One of the best things about making your own beer is drinking your own beer.  And, if you are like me, when you drink your own beer, it will either be horrible or the best beer you have ever had in your life.  Ever.  You put your own effort into this beer which you are now drinking.  You want it to be good, and if it is good, in your mind, that is great!  But classifying your beers into one of two categories ("horrible" or "great") is not very helpful.  So, today I want to talk about objectively rating your own beer. There are many ways to rate beers, but a good way I have found is to just use the Beer Judge Certification Program 's method.   They provide a nice score sheet (which the judges use in competition).  I'm not a BJCP judge, but why reinvent the wheel?  The sheet is helpful and can help you be a little more critical of your own beers.  And as an example, I am going to use my IPA which finished up a couple of weeks ...

If you are just starting out brewing, most likely you are going to be brewing an extract beer.  Extract is a great way to get started.  It helps you focus on some pretty important things - like cleanliness and sanitation - before you go whole-hog into all-grain.  Plus, it is nice to step up gradually, gathering equipment over time instead of purchasing thousands of dollars worth of stuff at once. Extract is a great, simple way to make pretty decent beer.  But sometimes, you can just tell it is an extract beer.  More sophisticated palates can taste an "extract" flavor.  At first, I had no clue what these guys were talking about.  After a few batches, however, I began to pick up on what they were saying.  But have no fear, reader!  There is still a way to make good extract beer with minimal to no "extract flavor."  Here are some tips I use when brewing extract batches. 1.  Steeping Grains Steeping grains is a simple and easy way...

I am not a big history guy.  It was one of my least favorite subjects in school.  But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it.  I think looking at the past helps us better understand our current situation - how we got to where we are now.  So, with this first "real" blog post, I want to take a look back to my first homebrewing experience. It was January of 2011 when my buddy, Eric, and I made our first plunge into homebrewing.  We had done all the research, talked with guys at our local homebrew club, visited the local homebrew shop, and, finally, purchased our equipment.  It was nothing too fancy - we were just going to be extract brewers, boiling wort on our stove top. We purchased some fermenters, spoons, odds and ends, and our boil kettle - an 8 gallon, stainless steel beauty.  (I have a nicer pot to make beer than I do to cook my food.)  And of course, we bought our ingredients.  We purchased a kit our homebrew store makes up the...