Call me lame if you'd like but my devious scheme played out exactly to plan... It all started at the gift exchange of a recent office Christmas party. I overspent the $20 limit by five bucks or so and picked up a Mr. Beer Home Brewery Deluxe Kit with the sole intention of taking it home for my own experimentation. The rules of the gift exchange were a complication since you're allowed to grab a random gift from under the tree when your name is drawn but when the next person is drawn, they're able to steal a gift anyone else has already opened instead of choosing a new one. The extra catch is: each gift is only allowed to be stolen a maximum of two times before it is deemed off-limits. Fortunately for me, the people running the gift exchange allowed three steals on accident and Mr. Beer was locked in front of me.
Luck of the draw? It seems that way now but I'm preparing myself for some major disappointment.
First of all, it seems strange that any decent beer can be made in a fake plastic keg within an advertised seven days. The fact that this thing sits on a shelf at Bed Bath and Beyond for months is just absurd. Any time a real beer is brewed, tremendous emphasis is put on keeping the hops, and more importantly, the yeast refrigerated until use. That's like leaving a bag of Tostitos open for a couple weeks and then expecting not to have a stale, cardboard bed of chips the next time you get a hankering for some delicious nachos.
On top of that, there really aren't any hops to begin with. There is a can of malt extract that is labeled, "hopped malt extract." Apparently this barley sugar is somehow infused with hop flavoring. The yeast is in it's own packet but of course not refrigerated.
After reading the instructions, it also seems very strange that there is never a time to boil the beer for an extended period of time before fermentation. Boiling the wort is a vital part to brewing let alone when you add hops at specific times during the process. That said, I fully expect this beer to have a far from special aroma. Maybe the bitterness will exist but boiling this stuff for a minute or two can't really produce much unless it's artificial.
Apparently there is a "Premium" Mr. Beer kit that is a step above the Deluxe kit I have here. The main assets missing in my extra-inferior product are bottles. It's a good thing I kept some empties from our pre-kegging, long, lost days of bottling. The premium edition's bottles are just plastic with screw-on style soda lids. You might as well buy some two-liters of soda water, dump it, and fill with Mr. Beer if you'd like the same effect. (Sidenote: you can use soda bottles for your own real homebrew if you'd like although it's not necessarily recommended. Just make sure you use something like flavorless soda water bottles because flavors like root beer, cola, or even Mountain Dew will impose their pungent flavors on the plastic bottle for all eternity.)
The type of brew in my Mr. Beer kit also throws a major variable into the equation. Mr. Beer claims a full line-up of beer ingredients to choose from to make nearly any type of beer out there. Mine is a pale ale. I must say, a porter, a stout, or even a red may give Mr. Beer a chance but now he's gotta handle one of the most delicate beers out there. Pale ales rely on the perfect mix of malt and hops to make a beverage worth drinking.
Mr. Beer really has his work cut out for him in my house. He's seen the inside of a lot of kitchens for the past decade or so and you really can't argue with his track record. I'd fully expected him to disappear from existence years ago but he just keeps on kicking. Maybe he's still around based on holiday gifting. Maybe he's still here because most people have low expectations and he's a good conversation piece. Or, maybe I'm way off...
The Brewline: Maybe I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Maybe suckling at the teet of Mr. Beer first hand will prove that he's the second coming and I'll quit homebrewing the appropriate way. Or not. Only time will tell.
Showing posts with label brewline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brewline. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Five Reasons Why YOU Should Homebrew Your Own Beer
When I first journeyed into homebrewing with my good friend Philipp, it was pretty intimidating. The list of equipment to buy, the crazy-sounding ingredients, and a commitment to cleanliness... strike that... sterilization really threw us for a loop.
"Dive in head first!"
That has become our motto when we try something out of the ordinary in our make-shift brewery. Nothing out there that was ever any good was easy to get off the ground. Brewing beer was definitely a new venture for us but it sounded way too cool for us to not even try.
I hope this post gives you that little extra encouragement to get started. For me, the icing on the cake was a conversation with an experienced homebrewer friend of mine named Ian. He had brewed countless batches of beer and summed it up in a simple way that I'll never forget. I'll label Ian's description as the number one and two reasons to homebrew...
1.) Ultimate freshness
2.) ...and YOU did it.
"It's like grilling a steak at home. Sure you can order it at restaurant and it will taste great but it will be missing that satisfaction of self-accomplishment. For brewing, you'll take pride in knowing that you were the one that mashed the barley, you were the one that decided the hop schedule, you were the one that fermented it in your garage. Aside from all that, I can guarantee you it will be the freshest beer you've ever tasted."
He was right. Even the worst batch we've brewed is still better than most beers we can pick up at the store because it's so fresh and brewed with love. It really becomes a passion for anyone that has a desire to create.
3.) Clone / Tweak your favorite beers.
Once you've purchased the basic equipment, the sky is the limit for what you can brew. Not only that, but you can hit the ground running in familiar territory by brewing a clone of a beer that you've had before.
With the power of the interwebs, you can find a recipe out there for nearly any commercial beer. Say you love something as popular as Blue Moon. A simple search for "Blue Moon clone recipe" will produce many results. Maybe you love a less popular beer like Russian River's Pliny the Elder. Same thing, just search for a clone and you'll have an ingredient list and instructions.
Not every clone recipe out there will produce exactly the beer you'd expect, but it will at least be a good start. Once you get the hang of what flavors, textures, and aromas are produced by each ingredient, you'll be able to modify recipes to your own liking. This type of tweaking is where it gets really interesting... this is where new, great beers are born.
4.) Sharing a one-of-a-kind
Philipp was concerned when we first started brewing that people would think we were dorks for getting into this. I saw his point since it was out of the ordinary among our friends but I was able to convince him that it was actually "the cool thing to do."
Fortunately, the latter thought came to life when we first started sharing our beers with friends. Unless you're Michael Bay, it's not often any of us are able to create something and then share it with others for immediate feedback. And, for something as unique as beer brewing, I've yet to meet someone who didn't think it was cool.
Even sharing beers that didn't quite work out the way you intended is a fun experience. A quick line of, "well, this didn't turn out great, but you should still try it and tell me what you don't like about it." You'll be surprised to find that your fellow beer-drinker will start to stick up for the beer that you considered a failure. He / She will find value in it regardless.
That's a great thing about homebrewing... each batch is genuinely unique. The ingredients you've used, the way you brewed, the temperatures you fermented, and all other factors truly make each beer you make a one-of-a-kind to this planet.
5.) Save a little cash.
I hesitate to even put this on the list because it's a bit of a misconception...
It is possible to save money by brewing your own beer but don't be misled into thinking it'll be very much especially since you'll have to invest some money up front into equipment.
Budweiser and MillerCoors don't use the typical beer ingredients which is why you can buy a 30-pack of Bud Light nastiness for $12. For one, they use a lot of rice. This helps them make a clearer beer and they spend way less when brewing since it's much cheaper than malted barley.
Now consider some craft brews out there like DogFish Head. Some of their beer costs $15 and that may just be a four-pack. When you buy a good beer like that, you're buying a lot of premium ingredients and a well-cared for work of art.
The same goes for homebrewing. The more ingredients, specifically specialty ingredients, the higher the cost. A typical 5-gallon homebrewed batch yields two cases of beer (48 bottles) and can cost you anywhere from $15 (if you're doing the all-grain method) to $75 (if you're doing the extract method). As a rule of thumb, you can expect your average price to be around $40 which will obviously save you money compared to the retail price of most craft beer.
The pros far outweigh the cons so don't let any of this scare you because I promise it'll be worth your time and effort. Especially when it hits your lips!
The Brewline: Getting into homebrewing can feel like jumping into the deep end... but you'll come out with your head above water and head right back to the diving board begging another turn.
"Dive in head first!"
That has become our motto when we try something out of the ordinary in our make-shift brewery. Nothing out there that was ever any good was easy to get off the ground. Brewing beer was definitely a new venture for us but it sounded way too cool for us to not even try.
I hope this post gives you that little extra encouragement to get started. For me, the icing on the cake was a conversation with an experienced homebrewer friend of mine named Ian. He had brewed countless batches of beer and summed it up in a simple way that I'll never forget. I'll label Ian's description as the number one and two reasons to homebrew...
1.) Ultimate freshness
2.) ...and YOU did it.
"It's like grilling a steak at home. Sure you can order it at restaurant and it will taste great but it will be missing that satisfaction of self-accomplishment. For brewing, you'll take pride in knowing that you were the one that mashed the barley, you were the one that decided the hop schedule, you were the one that fermented it in your garage. Aside from all that, I can guarantee you it will be the freshest beer you've ever tasted."
He was right. Even the worst batch we've brewed is still better than most beers we can pick up at the store because it's so fresh and brewed with love. It really becomes a passion for anyone that has a desire to create.
3.) Clone / Tweak your favorite beers.
Once you've purchased the basic equipment, the sky is the limit for what you can brew. Not only that, but you can hit the ground running in familiar territory by brewing a clone of a beer that you've had before.
With the power of the interwebs, you can find a recipe out there for nearly any commercial beer. Say you love something as popular as Blue Moon. A simple search for "Blue Moon clone recipe" will produce many results. Maybe you love a less popular beer like Russian River's Pliny the Elder. Same thing, just search for a clone and you'll have an ingredient list and instructions.
Not every clone recipe out there will produce exactly the beer you'd expect, but it will at least be a good start. Once you get the hang of what flavors, textures, and aromas are produced by each ingredient, you'll be able to modify recipes to your own liking. This type of tweaking is where it gets really interesting... this is where new, great beers are born.
4.) Sharing a one-of-a-kind
Philipp was concerned when we first started brewing that people would think we were dorks for getting into this. I saw his point since it was out of the ordinary among our friends but I was able to convince him that it was actually "the cool thing to do."
Fortunately, the latter thought came to life when we first started sharing our beers with friends. Unless you're Michael Bay, it's not often any of us are able to create something and then share it with others for immediate feedback. And, for something as unique as beer brewing, I've yet to meet someone who didn't think it was cool.
Even sharing beers that didn't quite work out the way you intended is a fun experience. A quick line of, "well, this didn't turn out great, but you should still try it and tell me what you don't like about it." You'll be surprised to find that your fellow beer-drinker will start to stick up for the beer that you considered a failure. He / She will find value in it regardless.
That's a great thing about homebrewing... each batch is genuinely unique. The ingredients you've used, the way you brewed, the temperatures you fermented, and all other factors truly make each beer you make a one-of-a-kind to this planet.
5.) Save a little cash.
I hesitate to even put this on the list because it's a bit of a misconception...
It is possible to save money by brewing your own beer but don't be misled into thinking it'll be very much especially since you'll have to invest some money up front into equipment.
Budweiser and MillerCoors don't use the typical beer ingredients which is why you can buy a 30-pack of Bud Light nastiness for $12. For one, they use a lot of rice. This helps them make a clearer beer and they spend way less when brewing since it's much cheaper than malted barley.
Now consider some craft brews out there like DogFish Head. Some of their beer costs $15 and that may just be a four-pack. When you buy a good beer like that, you're buying a lot of premium ingredients and a well-cared for work of art.
The same goes for homebrewing. The more ingredients, specifically specialty ingredients, the higher the cost. A typical 5-gallon homebrewed batch yields two cases of beer (48 bottles) and can cost you anywhere from $15 (if you're doing the all-grain method) to $75 (if you're doing the extract method). As a rule of thumb, you can expect your average price to be around $40 which will obviously save you money compared to the retail price of most craft beer.
The pros far outweigh the cons so don't let any of this scare you because I promise it'll be worth your time and effort. Especially when it hits your lips!
The Brewline: Getting into homebrewing can feel like jumping into the deep end... but you'll come out with your head above water and head right back to the diving board begging another turn.
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