Anyone Home Brew beer?

[Far Canal]

Home brew fanatic here as well. I don't make my beer from scratch, I prefer those home brew cans that make about 25 liters. We have a brand called "Coopers" here in Australia which is pretty hard to beat.
I brew my own for the economics. A carton of beer(24 x 375ml cans) here will set you back about $45. However for that much you can make the equivalent of 140 cans of homebrew. So one can literally save thousands of dollars a year particularly if your a thirsty type.
For a while there I got right into making my own fruit wine as well as I live in a fruit growing area and there is no shortage of wild blackberries around in the autumn/fall as well. Even got into the champagne making too. My parsnip champagne was a winner and pretty funny to take to a party, people who hated parsnips were always willing to try some.
Got a book called ''The compleat home winemaker and brewer" by Ben Turner.
Its got recipies for just about anything including a beer called " Cock Ale" where a cooked chook/chicken is fermented in the beer for 7 - 10 days. Hmmm haven't tried that one yet.

[Diskman01]

I "brew" then run it through my copper still. Fill mason jars with sliced lemon, sugar and fill with what comes out of my still. Let sit for a month or two and enjoy. Have also used apples and cinnamon and charred oak chips.

It's been about 6-7 years tho. Maybe this winter.

[trbig]

Hoey crap! I thought I was doing ok by brewing a batch every other month or so! I am impressed! Let me know how the sake turns out, my wife is a connosseur of rice wine.

If you want to get flamed in a wine making forum, call rice wine sake.. lol. Different process and product.

I've had problems with the rice wine. It either had problems and soured, or with the size of the batches I was trying to do (Extremely large) in the bucket, the rice would start to break down, form basically a big glue plug in the bucket, no CO2 could escape so it would form a big bubble.. then stall out the fermentation. Common thought is to ferment the rice for 28 days since much longer was believed that it would turn into vinegar. So after I found the rice had stalled out, I opened the top broke through to the CO2 bubble, then added water (Which is one of the major causes of souring) and made it soupy.. then closed it up. Then.... I completely forgot about it. That was back in March! lol..

I needed an extra ferment bin and went looking.. and remembered the couple buckets of rice wine. I opened them up the night before last, (Been sitting in there 4 months!) expecting a science project inside, and was hit in the nose with a WONDERFUL smelling aroma. I only kept @ quart of each kind before dumping them, but now I'm kicking myself that I didn't go ahead and strain it. The wine tastes really good and I'd estimate the alcohol content at somewhere between 18-20%. The yeasts and mold used in rice wine can tolerate a much higher alcohol content than most brewing yeasts. I've since run these through a coffee filter so they're much clearer than this now.









The one on the left, I used some Red Yeast Rice in the mix. The one on the right was just regular. RYR for some reason gives the wine a very fruity flavor, which is weird because there's nothing in/on it besides a special mold (monascuc purpureus) It produces both amylase A and amylase B. (What breaks down the starches in rice, converting it so yeast can eat it) resulting in a more complete breakdown of the starch, resulting in higher yield. (More booze) It's also produces a lot of fruity compounds, making the flavor very different from unmixed rice wine.

The problem with the RYR is this is what cholesterol lowering drugs, such as Lovostatin are made from, so if you are taking anything for your cholesterol you shouldn't be drinking red rice wine. It could interact with, or change the effective dosage of, a cholesterol reducing medication. Big pharmacies spent millions to ban the import of RYR for medicinal purposes. These drugs are very expensive, so they didn't want someone undercutting them. Up until then, you could get RYR extract from health food stores. Well.. you still can, but it has the active ingredient removed (Supposedly). So, RYR is now sold as a consumable item in Oriental food stores, not as a medicinal item, which gets around the big pharmacies. lol. I stocked up on it last time I went to the store.









Sorry so long. Got me talking about things I enjoy.. lol.

[trbig]

Home brew fanatic here as well. I don't make my beer from scratch, I prefer those home brew cans that make about 25 liters. We have a brand called "Coopers" here in Australia which is pretty hard to beat.
I brew my own for the economics. A carton of beer(24 x 375ml cans) here will set you back about $45. However for that much you can make the equivalent of 140 cans of homebrew. So one can literally save thousands of dollars a year particularly if your a thirsty type.
For a while there I got right into making my own fruit wine as well as I live in a fruit growing area and there is no shortage of wild blackberries around in the autumn/fall as well. Even got into the champagne making too. My parsnip champagne was a winner and pretty funny to take to a party, people who hated parsnips were always willing to try some.
Got a book called ''The compleat home winemaker and brewer" by Ben Turner.
Its got recipies for just about anything including a beer called " Cock Ale" where a cooked chook/chicken is fermented in the beer for 7 - 10 days. Hmmm haven't tried that one yet.

Yeah, I have yet to make any from scratch, but like this last batch of chocolate porter, it's a half/half. I steeped grains and boiled everything.. added a little bit of hops.. then added two cans of the liquid malt extract.. along with some extra rice solids (Sugar) to bump up the alcohol just a smidge. But most of the time, I'm like you and just use the cans.. experimenting with different amounts of sugars, yeasts, and types of beer. I just looked last night and saw I still have 13 cases of beer bottled up. An assortment of apple cider, Mexican Cerveza, American Light, German Bock, and a Stout. Much of it is 5 months old or so, and I can't believe the difference in the taste between now and when it was made. A couple times a week, I'll take a bottle out and chill it down.. then pour it into a big mug right out of the freezer. Since it just keeps getting better, it keeps me from just drinking it all up.. waiting to find out what it's going to taste like in another month.

The main thing I don't like about the homebrew is that it doesn't really travel well. Get that yeast stirred up into the beer and it looks like crap and changes the taste.

Oh... I had to look up what a parsnip even was... and I believe I would be just fine going my whole life and not finding out what a fermented chicken carcass may taste like.. though I'm betting that Greg's ears perked up from the name.

[dpotter58]

tod

Does this mean you slowed up on that Kahlua

[trbig]

Does this mean you slowed up on that Kahlua

Gets pretty sweet after a while. Plus, with the milk it takes, when you do wheelies in front of 'Busas, you leave a foamy milky trail behind for your "Buddies" to give you crap about.

[dpotter58]

Gets pretty sweet after a while. Plus, with the milk it takes, when you do wheelies in front of 'Busas, you leave a foamy milky trail behind for your "Buddies" to give you crap about.

but but but you always have milk for your cheerios then...

[xs11jack]

sure looks like party time in OKie! I'll meet everyone at trbig's place!!
Ole hickup Jack

[Sebastian_99]

I homebrew pretty frequently but haven't started a batch, unfortunately, for over a month. Its been a busy summer. A good friend just dropped me off two glass carboys though and now I can brew up to 15 gallons at once. When the heat drops and I can start brewing again (dont wanna kill that yeast!) I will have quite the cue of beers in the works over the winter months. Hopefully I'll be bale to brew up enough with a lot of variety to keep me stocked up all summer next year.

[trbig]

Yeah, Like I said.. I'm tempted to just sit down and knock some back, but they just keep getting better as they age. A couple of them were honestly not very good after being bottled a couple weeks, but are getting pretty decent now.

Several years back, I made a dark beer, and tried it after a couple weeks, and it was probably the worst beer I'd ever tasted. It got pushed to the back of the pile and forgotten about for probably two years or so. One day digging for some apple cider, I found that beer, and out of curiosity, chilled one down to try it. After two years, it had gone from the worst beer I'd ever had to one of the best beers I'd ever tasted. The rest of it didn't last long. There's that big a difference in this aging process on the homebrew. I don't know how long the beers are actually supposed to go before/if they go bad, but I know guys that have mead put away for 10 and 15 years, though honey has some pretty good antibacterial agents in it.

With these 3 batches I have going right now (Mead, porter, and rice wine) it'll put me out of bottles with the other 13 cases I've got. So.. I'll need to start drinking, or invest in some more bottles! My oldest son has moved out, so at least I've got a place to store the bottles now. I'm wanting to get enough so I can let stuff age, though the rice wine isn't something that supposedly ages well, so I better keep it drank up.

[Rasputin]

I just buy my cheap azz beer daily. It is always fresh and up to my expectations.

[trbig]

I just buy my cheap azz beer daily. It is always fresh and up to my expectations.

After you've got the equipment, homebrewing can be way cheaper than your "Cheap azz beer", but the difference is like going to a microbrewery and getting a finely crafted beer, and a *bleh* watery Anheiser Bush, or really much of any American mass produced product. Plus, I can make the alcohol content whatever I want while the majority of you must stick with 3.2% Even Texans with their 6% is paltry next to some brews.

I guess some people's expectations are just lower.. lol.

[Rasputin]

I guess some people's expectations are just lower.. lol.

Also might be that my expectations suit me better than yours would. I can change brands, types, tastes etc at every purchase. I always know what I am drinking and how it will affect me versus the varying alcohol contents of home brewing. I have only ever had home brews that others have made and some were ok if they were mixed with either clam or battery acid!
I applaud the guys like yourself that have the time and inclination to do custom brewing. It is just not something I am interested in, have the time for, or the space. To each his own.

[trbig]

I can change brands, types, tastes etc at every purchase. I always know what I am drinking and how it will affect me versus the varying alcohol contents of home brewing.

Sure you can.. You can choose from one watery and weak version to another watery and weak version with a different name. You know how it will affect you because all weak watery beer does the same.. you'll eventually catch a buzz after you give your kidneys and bladder a workout... flushed every 5 minutes once you start. To each his own indeed, but you're a lot like the guy that goes up to wine connaisseur and tries to tell him that Boone's Farm is a great wine and more suits your taste. By all means... if it suits you. On the flip side, I've had fine caviar, and it tasted like something I should be fishing with, though I wouldn't be trying to convince anyone that Skittles were just as good.

I have no idea what your "Brand" is, but if it's something made in the states, it's doubtful to have won any national taste test awards. American beers are notorious for producing a beer that is very lightly hopped and as tasteless as possible with no characteristics. It's actually hard for a homebrewer to duplicate an American beer because of this, if they had actually wanted to. Just about everywhere else in the world laughs at American style beer because it's so weak and tasteless. Many people want more than that.. some are happy with bubbly water.

It is just not something I am interested in, have the time for, or the space.

Then why are you even posting here? Just wondering..

[Rasputin]

Sure you can.. You can choose from one watery and weak version to another watery and weak version with a different name. You know how it will affect you because all weak watery beer does the same.. you'll eventually catch a buzz after you give your kidneys and bladder a workout... flushed every 5 minutes once you start. To each his own indeed, but you're a lot like the guy that goes up to wine connaisseur and tries to tell him that Boone's Farm is a great wine and more suits your taste. By all means... if it suits you. On the flip side, I've had fine caviar, and it tasted like something I should be fishing with, though I wouldn't be trying to convince anyone that Skittles were just as good.

I have no idea what your "Brand" is, but if it's something made in the states, it's doubtful to have won any national taste test awards. American beers are notorious for producing a beer that is very lightly hopped and as tasteless as possible with no characteristics. It's actually hard for a homebrewer to duplicate an American beer because of this, if they had actually wanted to. Just about everywhere else in the world laughs at American style beer because it's so weak and tasteless. Many people want more than that.. some are happy with bubbly water.





Then why are you even posting here? Just wondering..

Then why are you even posting here? Just wondering..
I am apparently here so you can vent your beligerent views onto me.
Anyone Home Brew beer? Was a question made by the original poster. It was not Tods own beer page that not one should ever disagree with!!!
I just buy my cheap azz beer daily. It is always fresh and up to my expectations. Was my answer, which in no way called for you to begin railing away about how much cheaper it would be etc and my lowered values because I do not agree with your home brew.
I then in my next post explain why I do not care for home brewing and actually applaud you for doing so. I thought the conversation was well covered and over.
So now I read another sanctimonious post from you again ranting about my tastes and about anything else you can fit in there. Blow it out your Azz!