Beer Recipe Design Over the years, I’ve come to realize that the basic principles of beer recipes design are often misunderstood and rarely well articulated. This week we’re going to look at how you can design a great beer recipes at home using a tried and true process. What follows is an what I consider an overview of the essence of beer recipe design. Starting a New Recipe When I build a new beer recipe, I almost always start by picking a target beer style. A good starting reference is the BJCP style guidelines. Choosing the Ingredients The next step in designing the beer is to pick appropriate ingredients. The BJCP style guide provides some information on typical ingredients used, but often does not have detailed breakouts of proportions. Another great resource is brewing books – one of my favorites is Ray Daniel’s book Designing Great Beers, which has detailed analysis of percentages of ingredients used in award winning and commercial beer examples. Brewing by the Numbers Brewing Techniques
Homebrew Kegerator How to build a kegerator kit or homebrew kegerator with a Sanyo SR-49XX or Sanyo SR-40XX refrigerator 6/2013 Update 2: I found another DANBY, Model DAR125SDD that should make a good conversion - the dimensions are right and it does not have an internal freezer. This model is available from BestBuy, Wal-Mart or The Home Depot. 6/2013 Update: As far as we know the only reasonably priced candidate for this conversion is the DANBY Model DAR440W. Beer dispensers have been made from just about all types of refrigerators and freezers over the years. This is a step by step guide to build a kegerator for homebrew beer or soda. Although these instructions were written for homebrew beer kegerator and Cornelius kegs, the exact same conversion will work for two tall, slender 1/6 draft beer kegs. I have answered 100's of emails & questions regarding alternate models, mostly concerning the smaller countertop refrigerators sold by Wal-Mart. The fridge needs to be at least 4.4 cu ft.
50 Wonderful Winter Beer Recipes for the Home Brewer If you're a professional drinker who's tasted every conceivable brew, then the next logical step is to make your own. Becoming a home brewer has its advantages — you don't have to search the town for the next great brand, you can fix your beers with your own personal touch, it's a hobby (a 7,000-year-old one) and you don't have to leave your home. So procure your supplies, consult the 50 wonderful winter beer recipes below, get to mashing (or not) and draft plans for a tasting party with your buds. You're guaranteed to be drunk with satisfaction. Spiced Brews The extra kick of a spiced beer complements the leftover cheer of the holiday season. Honey Ginger Lager: Ginger is a spice that's commonly added to winter brews, giving them a taste that's fit for the season. Strong Ales Darker and heavier brews are perfect for the cold winter months, when warmth his hard to come by. English Strong Spice Ale: A variety of ingredients ensures a formidable taste satisfactory to ale enthusiasts.
Beer Info Suger Priming Chart Chapter 11 - Priming and Bottling 11.4 Priming Solutions The best way to prime your beer is to mix your priming sugar into the whole batch prior to bottling. This ensures that all the bottles will be carbonated the same. Some books recommend adding 1 tsp. of sugar directly to the bottle for priming. Here's how to make and add priming solutions: 1. 2a. 2b. Figure 65- Nomograph for determining more precise amounts of priming sugar. How to Make Beer - Making Beer at Home Making a mash is not always necessary--you can brew a perfectly good lager or ale with prepackaged malt extract. But for this recipe, we're going all out, with an all-grain beer-- we extract the sugars from the grain ourselves. The recipe we're following is for a beer in the Belgian white or "wit" sytle. It's called "Wit Ginger, Not Mary Ann," and was published by the esteemed beer-brewing magazine, Zymurgy. Ingredients: 11 pounds of grain 11 quarts of water Our grains include 5 pounds Belgian pilsner malt, 4.5 pounds of German wheat malt, 1.0 pound of flaked oats, and 0.5 pounds of caramel pils malt. Take the mash (all the ingredients above in a pot) and bring it up to 150 degrees F, keeping it at that exact temperature for 1 hour. * Test the mash: The point of mashing is to turn starches in the grain into sugars and extract them into a sweet liquor.
A Recipe for Mead A Recipe for Mead Elizabeth Scheyder This is a good recipe for beginners – the quantity fits in an empty gallon wine jug, and you won’t spend a fortune on ingredients or equipment. Basic concepts about making mead: Making mead is really very simple. When you add spices to the basic honey/water/yeast mixture, it’s technically called a metheglin. You will be adding wine yeast (or sherry or champagne yeast) to do the fermenting. Ingredients: 2 or 3 cloves, lightly cracked 2 sticks of cinnamon, cracked dash of cardamom 2 to 4 teaspoons fresh lemon zest (just the thin yellow part, not the white part of the peel) 2 lbs. raw honey (get this at a health food store – don’t use a processed honey like “SueBee”) 1 packet of wine yeast* ¼ cup vodka or grain alcohol *Get this yeast at a homebrew shop. Equipment: large stockpot, 4 quarts or larger with lid (or use plastic wrap to cover) strainer or sieve 1 glass wine jug (but 2 will make it easier) 4 to 6 feet of plastic tubing (1/2” or so) OR a large funnel Method:
Ted's Homebrew Journal: Brewing One Gallon Batches I've brewed a good number of one gallon batches (view the list...here) in my day, and I'd like to share some things to consider while trying it for yourself. Overall, its a great way to experiment, to get in a small batch of something simple, to brew a batch as a yeast starter, or to use the vessels for tertiary aging with added flavors. Both my Mother and Grandma drink cheap bulk Carlo Rossi wines by the 3 & 4 liter jug. Not really sure why, nor how they get through the whole thing before it gets even nastier. But, somehow it makes them happy, and I get as many jugs as I need. I outfit these jugs with a #6 drilled stopper with a 3-4 inch piece of used plastic racking cane, and a section of hose for blow-off (view it...here). The simplest way to make a one gallon batch is the extract way. I've brewed all-grain one gallon batches before using my "mini-masher," and the results haven't been all that great. I usually will decant larger yeast starters before pitching into a full batch wort.