The QuadraphonicQuad Craft Beer/Microbrew thread

[Marplot]

Just teasing

My boys relied too much on special teams and got handled at even strength, don't sweat it.

 

[The Rang]

or suffer longer ;-)

Unfortunately true

 

[ar surround]

At the Menabrea craft brewery in Biella, Italy last night: the dark beer is a double malt red ale while the litre size mugs are cash ale. The cash ale people's eyes were bigger than their stomachs!

 

[Marplot]

Yeah that red looks like a brown. Was it a malt bomb or did they up the hops to get some balance?

Great color.

 

[ar surround]

Yeah that red looks like a brown. Was it a malt bomb or did they up the hops to get some balance?

Great color.

I don’t know. I had red wine earlier in the day so passed on the brews, unfortunately. The red ale looked more reddish in person than what is showing up in the photo.

 

[cbmmm3]

Fat Heads Brewery. Hop JuJu. Very hop forward and quite bitter. 9 percent ABV and 100 IBUs. I like it. 8.5 on a 10 scale

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Is this the right thread to ask about home brewing? Well, in case it is...

Now I'm in Canada and find beer and wine prices silly compared to Oz (though for the much cheaper hard stuff here, like Captain Morgan's Black Spiced Rum, which is about half the price ), I want to brew/ferment my own. I've done both in the past with the raw ingredients, but I'm looking for simpler alternatives to do in Canada. I presume there are DIY beer kits, tins, etc., so any advice/recommendations are more than welcome. FYI, I only drink white wine (red gives me a headache), and my favourite beer here (so far) is "Sleeman Honey Brown Lager" (but can't find a recipe to brew that myself), and world-wide it's "Theakston Old Peculier". So they're the types of brew I'd be looking to drink; white wine preference would be a Riesling or Chardonnay (unfortunately both are triple the price here for just basic cask wine).

Cheers in advance for any help.

 

[Marplot]

you will not want to brew lager but ale. a brown is super easy and you could do it via extract brewing inexpensively.
take a look at morebeer.com, their extract kits to see some examples.
buying the ingredients out of kit will be cheaper.
I am have been brewing ~13 years so am happy to answer any questions that you might have. I moved from extract to all grain in June of 2015 so have a few year of extract to save you some miss-purchases.

 

[mrcond]

Is this the right thread to ask about home brewing? Well, in case it is...

Now I'm in Canada and find beer and wine prices silly compared to Oz (though for the much cheaper hard stuff here, like Captain Morgan's Black Spiced Rum, which is about half the price ), I want to brew/ferment my own. I've done both in the past with the raw ingredients, but I'm looking for simpler alternatives to do in Canada. I presume there are DIY beer kits, tins, etc., so any advice/recommendations are more than welcome. FYI, I only drink white wine (red gives me a headache), and my favourite beer here (so far) is "Sleeman Honey Brown Lager" (but can't find a recipe to brew that myself), and world-wide it's "Theakston Old Peculier". So they're the types of brew I'd be looking to drink; white wine preference would be a Riesling or Chardonnay (unfortunately both are triple the price here for just basic cask wine).

Cheers in advance for any help.

I haven't homebrewed in a while but was always happy with the pricing and variety and simplicity from Northern Brewer malt extract kits. They are in the U.S. though and not sure of shipping to Canada.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Thanks for the above advice, guys.

I did some research after posting that and found some interesting stuff:

(i) Theakston Old Peculier "kits" are available here, CAD$55 for 23 litres, either as a partial mash or an all-grain one:
All grain mash of Old Peculier

That "BrewHQ"place also sells cans of Coopers Ale for home brewing, so I might try that too (I grew up in Adelaide where the brewery is based, a top drop).

(ii) The all-grain mash is designed for use with the "Grainfather". I was thinking I might lash out (pardon the pun) and buy one as I did an all-grain mash of a dark ale in England back in the 90s and it turned out pretty well.
Has anyone here ever used one of these?
Grainfather

 

[Marplot]

I am an all grain brewer and have an electrician coming out tomorrow to quote 2 30amp and 3 15amp circuits so I can go electric brewing in the garage.
That being said, if I was just starting out I would buy a Grainfather.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

...if I was just starting out I would buy a Grainfather.

May I ask what's made you conclude that?

 

[Marplot]

Small so you can brew anywhere to include taking to other locations

All grain so you get much more control over color, body and mouthfeel

Smaller entry cost for all grain brewing

Less wasted outlay than I had going from extract to all grain

If you still want to go all grain full scale you can and this becomes a great pilot system to try new recipies on

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Small so you can brew anywhere to include taking to other locations

All grain so you get much more control over color, body and mouthfeel

Smaller entry cost for all grain brewing

Less wasted outlay than I had going from extract to all grain

If you still want to go all grain full scale you can and this becomes a great pilot system to try new recipies on

Sounds good enough for me. I'll tell them "Marplot" recommended it, and you should give him a commission.

 

[Marplot]

To me brewing is the perfect mix of science and voodoo. Toss in that 3 other friends and I have been doing it for years now and it is also a very social event.
Despite fears to the contrary, there is not a steep learning curve to all grain and as long as your sanitation is spot on, the end result will always be beer.

I stay away from clone recipe books. They are fun to look at but generally worthless after you brew a few times. It is easier to look at forums for common base recipes and tweak to your taste.
I do however really dig Mastering Homebrew by Randy Mosher and suggest seeing if your library has a copy.

 

[Marplot]

Here is a picture of our setup (pumps vary by location) and you can see why the Grainfather's size is attractive to me. For some time I was humping half the gear from house to house.

 

[Marplot]

That is a poncho (20 gal igloo) so the brew is either a barleywine or belgian strong dark. everything else we do can use a 10 gal. igloo as a mash tun.

 

[Marplot]

@Petr Kropotkin
This is a topical email.
Check out our complete overview video above to see the Grainfather G40 brewing system in action! The G40 boasts a larger capacity and enhanced connectivity, allowing you to brew up to 40L preboil (11 US Gal) of beer in a single batch. With the smart controller's built-in wireless control, you can connect your mobile device via the Grainfather App for step-by-step brewing guidance and access to a vast library of recipes.

P.S. Don’t forget to visit our Free Beer Friday page for your chance to win this amazing system AND take advantage of Special FBF June Deal!
https://mailchi.mp/morebeer/ferment4mom-1407736?e=435d462bbb

 

[GOS]

View attachment 106512
Here is a picture of our setup (pumps vary by location) and you can see why the Grainfather's size is attractive to me. For some time I was humping half the gear from house to house.

Is that you, or one of your friends? The picture makes me laugh, it sort of says, "OK, enough with the manual labor, let's drink beer!"

 

[GOS]

Also, the facia of that Audi looks like it's been ditch hopping. lmao