So, I purchased the IPA book.  I was in a mental bind about whether to get this book or the new Hops book, which is part of the Brewing Elements series.  I posted about my delima on various social networks: "which one should I get?"  To which the reply was mixed.  Get this one if you want this, get that one if you want that.  So, to make a short story boring, I bought both of them - but read the IPA book first.  (Have not yet gotten to the Hops book.  Can you say, "future post"?) I chose the IPA book because it is more in line with what I want to brew and learn.  I want to brew a good IPA, and to a lesser extent, a good pale ale.  I figured the Hops book would talk about hops in each style, growing, selecting varieties, etc.  Not what I am wanting now.  So, on with the IPA! The book goes in depth in to the history of the India Pale Ale style, going way back in history to its roots.  It tracks the evolution through the ...

Waxing bottles looks bad ass.  I think almost everyone will agree to that.  So, when our homebrew club racked out the Russian Imperial Stout from the Maker's Mark barrel , Eric and I decided to bottle (who needs that on a keggerator?), label, and wax cap our share.  Coming up with a name is post all its own - as is labeling, so I won't talk about that here.  What most people want to know about is how to wax.  I found a very helpful post over on Passion Beer's website and we followed their example.   I'll walk you through our steps and give you our details.  We were going to wax about 48 bottles. 1.  You need crayons.  We used 12 Crayola crayons.  There were cheaper options, but I decided on quality.  I hear that when school supplies hit in the fall, these 8-packs are about 25 cents.  I ended up paying 79 cents for these.  But now I can do this seven more times. 2.  You need hot glue gun sticks. ...

I am an all-grain, fermentation-controlled, kegging homebrewer (with other bells and whistles thrown in there, too).  But I didn't start out that way.  I was thinking about my progression as a homebrewer and wondering if I would change anything about my journey (hindsight is 20/20).  So, I made a list of my progression.  The list below doesn't contain every gadget or step, and some steps include multiple purchases/equipment, but it hits key milestones.  Here is a brief overview of how I have progressed so far as a homebrewer: Extract on the stove top Wort chiller Turkey fryer/Burner for outdoor use Kegerator Pump Fermentation control Yeast starters All-grain (all the equipment at once) Plate Chiller Oxygenation system So, what would I change?  How would I choose to progress now that I am more advanced?  Or, I guess a pertinent question also is, where did I get the most bang for my buck?  What was most worth the money?  Below is m...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn't think my Pumpkin Ale had enough spice character to it.  The general process for adding spices, which we followed, is to add them with 5 to 0 minutes left in the boil.  You can add them earlier or later, but adding them around knockout is the general practice.  Some spices or flavors (like vanilla) can be added to the secondary. Some whole spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. But, I don't really want to make this a "how to" spice post.  I am no expert in the world of spices.  I can just tell you what I did when my beer had too little spice.  I wanted to add more.  But more of what?  And how much more?  Since I keg, dumping in a bottle of ground cinnamon would've been easy, but over-spicing is really, really easy to do and it can ruin a batch of beer.  ( Please note, a bottle of ground cinnamon IS too much to add to 5 gallons of beer. )  I wanted a way I could add a little bit of spi...

Life has a way of filling up pretty quickly.  But, no excuses.  I haven't been as diligent as I want with this blog.  Now that Thanksgiving is over, maybe I can get back in the swing of things. For this post, I am going to review our pumpkin beer, Fairytale Debacle . Appearance The beer looks great.  It is one of the clearest beers I have brewed with an amber color, almost with an orange tint.  The head is nice and fluffy.  Very respectable pint of beer, if I do say so myself. Aroma I get some spice flavors coming through the nose, though, not a whole lot.  Has a good malt presence, too.  Nothing to overpowering, but pleasant. Flavor Good beer, easy drinking.  I get a bit of pumpkin flavor with some spice, but not a whole lot going on.  The spice flavors are more subtle and in the background.  Also, I think there is too much nutmeg or ginger which gives it a bit of a sharp aftertaste, but that is not unpleasant and mellow...

As our homebrew club did about a year ago, we again decided to age a beer in a bourbon barrel.  The Belgian Dubbel turned out nicely last time and this year we are upping our game and going for a Russian Imperial Stout.  ( Here is the brew sheet for the RIS. ) To be honest, there isn't a whole lot of stuff for me to talk about... 11 of us brewed 5 gallons of the beer and brought it to our local meeting place, Canal Street, and all siphoned our individual beers into the one barrel.  We'll let it sit for a couple to a few months and transfer back out into our individual kegs/carboys.   I have an idea on a few questions you may be asking, so let me take a stab at what may be on your mind. How did you get a barrel? One of the main guys in starting the club, Colin Presby, works for Weyerbacher Brewing.  They use Maker's Mark barrels for some of their brews.  Last year, he got one of their barrels after it was used.  Thi...

So, you want to brew a pumpkin beer, eh?  Good for you - now that is is the fall season .  Let me help you out by spinning two tales for you to ponder. First, a brewer and his partner gather up ingredients to brew a pumpkin spice beer - a beer with no pumpkin in the mash or the boil; there is simply pumpkin pie spices added at flame out.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice... you can already smell the flavors, can't you? Actual pumpkin in a can. On the evening before brew day, the two decide they want to use actual pumpkin in the beer - to add a little extra flavor and fermentables, to make it more authentic, and just for the overall experience of brewing with a vegetable.  The quickest and easiest way to do this is to add canned pumpkin - not the pie filling, they know.  They want to add actual pumpkin in a can, which should be readily available at the grocery store.  After a quick glance at the "If you want to add pumpkin" section of the instructions whic...