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Johnnycake
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Homebrewing
OK - this thread grows out of something that came up in the previous one, and I have been meaning to ask for a while.
Anyone else a homebrewer? I have done it for years - ales of all kinds, but then I found the Godly "mead" and that has been all I have made in the last few years. It takes a good year to age, but is absolutely DIVINE. I have not brewed in about a year, but now that I have the new house with a big basement I am going to get those glass carboys filled up again, LOL.
I've done it with all sorts of honeys, and even a raspberry clover honey with real raspberries added (ends up the color fo blood!).
S-Man, you brew too?
Johnny
Last edited by Johnnycake, Mar/4/07, 11:42 am
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Mar/4/07, 11:41 am
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tranders
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Re: Homebrewing
You've got my mouth watering.
I love mead. 
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"Too much of anything is bad,but too much of good whiskey is barely enough".
Mark Twain
Rob
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Mar/4/07, 3:18 pm
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SasquatchMan
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Re: Homebrewing
I've been brewing for a couple years now. Wish I started long ago. I tried a kit thinking "Well, what the hell, it's worth a try." and the beer was okay, and I just kind of fell in love with the idea of making my own beer.
Haven't done mead, but I do make a bit of wine.
Me and a buddy have done beer from cans, from wort kits, and from grain... he's big on all grain. I don't care, my goal was just to make my own "daily" kind of beer, and I do that now.
I think one of the most attractive things for me was the tinkering... take some oak chips and a pile of Cascades hops and add it to a pale ale, and bang, you're a couple of centuries back with a big strong India Pale. Lotta fun.
Last edited by SasquatchMan, Mar/4/07, 5:55 pm
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Mar/4/07, 5:38 pm
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blabudde
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Re: Homebrewing
My dad and I have been brewing for about 5 years now. We used to do seperate stuff, but now just do it together as he has all the set-up for all grain. Mostly ales. We just did a 5 gallon batch of a clone of Celis White Beer on Saturday. First stuck sparge ever. Had to sparge through a strainer as the bazooka sparger got clogged. 
My favorites are wheat beers and bitters (not bitter all, actually), and I also LOVE mead. Even did a prickly pear wine once. Kind of good.
Let me know if you want any tested and tasty recipes.
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Mar/5/07, 10:52 am
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Johnnycake
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Re: Homebrewing
Wow. S-Man and Brandon, very cool recipes. I've tinkered a bit as well. I once put Elder flowers in with a Mead batch and it came out great.
I always found that I was better at making Stouts for some reason when it came to beer. 
Prickly pear sounds really neat.
-J
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Mar/5/07, 7:01 pm
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SasquatchMan
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Re: Homebrewing
Brandon, you guys ever try batch sparging? My buddy gets about 80% efficiency with the simplest rig imaginable - we're talking Igloo cooler and plastic buckets here.
My stouts are pretty reliable too, Johnny... I think a lot of it has to do with how your water supply is "profiled" as the brewers say. All I know is I don't have to worry about black beer clearing so I tend to make a lot of it!! (Just add a cup of black patent to a lager... turns it black as the Ace of spades, and so tasty).
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Mar/5/07, 8:40 pm
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blabudde
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Re: Homebrewing
S-man, yep we batch sparge...and still had a stuck sparge. We've only had problems twice, and both times using wheat. And we use an igloo cooler with a bazooka sparger rigged up in the bottom of it. Efficiency is usually in the 70's.
IMO black patent and chocolate malt make everything taste better. 
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Mar/6/07, 7:47 am
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regor
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Re: Homebrewing
Can you all tell me more about "mead". I have never tried it and know very little about it. Thanks 
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Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, pee on it and walk away!(From a friend P.H.)
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Mar/6/07, 10:38 am
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Johnnycake
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Re: Homebrewing
Rog,
Mead is basically "honey wine" 
You ferment the sugar in honey into alcohol and end up with a drink that looks like a white wine, but is flavored with the essence of honey and the flowers it was made with by the bees. Some people carbonate it and other do not (I usually don't).
It was drunk a lot in earlier times like ancient Rome, and the Middle Ages (and supposedly the Ancient Greek Gods and Brabarian Gods like Thor drank it all the time LOL....)
It is absolutely wonderful IMHO. You "can" find it in certain liquor stores, but it is usually too old and also usually blended with spices of some sort (Mulling spices usually). Many recipes blend it with spices of some sort. I always preferred it straight, just with the flacor of honey.
It can be a KILLER hangover though, if you drink too much, as it is very potent (usually about 15-18%) and is crammed with sugar.
Hope that helps,
Johnny
Unfortunately, I do not have any left at the moment or I would send you a sample. To make GOOD mead you have to age it for about a year after you brew it. Come to think of it....I should get my butt down to the homebrew store and pick up some Honey and get a batch going LOL
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"If you can't send money, send tobacco." -George Washington to
the Continental Congress, 1776
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Mar/6/07, 11:02 am
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