BARF Homebrewing.

[jrbruin]

Wow dsapsis, I thought I knew alot about beer, but you've just taken it to a whole new level!

Thanks for the suggestion on the cream ale, I've never brewed one so I'll look into it.

BTW, I do have the ability to lager - I've only done it once, but I have a 15cu foot chest freezer with a temp controller that I use for fermentation.
I didn't list any lagers because I'd like to get the taps full before I start any beers that will take a while in conditioning. Once the taps are full, I'm planning a Belgian Saison. Maybe then a lager or two would be fun to try.

[dsapsis]

Yeah, well, been at it a long time. Almost became a full-time professional brewer back in '87, but decided on grad school instead. Very good choice I think. I have a number of friends that are craft brewers, and while I don't brew quite as much/often as I used to, I still manage about 20/yr.

If you ever come to the AFM races, look for my pit. I always have have a keg.
PM me if you need a recipe fro cream ale.
--dave

[jrbruin]

Sounds like I need to head out to the races

About cream ale, I looked up some recipes and I'm not sure about it. It sounds pretty bland, like the ale equivalent of an american lager.
Am I way off? Style guidelines basically have very little hops, and the grain bill usually includes corn.

I imagine it'd be a hard beer to brew well because there's nothing to hide off flavors, but otherwise very much a lawnmower beer.

Why do you suppose it's called a cream beer? It's not creamy right?

[Jakemate]

Originally Posted by jrbruin

.

Welcome back!

The setup looks rad! If you want to work on some towers, we can do that. I've wanted to set up that way for a while.

[dsapsis]

Originally Posted by jrbruin

Sounds like I need to head out to the races

About cream ale, I looked up some recipes and I'm not sure about it. It sounds pretty bland, like the ale equivalent of an american lager.
Am I way off? Style guidelines basically have very little hops, and the grain bill usually includes corn.

I imagine it'd be a hard beer to brew well because there's nothing to hide off flavors, but otherwise very much a lawnmower beer.

Why do you suppose it's called a cream beer? It's not creamy right?

Historically, Cream Ales were widely brewed by small regional brewers. They were usually true top fermented beers, but made with a similar gristbill as their lager cousins. Currrntly there are two holdouts to that historic tradition -- Genesee and Little Kings -- but both of these have followed the reduced streght and reduced bitterness trends that have marked the last 40 years of industrial brewing in North America. A really really good one, albeit somewhat hard to find these days, is Molson Ale.

My Cream Ale is brewed with ~30% corn, ~70% Canadian 2-row, and I shoot for about 25-30 IBU. Mash for as much fermentability as you can. You want it dry to compliment the sweetness the corn provides (flavor, not sugar). There are a number of hypotheses about the term "cream" none particularly engaging.

--dave

[jrbruin]

Pics from Saturday's brew.. I ended up brewing a 10 gallon batch of IPA.

Starting out by milling the grain (30 lbs total)


Heated up the water and mashed for an hour at 150 degrees, then sparged to collect 12 gallons of wort.

Here's a pic of the spent grain in the mash tun:


After collecting the wort, then it's time to boil it:
Here's my kettle getting up to temp:


Here's a closeup with the hops in there (3 oz of chinook for bittering):


And while it's boiling it's nice to sample previous brews, but since I didn't have any on hand due to the long brewing drought - I'll settle for someone else's...



I've got 10 gallons happily bubbling away in my garage right now... Can't wait to get that on tap!

[OCCNinja]

uhhhh, beer is a little overdue? You should be braking into those summer ales right about now.

[jrbruin]

Originally Posted by OCCNinja

uhhhh, beer is a little overdue? You should be braking into those summer ales right about now.

Haha, I was wondering if someone would comment on my 2007 celebration ale.

I actually cellar a couple 6ers of celebration each winter, they get better with age. One year later is about the peak I think. I decided to drink celebration because it's an IPA and I was brewing an IPA. I like to drink the style I'm brewing if I can...

[jrbruin]

Okay, so now that I'm back into brewing I want to fix up my system a little bit. The stand would be nice, but I think some converted kegs and a pump are in order. My biggest complaint right now is having to top up my HLT multiple times during a brew session. It's really annoying to have to put more water in and then reheat. I'd like to have at least 15 gallons of hot water before the brew session even starts, then I can just go from there without worrying about running out.

Anybody know where I can get a sanke keg or three? 1 is fine for now, I can continue using the cooler for mashing and I already have a 14 gallon kettle, but it'd be nice if they matched.

[Ozymandias]

I get a lot of my supplies from www.morebeer.com. They are a great place over in Concord. You can get reman 5 gal cornies for like $40 Not to mention their ingredients are pretty good. Although I do find myself buying ingredients multiple places.

[jrbruin]

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

I get a lot of my supplies from www.morebeer.com. They are a great place over in Concord. You can get reman 5 gal cornies for like $40 Not to mention their ingredients are pretty good. Although I do find myself buying ingredients multiple places.

Yeah, I get alot of my ingredients at the morebeer store in los altos. I used to shop there when they were fermentation frenzy actually.

Anyways, I was mainly talking about 15.5 gallon sanke kegs so that I can cut the top out and make a cheap brew kettle.

I actually have 8 cornys already, not sure I need anymore just yet.

[Ozymandias]

I know you asked about Sanke. The one on Concord has those as well. At least they did the last time I was there about 6 months ago or so. I don't know about the one in Los Altos.

[jrbruin]

Originally Posted by Ozymandias

I know you asked about Sanke. The one on Concord has those as well. At least they did the last time I was there about 6 months ago or so. I don't know about the one in Los Altos.

oh cool, well, I'm heading to the los altos one today to get some ingredients for tomorrow's batch - so I guess we'll see

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, sorry about that, I could have been more specific. Either way, good luck. Should make an excellent kettle. If nothing else there's always craigslist and ebay.

[Jakemate]

I got one 15 gallon keg I *still* need to cut. Really, I'd like to find a couple more first. Then I could weld a tower up.

Eh.... Even with one, at least I can make a big extract batch.