#rdwhahb

[graytopbrewingco]

Racked my semisweet mead on top of potassium metabisulfite and blended tartaric acid to taste. A corker, corks, and 375 mL bottles are on the way. A few more weeks and it will be ready to bottle. #mead #homebrew #rdwhahb #wine #billshoneyfarm #droppingacid #bees #beekeeping #diy #handmade https://www.instagram.com/p/COGkM8gpXTz/?igshid=df43xh8433a4

[beerselfie]

#Repost @beersandbedtime ・・・ This special treat was definitely the shining star of my day ✨ I’m so lucky to have the super talented @fenrirbrewing near me and he let me try his latest hazy “Afterglow.” I’m blown away. Brewed with El Dorado and Cashmere hops. It’s fruity and effervescent, subtle Hop burn, melon in the back of the throat, a little mango, low bitterness to finish it off. And great Hop burps (my favorite 😏) This is some stuff to rival the pros. So inspiring! Great job Garreth!! Hope you let me taste V2.0 🙌🏼😋 #drinkhomebrew #homebrew #fenrirbrewing #wabeer #rdwhahb #beerblog #homebrewing #beerreview #drinklocal #beerfriends #hops #hazyipa #ipa #hoplover #beerlover #craftbeer #beergirl #craftbeergirl #beerselfie #instabeer #beerstagram #beercommunity #cheers #cheerstobeers #beerme #beersandbedtime

[friedies-blog]

Die alte #bianca #schreibmaschine reaktiviert, um #etiketten für meine #fakegose zu machen!😊✌️ Schönen #sonntag wünsch ich euch! #gose #rdwhahb (hier: Wiesbaden, Germany)

[anythingbeer]

Celebrating national Homebrew day with my Brett IPA dry hopped with Azacca and Eldorado! RDWHAHB

[instapicsil2]

When you drink homebrew out of the glass from your homebrew supply store. @co_brew_denver #rdwhahb #homebrew #drinklocal #craftbeer #beer https://ift.tt/2KMRVdO

[homebrewtalk]

Myths and Surprises in Homebrewing

It has been a year since I started brewing my own beer. In that time, I went from extract to all-grain, learned how to keg my beer, built a keezer, bought and used a fermentation chamber, installed an RO filter for water, and learned how to manage water additions, along with a host of other things.

I’ve done 24 batches to this point which gives me some measure of experience, but I also remember, vividly, what it was like to be a new brewer. In the interest of giving back, I list these myths and surprises I discovered in my first year of brewing.

1. SURPRISE – Patience Isn’t Just A Virtue, It’s Required If You Want To Brew Great Beer.

Everyone starting out is anxious to sample their new baby, but it’s almost always better to wait. I know how hard that is, as I was one of the miscreants sampling beer that hadn’t yet even carbed in the bottle! Lesson learned – it didn’t taste that great! Wait, you will be rewarded! Really.

2. SURPRISE – Green Beer Will Smooth Out, Almost Always.

When I started I didn’t really believe, deep down inside, in conditioning. Once beer is fermented, it’s done, right? Well, not right. Beer changes as it ages, usually for the better. A beer that is only slightly drinkable at 2 weeks can become a delight at 4 weeks. The key to allowing patience to flourish is to have enough beer in the pipeline that you don’t feel compelled to test. Not all beers require a long primary fermentation (meaning, 2 weeks or more), but everything else being equal, wait.

3. MYTH – You Must Use A Secondary.

A lot of starter kits come with secondaries, so it appears as if they’re necessary, but that’s not necessarily so. If you’re aging beer for months and months, a secondary might be advisable, but it’s still a gray area because of oxidation concerns. There are other reasons to secondary – freeing up the primary for more beer is one, but unless you have a specific reason, it’s not needed. For most beers, leaving beer in the primary is just fine.

4. MYTH – Avoid the Trub!

You know trub – that stuff composed of hop residue, cold break, hot break, the ugly green stuff left at the bottom of the boil kettle. When I started I used a sieve to try to remove all of it I could before it went into the fermenter; now, it all goes in! If I were aging for a long time, I’d use a secondary and get the beer off the trub, but most beer is just fine on the trub. I just kegged a porter that sat on the trub for 35 days; it is delicious at 65 degrees and not carbonated. I can’t wait to see how it is cold and carbed.

5. SURPRISE – Relax, Don’t Worry, Have A Home Brew Is Really Good Advice!

RDWHAHB – Charlie Papazian’s famous acronym is true. Brewing is generally a robust and hardy process. During my first brew I misread the directions, and added the liquid malt extract too early. In a near panic I chatted online with a brewmaster at one of the famous brew supply houses. He assured me everything would work out ok, and it did.

Most of the mistakes we make while brewing are not a death sentence for our beer. Didn’t hit the exact minute to add hops? It’ll turn out. Boiled five minutes too long, or short? It’ll turn out. The brewing process is resilient, and so long as you’re following good cleanliness and sanitizing practices, you’ll likely produce decent beer.

6. MYTH – If The Water Tastes Good, It’ll Make Good Beer.

I read this when I first started and was encouraged; my water tastes great. So why did my first few beers fall short of what I was expecting? I paid no attention to chlorine. Later, when I went to all-grain, I didn’t realize how bad my water composition is for some beers as it is very hard. Get your water tested, find out what it actually contains, and go from there. And watch the chlorine! Chlorine and chloramine can be removed by adding 1/4 of a campden tablet to each 5 gallons of water (1 tablet for 20 gallons).

7. MYTH – I Can’t Control Fermentation Temperature Without A Fridge.

Well, you really can, unless you’re living in a place that is insanely hot. Using a swamp cooler is easy, and effective. Just set the fermenter in a pan of water, and drape an old t-shirt over it to wick up water which evaporates and cools the fermenting wort. You can also help by using frozen water bottles placed in the pan in the morning and replaced daily or otherwise as needed. When I use one, I often place ice cubes or ice chunks under the t-shirt at the top; as they melt, they re-moisten the shirt, keeping it cooling. Replace as needed.

Temperature control is one of THE major things a new brewer can do to help move his/her beer from just drinkable to the WOW category. Yes, a fermentation chamber controlled by an Inkbird is more elegant in some ways, but for those for whom money is tight right now, you can easily control fermentation temps with a little ingenuity.

8. MYTH – I Need A Fancy Beer Gun To Bottle Kegged Beer.

No, you don’t. I’ve included a picture of my poor-man’s beer gun here, and it cost me about 5 dollars in parts. It works great! I have a growler filler for my taps, and I’ve filled many a bottle just using that, and quickly capping the product. I actually do have a $100 beer gun, but I’ve only used it once. The other methods work just fine, and they’re cheap!

9. MYTH – You Must Do Complicated Sparge Techniques If You Brew All-Grain.

People brew excellent beers using batch sparging and even no-sparge techniques. Brew-in-a-bag has become quite popular; some BIAB brewers sparge the bag; others just let it drain and they forgo any rinsing. How can they do this? They adjust their grain bill. While fly sparging, the more complicated and time consuming approach can increase efficiencies a few points, it’s not necessary to produce good beer.

10. SURPRISE – What You Like Is What You Like.

Your palate is what it is. I don’t care for Belgians. That doesn’t make me a bad guy, it just makes me a guy who doesn’t like Belgians. I tend to prefer malt-forward beers; others are hop-heads. As the famous sign says, there’s room for us all to co-exist. What is a great beer for one person can be torture for another. The only criterion that matters is that you like the beer you brew, and if you can do that, you’ve won.

by Mike Dalecki Mike Dalecki is a college professor whose avocation is zymurgy. He was thrust into brewing when his local craft brewer changed the recipe of his all-time favorite brew; he channeled his anguish into homebrewing in an attempt to recreate it. He’s pretty close. His three favorite styles are ESB, California Common, and his house beer Funky Rye ale.

Myths and Surprises in Homebrewing was originally published on HomeBrewTalk.com

[heintzartisanalales]

TIFU by clearing my gruitbeer outside overnight! Due to a leakage I lost 11L - never happened before! I will now bottle the residual 8L - So annoying! At least 8L survived. Bad efficiency...haha ! RDWHAHB #homebrewing #gruitbeer #tifu #leakage#rdwhahb

[mubrew-blog]

It's beer! Drinkable beer! #rdwhahb I have no idea what to call it. It's based on my Bitchin' Bitter, but I felt my ingredients were a little off in the weeds. Bramble Bitter?

[beersoaked]

Popped the top on an unnamed #homebrew from @ceelinn Well balanced, easy drinking, wish I had another one. #rdwhahb Cheers to #craftbeer

[graytopbrewingco]

Stabilized my mead and racked on top of 5 lbs of honey to back sweeten. I will give it a few weeks and check the gravity and then rack again on top of potassium metabisulfite before bottling. #honey #mead #billshoneyfarm #homebrew #rdwhahb #homebrewing #winemaking #soon https://www.instagram.com/p/CMxo1vSJ2f9/?igshid=19psi6s72jm7u

[vinsliver]

Imperial IPA

[friedies-blog]

Schönes Wochenende, Leute!😎🍺✌️#rdwhahb (hier: Wiesbaden, Germany)

[anythingbeer]

RDWHAHB

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // Check Your Instruments // Irish Red Ale

Check Your Instruments (yields 5 G)

design a recipe that should use up every last little bit of malt, hop and yeast scraps you have

have a disastrous brew day

add all the DME and table sugar you have in house to compensate for ~20 points of missing OG

realize that your hydrometer is not calibrated, and your probably hit your OG just fine, but there's no way to tell now

contemplate trashing the whole thing an pretending like it never happened

shake well and allow to ferment and condition for three weeks

keg, carbonate and enjoy your wacky beer!

That being said, this Irish Red Ale, didn't turn out so bad.  The ABV is definitely out of alignment, and it's a little more chocolaty-sweet than roasty-dry, but it does taste pretty good.  I don't actually know what the OG was.  Based off of my original recipe adjusted for the DME and sugar additions and then pseudo-reverse-engineered from the yeasts listed attenuation level, I would guestimate (not a real form of measurement, but it sounds like fun) the beer at around 6.25% ABV, a touch high for a real Irish Red.

Vitals: OG: ~1.060 FG: 1.012 ABV: ~6.25% IBU: 28 SRM: 16

Appearance:  Pours a slightly hazy mahogany, only a subtle hue of red.  An off white head is well over two fingers thick and lasts through the glass.

Aroma:  Complex maltiness here, decidedly whole-grain-bread-like, with caramel toffee, red fruits, chocolate and a hint of roast.  Some mildly earthy hop notes, apple-y yeast fruit tones as well.  A palpable hint of alcohol as well.

Taste:  Malty-sweet with minimal hop or roast bitterness.  Had I hit the gravity I wanted, this would have been the biggest change in the beer.  The lower OG would have allowed for more perceived hop bitterness.  That, combined with a thinner body would have heightened the roast as well, resulting a more thoroughly bittered and balanaced beer.  Somehow manages to finish dry and surprisingly clean.

Palate:  Thick and creamy, but not heavy or sweet.  Certainly contains oats.  Smooth, moderate body with moderate plus carbonation.

Overall:  Actually, not all that bad.  With some minor adjustments to the recipe this could be quite enjoyable.  Oh, and of course, check your instruments.

[brewstagram]

Barley Works and @daddybrews collaboration. Look for this @grovetoberfest.ift.tt/1sdmFpW

[kevinmalexander]

Brew Day Plans: Cherry Chocolate Milk Stout

Finally getting back to brewing some beer tomorrow. Haven't had a brew day since September when I made a SMaSH ale (Pilsner malt and Sterling hops). On deck is a beer that I'm making to serve at my upcoming 6th annual Christmas Eve Open House. It's got a milk stout (sweet stout) base that I'll be adding Cacao nibs and fresh sweet cherries that have been frozen since I bought them.

Grain Bill:

10 lbs. - 2 Row Pale Malt

1 lb. - Flaked Oats

1 lb. - Pale Chocolate Malt (200 SRM)

12 oz. - Caramel 80L

8 oz. - Black Patent (500 SRM)

1 lb. - Lactose

Hops:

60 min - 2 oz., East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA)

Yeast:

Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Other Ingredients:

10 lbs. fresh sweet cherries, frozen

8 oz. cacao nibs

Mash at 156F for 45 minutes. Mash out at 168F for 10 min. Fly sparge.

Gonna leave it in primary for a week then rack it onto the cherries and nibs. Will force carb in a keg.