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It’s that time again. Christmas is right around the corner and tradition states that it’s time to brew. This year I’ve once again stayed with Beer-Wine.com (Beer & Wine Hobby) recipes:

• Celtic Red Ale
• German Wheat

I brewed Saturday, November 29, 2008. I had a beautiful day for November. I had the first batch (Celtic Red) boiling by 9a.m and was finished and had both batches pitched by 4p.m.
I think both batches seemed to go off without too much of an issue. I think that I’ve really got my process down. One thing I need to concentrate on though is cleaning and sanitizing. I’ve been pretty successful with both up to this point but as I’m listening to the Basic Brewing Podcast I’m finding that there’s places I can fix a few things. One episode that I listened to talked about the proper amount of BTF sanitizer to use. I’m so glad I listened and can’t wait to apply what I heard.
One thing I want to look into is that the recipes for both of these batches had different processes than what I’ve done in the past. Neither used the standard “steep grains for 30 min, add extracts, bring to a boil and start hop additions” that I’m used to. The red had me steeping the grains along with the first hop addition, removing the grains, boiling, then adding the extracts during the last 15 minutes of the boil. The wheat actually had me boil the wheat grains for the first X amount of time. This one I’m most concerned about, this just seems very strange. Anyway I’ll see what happens.
Happy brewing…

This past Sunday I brewed two batches of the traditional Xmas beers. I’ve brewed beers for the holidays pretty much every year that I’ve been brewing and since last year I only had 3 bottles left, I decided to make two this year.
A few interesting things for these batches. It’s the first batch that I didn’t support Jasper’s. I purchased everything during a visit to Beer-Wine Hobby. It’s also the first batches that I used the pitchable yeast. I’ve been using the Smack Packs prior to this.The vial of yeast is perfect for those last minute brewing sessions, much like this weekend. Smack Packs seem to usually require at least 24 hours notice prior to brewing.
The Beers
I used Beer-Wine Hobby’s kits for both batches.
Nutty Brown Bear
Smithwick’s Ale Clone
So both beers were sitting in the basement by 8pm Sunday, the Smithwick’s clone was happily fermenting away by the time I was home from work Monday, and the Nutty Bear took a bit longer and finally was going by the time I got home last night (Tuesday).
My only problem with this batch is that the last few batches I’ve been using pellet hops and not bothering with using hop bags. Then once my wort is cooled and I pour it through my strainer I need to scoop the hops off the strainer pretty much constantly. This really slows down getting the cooled wort into the carboy and I’m a bit concerned that I’m exposing the wort to potential problems. I’m going to have to do some research about how to deal with this.
This morning I was greeted with a faint smell of fermentation when I walked into the basement. I’ve got to say it’s much better then the smell I usually have in the basement since it’s where the cat boxes are.
More Later on the results.

This past week I racked, tasted and did a bit of a flavor experiment with the mead. The batch I brewed back in November gave me over 5 gallons so I pulled 2 gallons off and did a bit of flavor testing. The first gallon I flavored with Blackberry Beer flavoring, it should be fine and the initial taste was actually quite satisfying. For the second gallon I mixed the mead with an unmeasured amount of pure pomegranate juice from Trader Joe’s. It was pasteurized, so I wasn’t sure what to do, I didn’t add any yeast nutrient or any additional yeast. I’ll have to see where that goes.
All the meads tasted great. The unflavored mead was a bit on the citrus side, probably due to too much acid blend, but I think it will make a decent tasting mead. I’m going to research ways to sweeten that up. Again the Blackberry mead tasted good, the flavor masked a bit of the citrus taste. The pomegranate was obviously very sweet since it wasn’t fermented.
I noticed a few strange things, my basic mead is still cloudy. The two gallons have cleared rather well, though there’s a loose layer of sediment on the bottom of the jugs. Speaking of jugs, I was able to acquire 5 – 1 gallon glass wine jugs over the past few months. The family loves making homemade sangria and use the burgundy. I like to think of it as saving money and keeping things out of the landfill. Back to the mead, the pomegranate mead had a few patches of small bubbles and almost looked like it was starting a mild fermentation. Not sure, I’m hoping that there’s nothing potentially harmful that could happen using juice this way.
Also, it’s apple season or just past apple season but either way it means fresh cider from the local farms, I’m thinking of making a 1 gallon batch of apple cider / mead, can’t recall the name for that at the moment, just need to pick up a pack of yeast and some honey. I’ll let you know how it goes.

News here, the “stout I may never talk about” turned out great, though it’s nothing like any stout I’ve ever tasted. It’s just not roasty enough. Probably because I realized after brewing that there’s no roasted barley in it. Live and learn.
What I did end up with is a really drinkable ale. Think stout without the roasty taste. I used my mini-keg system for this batch, 3 mini kegs (1gal). I kicked the first one Saturday and started the 2nd one. The first was great, but a bit young, the 2nd so far is really well carbonated and pretty smooth tasting.
I’ve picked up some various fruit and fruit juices to try flavoring my mead with. So as soon as I rack it again I’ll let you know where that goes.

Thanks to the Basic Brewing Podcast I’ve been bitten by the homebrewing bug. So far the Brown ale that I brewed for xmas presents seemed to turn out really well, though it seems that only three bottles will be left for me after it’s distributed.
Last weekend I brewed what will hopefully be an Oatmeal Stout. My doubts lie with the fact that I didn’t use the Dark Malt Extract which may cause the color to be off. No worries, it will still be beer it just might be a bit different then the style I was aiming for.
There were several issues during the brewing process which caused a bit of frustration, first one of the muslin bags I used broke open during the steeping, I had to strain the wort which hopefully won’t have any negative effects. Then I decided to pop the hop pellets into the boil without the hop bag that I usually use. I’ve done this before and the beer was excellent but this time the wort really thickened up, so when I went to strain it into the fermentor it took forever to strain. The thickening was probably due to the oats and excessive boil off.
Fermentation was excellent so far though, I saw signs of activity within about 12 hours and had a very vigorous fementation, foam up to the top of the 6.5 gallon carboy. Though things did settle off by Tuesday night. This just reminds me that I need to make sure I pick up something I can use my hydrometer in. hmm.
In other news, I think the mead is ready to rack for the first time. I’m still debating how to divide up the batch, to try adding some fruit, spices or what ever. Which would require me to get a few smaller carboys, but there’s worse things then having a few 1-3 gallon carboys hanging around.
Okay more on this later.

6 years ago I brewed a batch of American Pale Ale. As always I began sampling the brew which was dry hopped with 1oz of Cascade hop pellets about 2 weeks after bottling. It was terrible. Cascade hops have a very citrus taste, think Grapefruit Juice. Basically my beer tasted like it was flavored with Grapefruit juice. I began tasting the beer every one to two weeks. It just never got any better. A few months later I was running out of space and decided I was going to dump it. For giggles I decided to taste one last bottle. I’m so glad I did
Now 6 years later I have two bottles left. Well now just 1. I popped open one of the two 22oz bottles tonight for giggles. Now I’m thinking maybe I just don’t have a refined enough pallet to taste problems with this beer. I say this because it’s probably one of of the best tasting beers I’ve ever brewed. There’s maybe two or three beers that I’ve brewed that I’ve felt were ever as good as anything thing you’d buy at the store. Wait that’s not true, there’s maybe two or three beers that I ever felt that didn’t have that home brewed taste. This one definitely is one of my best. I’m thinking that the next batch is going to be this recipe. I just hope that I don’t have to wait another 6 years to enjoy it.
I’m going to finish pouring the rest of the 22, I should have taken a photo for prosperity sake

I’ve brewed off and on since 1999 (mostly off) I’ve brewed perhaps a dozen batches with pretty good results. I’ve had 2 batches that come to mind that saw the drain. Not a terrible track record honestly. Of the two batches, 1 was a collection of wort that was collected after a wort chiller leaked into the brewing pot, then sat two days before pitching yeast, it was doomed from the start. The 2nd was a batch I actually brewed, I’m never determined the cause but it was really messed up.
Anyway, I brewed last Sunday, the 2nd batch at the condo. I did a few different things that hopefully won’t cause any problems also it took almost 48 hours before I started to see any sign of fermentation. ( I actually had to turn our heat on to bump the temperature up in the condo ). I’ll post the recipe and post a few updates.
Today I’m brewing a batch of basic mead. I’ve brewed one batch of mead in my brewing career and while it wasn’t my all time favorite I’m hoping for good results. The recipe is basically the “Basic Brewing Podcast” recipe. I’ll post the recipe later also. I’m in the process of cooling the must, trying to keep myself busy so I don’t stand over the brewing pot waiting for it too cool enough to add it to the fermenter.
When brewing my beer I sampled a few of the last beers left from last years brewing. A year later and the beer was excellent. That’s the beauty of homebrew, even a year later the beer is as good as ever. In listening to the Basic Brewing Podcast this past week, I picked up quite a bit of suggestions that I can’t wait to apply to my next batch. Hopefully it won’t take until next year to brew.
In the past I was hoping to brew at least once a month. I’m thinking that would be a great goal, though it would encourage me to have a few more beers then usual. Though I wouldn’t ever have to buy beer again.
Tonight I’m sampling the last bottle of the only batch of mead I’ve ever made. That batch was split into two groups. The first was straight up, the second I added a strawberry extract. This bottle was one of the strawberry extract bottles. It’s really tasty. Too bad it’s the only bottle left. And too bad it took almost 5 years to mellow out enough to be enjoyable. In the past it’s been great for a buzz but as harsh as drinking a straight 100 proof alcohol.
Okay, off to add the must to the fermenter.