Home Brewing

[Schlyne]

Totally offtopic, but I was reading through an old post where somebody mentioned they'd buy bp.net beer

Does anybody else brew their own alcohol on here, or is it just me?

I primarily make mead. Mead is fermented honey and water. I do have a honey wheat beer kit sitting here, but I don't have time to make it....plus almost all of my fermenter's are full :lol:

I've already got a name for my little brewing operation though.

[sophie42204]

well, this is the perfect place to go 'totally off topic' :wink:

So, what's the name of your brewing op.?

[led4urhead]

I remember the bp.net beer. I think Ironhead and I are still waiting for someone to make it

[Schlyne]

Broom Closet Brews.

It has several references. Pagans who haven't told family or friends that they are pagan refer to that as being "in the broom closet". Also, the mead ferments in my apartment instead of the basement which most people use. I get better temperature control and I don't have to attempt to carry 5 gallons down the stairs. So the mead acutally ferments in a closet in my house.

I don't have a license or anything though. For that matter, I don't have enough mead in stock to even try to get a license yet... (Also, some of my mead is still aging, so it's really not drinkable yet. Coffee Mead takes a year to taste good.) I'd love to try and get a license someday, but I don't have the time or the funds.

I have a chance of moving halfway across the country (as long as I graduate from college) so I won't be making any more big batches of brew for a while. I will probably still experiment with my small 1 gallon carboy's though.

Right now I'm hoping that my firewater orange ginger mead will age out of it's current bitter state. The yule mead is still going, the lemon mead needs to be bottled and the very special circle mead is fermenting.

[Schlyne]

Oh yeah, on the label it says "Each bottle personally inspected by Nebula, the blue cream tortieshell tabby cat."

She's very curious and always hides in the closet whenever she can get in there. (She ends up in the bedroom whenever I make a batch or feed the snake.)

[Marla]

Sounds very cool. I've considered home brewing before, but never done it because I never knew when I'd end up moving. Maybe now is a good time to start thinking about it again, and maybe stop in to that home brew supplies store I pass every day. How many batches did it take before you got one you were happy with?

[Schlyne]

Acutally, the first batch was awesome. I had ordered a mead kit for the first one. (So it came with honey, champagne yeast, blackberry flavoring, and instructions. I bought spring water from the store and put together the first batch.) The first batch was blackberry mead, and I am hording the last of those bottles. It's really good. Mead peaks at 3 years, and the first batch is barely 6 months old

I believe my orange ginger is bitter becuase it was left in the primary fermenter too long. Hopefully it will smooth out over time and I won't have to throw it all out. I should taste it again and see how it's doing. I think the coffee mead will be fantastic. It'd not just my coffee mead, it's the just way coffee mead is that it needs to age before it's drinkable.

I know beer is a little bit more complicated to make.

I made an offer to one of my friends a while ago. She helps me when I do big batches of mead, and she gets a free bottle out of the batch. You can do it by yourself, but it's much easier with another pair of hands.

I haven't tried to make wine yet, but I'm still trying to determine what kinds of wine I like before I make a batch.

I also make cordials, but filtering those things take forever. To make a cordial you basically take fruit or spices and soak it in hard liquor and then sweeten it later. (it's pretty simple).

My local home brewing store closed (her husband got a new job in a diff state and they moved). so I started buying a lot of my stuff from http://www.midwestsupplies.com They're a really good site.

It takes a little bit of an investment to get all your inital supplies, but after you get the basic equipment, you're good to go for beer, wine or mead. (if you get a primary and secondary fermenter). After that, it's really cheap, if you're willing to take the time, and if you know how to make good beer, you will get much better beer. (I mean like sam adams quality beer, not bud or miller).

I keep a log of every mead batch I make, so I can duplicate it or improve,..etc. The Yule mead looks like it's going to be fanastic out of the carboy, so it will be drinkable right away.

To give a bit more about aging, I can tell you that the coffee mead tasted like jet fuel when it was done fermenting. It tastes like coffee now, and it's getting better.

[padiente]

I started making my own rum and beers a few years back, but only for personal/family/friends consumtion as it is so illegal to sell, give out in quantity, or publish. I keep it pretty hush hush. I started with Rum as a senior in high school. I wanted to see if I could do it. I figured out how by trial and error and have since found some good recipies for beer and rum, and built all my own simple equipment. It is fun

[Marla]

Thanks for all the info! Very informative. I may have to bug you with more questions later.

[Schlyne]

No problem, ask away