will put more sediment in the bottom of the keg and may leave a weird sweetness IMHO.

I love my kegs.. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my kegs.

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

wow, I think I'm sold now I guess I gotta buy the stuff and get to it. Where do you get your CO2? I'm sure I can get some in my area, I'm just not sure where to start looking...

 

[Illiciter]

wow, I think I'm sold now I guess I gotta buy the stuff and get to it. Where do you get your CO2? I'm sure I can get some in my area, I'm just not sure where to start looking...

we got a place nearby called AirGas .. I think they charge me $13 to refill a 5lb CO2 tank.. It's like $16 to refill a 10lb, and $19 for a 20lb tank.

CO2 is CHEAAAAAAP


You could also look for welding supply places and ask them if they'll refill your CO2 tanks, OR ask them where they get their CO2 refilled. Whatever you do, DO NOT get CO2 for paintball guns, it contains oil that will ruin your beer.

 

[splax23]

yeah the first time i kegged beer was my oktoberfest and i think it was infected. Its was a muddy brown color and very cloudy. no carbonation whatsoever. even tried to force carbonate but got no response. probably something happened when transferring to the keg. I do want to keg a RIS when i get time. I just fixed my kegerator to handle the little kegs so i got to get some use out of it.

 

[Illiciter]

yeah the first time i kegged beer was my oktoberfest and i think it was infected. Its was a muddy brown color and very cloudy. no carbonation whatsoever. even tried to force carbonate but got no response. probably something happened when transferring to the keg. I do want to keg a RIS when i get time. I just fixed my kegerator to handle the little kegs so i got to get some use out of it.

sounds like you had a leaky keg... if you have a tight seal and CO2 pressurizing a liquid (and it's being chilled) CO2 will seep into the solution and carbonate it even if it's infected.

If you're force carbonating the fastest way to do it is to crash cool the keg to like 34 degrees or lower but not lower than 27, crank the regulator to 30 PSI and start pressurizing the keg. Once it's equalized pick that bad boy up and shake the crap out of it while you count slowly to 100 (still hooked to the gas of course. You'll know it's working because you'll hear gas continously dispensing into the keg. Usually this will be enough, but sometimes I'll have to do another round of 100 - it really depends on how vigorous you can shake 5 gallons of liquid. Kind of a great workout on it's own.


man this is making me thirsty... I really want to try my beers! AHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[the_ps_hero]

i only wonder how much money you guys save...

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

i only wonder how much money you guys save...

none really after you start tinkering with the kegerators and other crap it's a fun hobby though and I do think that many of my beers taste better than stuff that's readily available at the grocery store. I haven't topped some of the specialty beers - yet

 

[Illiciter]

i only wonder how much money you guys save...

A loaded question indeed.

Exhibit A: 5 gallons of hard apple cider costs me roughly $28 per batch after my initial equipment purchases... This breaks down to approximately $0.52 per 12oz bottle or $3.17 a 6 pack. This is cheaper than anything you're going to buy at a store worth a damn, period, and is always around 10% or greater ABV


Exhibit 2: 5 gallons of gold medal winning peach wheat ale (which I think tastes better than any wheat ale you find on the market) costs just about $70 per batch, or $7.92 per 6 pack. By comparison to most top shelf local beers I'm still saving a few cents per 6 pack I'd buy at the store and is always around 7-8% ABV.


Exhibit F: 5 gallons of pumpkin ale, which has the most ingrediants to date ran me about $110 bucks when it was all said and done for supplies. Roughly $12.45 per 6pack. And around 11% ABV.


Your standard Budmillercoors 6-pack is going to be $5.99 or so, right? $10.99 a 12-pack, and $17.99 for a 30-pack.


Bang for buck commercial grade piss water ends up being the cheapest, flavorless, get drunk and bump n grind liquid on the market. However, when you scale up to a micro-brewery scale, and provided you enjoy your own beer, you can't beat homebrewing for price and quality. Also note the ABV on the examples above, it'll get you drunk if you want, and easily at that.

Most people who start homebrewing for the savings eventually start brewing for the quality instead regardless of price, but as you saw in my examples above that doesn't always mean you're not saving money from the commercial stuff, and in some cases you are absolutely not saving money, but you're making a really kickass beer.

I like to think of my equipment purchases as investments. They may not be paid off immediately, but after all the brewing I've done and money I've not spent on commercial stuff, I'm relatively certain it paid for itself in a year. Oh yeah and it tasted way better than budmillercoors.

 

[splax23]

So I went out last night for $2.00 off drafts Tuesday. The place I went to only carries michigan beer on draft but they were telling me that they have a special event coming up next month. Its an aged beer tasting. I cant remember the exact age of the beers but its from 1 to 3 years from what i do remember. Some that i can remember are Chimay Blue (Aged and new), Rochefort 10, and Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout (ive wanted to try this forever). The guy listed like 10 beers. my parents are going to buy me tickets for my bday. I really cant wait.

 

[Illiciter]

So I went out last night for $2.00 off drafts Tuesday. The place I went to only carries michigan beer on draft but they were telling me that they have a special event coming up next month. Its an aged beer tasting. I cant remember the exact age of the beers but its from 1 to 3 years from what i do remember. Some that i can remember are Chimay Blue (Aged and new), Rochefort 10, and Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout (ive wanted to try this forever). The guy listed like 10 beers. my parents are going to buy me tickets for my bday. I really cant wait.

bastard

 

[splax23]

bastard

Oh yeah thanks for reminding me. I think he said like 2 or 3 yr old Stone Bastard i just dont remember which one. haha

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

I love Rochefort 10. The yeast looks like little fish swimming around in that stuff, so thick and yummy....mmmmm

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

I just this minute pulled the trigger on the homebrew kegerator. I bought two corney kegs, a 5 lb. CO2 tank and all the hoses/connectors that I need. I've found a fridge at Lowes that I'll be going to pick up this weekend. I went ahead and bought some ingredients for a new pale ale too as I HAVE to have something to put in the kegs, obviously

I got some hops for the pale ale that I've never used or even heard of before - sorachi ace. They are supposed to be japanese and have a slight lemony aroma to them? I can't wait

 

[Illiciter]

I just this minute pulled the trigger on the homebrew kegerator. I bought two corney kegs, a 5 lb. CO2 tank and all the hoses/connectors that I need. I've found a fridge at Lowes that I'll be going to pick up this weekend. I went ahead and bought some ingredients for a new pale ale too as I HAVE to have something to put in the kegs, obviously

I got some hops for the pale ale that I've never used or even heard of before - sorachi ace. They are supposed to be japanese and have a slight lemony aroma to them? I can't wait

NICE! PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS!!!!


I've never heard of sorachi ace either... pull a Jim Koch and rub your nose in them hops and breath deep!

 

[MacDaddyOJack]

You bet. I think I'm going to go the route of a front tap instead of the tower that I had originally planned. The tower costs another $125 (dual tap) and it makes a hole in the top. Plus the front mount leaves the lines completely conditioned so I think that just makes the most sense. I'll be keeping this in the garage anyways so I don't need it to look like a modern masterpiece and I think this will still look pretty good. I'll post pics when it's done.

I laugh at Jim Koch on that commercial every time - only because I do the same thing! One of the best smells in the world, they need the make a hop flavored air freshener