home-made beer

[RobertN]

And you're commenting about the fact I'm a Harley rider too /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif Honestly though, Pilsens and lagers are an art, and quite possible more "serious" to brew than the darker beers. They can also be enjoyed when darker beers just don't fit as well, like after 4 hours on the seat of a tractor in 105 degree heat.

And, a Sportser is a fine bike. I ride a Big-twin, and really like it. But, a sporty sure can cut the canyons easier(well, some models). It is a Sportser after all, and should be able to do sporty things/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

Patrick:
For your pears:

Just go to your nearest wine/beer making store and find a knowledgeable salesperson. Get advice on the type of yeast and buy the proper sugar. [ table sugar don't cut it as well ] Most important of all get a hydrometer and air locks and have patience.

One of the finest Pilsners Is Pilsner from Pilsen. Never go wrong with it.

Now is this confusing?

Egon

 

[RobertN]

Around here, Sierra Nevada, Guiness, and other brews go for $6-8/6-pack, and are comparable to some things I a have brewed. With that, you are looking at $60-80 for 2-1/2 cases. So, my $25/10-gal, 5 cases is a lot cheaper.

Yes, you can get Bud, Coors, Pabst ect for cheap. It would still cost me about $20-25 if I did try to brew 10gal/5 cases of a "Bud like" pilsen.

I have a made a number of batches of "Hard cider". We are surrounded by apple country. I have had some wonderful fortified sweet hard cider, and another less swwet version. Both are really good, and really simple.

Pear cider should be good. Go with natural yeast, or a non-attenuative champagne yeast. It would be really tasty!

 

[Egon]

Patrick:
Forgot to add.
Redesign your house so it will contain a wine cellar as you may get a surprise if you take this brewing seriously.
I haven't done any for over thirty years but had a spot picked out in the basement and just as it was nearing completion lost it to boxes of clay and a wheel. Even had plans for a racking shelf. All for nought.
Egon

 

[RobertN]

I have brewed mead's, and beers with honey. I personally do not like the honey beers. I made a batch, and thought it went bad. Had friends taste it, to see if they could identify what was wrong, but they all liked it! It's just not for my tastes, even though I like lots of beers.

The hard part with the mead was saving some. My brother brewed 10 gallons of the stuff on my beer system. It tasted good after only a couple months aging. I had to convince him it would get even better. Finally, he set some aside. That was four years ago. It is REALLY good now! And, yes, it will light you up!

If you want to fortify a cider, corn suger is probably the safest thing to add. It has no junk in it, and will have minimal affect on the flavor. That's why Coors uses it.

 

[patrickg]

Robert, Thanks so much for the Pear Cider advice. Sounds like it may be worth the time and effort to give it a whorl. Pear champagne, might it be worth trying? We like the sparkling apple juice and some champagnes are OK for once in a while. Maybe I can make some pear champagne...

I was mostly kidding about the beer pricing. Although I don't drink much of it or often, as I sometimes go for years between beers, nevertheless, my taster isn't broke and I can certainly appreciate the difference between good beer and the swill that is so popularly discounted. Name brand or Yellow label generic, swill is swill.

Patrick

 

[Ozarker]

Are you in Belgium? My son has been living in Belgium for about 4 years.

 

[Ozarker]

I've had Lone Star. The Army tries to import a wide range of beers to various posts and Lone Star use to make it to various NCO Clubs overseas.

 

[RobertN]

Each time I made a cider, I did carbonate it. I consistently used the same recipe, but used two different yeast. One was less attenuative, leaving more residual sugars, and a sweeter, more cidery flavor. The other yeast was more attenuative. It was not as sweet, and had less of the cider taste. It was bubbly from the carbonation, and had a champagne feel to it.

In all cases, I used champagne yeast. It fit well for the flavor, and handled higher alchohol levels than beer yeasts. Beer yeast peter out around 7-8% alchohol.

Hard Cider:
5 gallons sweet apple cider
1 lbs light brown sugar
2 lbs dark brown sugar
3 lbs honey
2 pkg champagne yeast

Pour 3gal of cider into glass carboy. In a pot, add 1/2 gallon of cider. Warm the cider, and add the brown sugar and honey; only warm the cider enough to dissolve the honey and brown sugar. Pour the mixture into the carboy(I like to cool the mixture first). Add the yeast to the carboy, and "Swirl" the mixture. Add additional cider to fill carboy, leaving enough headspace for fermentation(you'll have some sweet cider left over). Put a stopper and airlock on the carboy, and wait for fermentation. After fermentation, I added the same 3/4 cup of corn sugar to the mixture at bottling that I would for beer. In later batches, I cut that about in half. Bottle, and let sit for a few weeks. It gets better as it ages, so don't drink it early, even though it taste good. Give it some aging time.

You could take this recipe, and split it between two carboys. Use one packet of yeast for each, and try both yeasts.

Beware though, it will sneak up on you, and knock your socks off/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Steveng]

Yes sir, born and raised! In 4 years your son should have been able to taste some of the delicious beers we're brewing over here...