What's in the Carboy (or tank?)

[The Beer Philosopher]

Okay, let's get this party started ... whats brewing right now?

[Wilson]

That's a cool idea. I think I will. Half of the dubbel will be "double barrelled" with oak chips soaked in Southern Comfort and Cabernet Sauvignon.

[Rob DeNunzio]

My friend, you're completely mental. And I mean that as the greatest of compliments.

[Scott]

I have the ingredients for my Deep Winter Stout and a Summer Wheat; I hope to get the stout going this weekend. That way when the Stout is ready for secondary fermentation I can switch it to a clean carboy and then I can brew my Wheat and have a carboy to ferment in. I only have two carboys to play with.

[Josh Likes Beer]

I just finished my first batch of homebrew ever, which was a pale ale. It's conditioning in the refrigerator now, and I'll crack one open on Saturday to see if they're ready.

On Friday, I started an attempt to make a 3 gallon batch of a light sweet fruit beer for my girlfriend. It has 3.3 pounds of light malt extract and 5 pounds of pureed mixed berries, so it tastes and smells more like wine than beer. I used a low attenuation yeast and I added a half pound of lactose, so hopefully that will make it sweet enough for her. If not, I'll mix it half and half with sprite when I pour it.

I've got all the ingredients for a scotch ale ready to go as soon as I get my bucket cleaned out.

[Deege]

Congrats! Welcome to a fun and very addicting hobby!

My neighbors drained most of my Kölsch on Saturday, so I need to make alot more this weekend or I risk running dry in the summer.

Maybe I'll make a tripel to slow them down! :)

[Jay]

Here's my CV (that's cerevisiae vitae):

Primary: Apfelwein, Kolsch, American Bitter
Keg Conditioning: Standard Stout
On Tap: Pale Ale, Pecan Brown, IPA, Apfelwein, Golden Lemon 5-Grain
On Deck: Russian Imperial Stout (Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!)

[Rob DeNunzio]

Apfelwein is among one of the most cherished taste memories from my visits to Frankfurt. How are you making it?

[Jay]

It's a highly complex and tricky process.
- Buy five gallons of apple juice, up to 2 or 3 pounds of corn sugar and wine yeast (I use Epernay)
- Pour the first half gallon into a carboy
- Dump part of the sugar in the half empty apple juice container, shake to dissolve and pour into the carboy
- Repeat until you have all your sugar in there. Then pour in the rest of your juice.
- Add your yeast, wait until fermentation is complete (approx. four weeks). Keg or bottle, prime/carbonate if desired.

Ok, so I was kidding about the complex and tricky part.

This is not my recipe. You can see the original and about 340 pages of discussion here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860

The corn sugar is apparently not traditional and according the thread was added to the recipe to "up the ante" on the ABV. I've followed the recipe for both my batches. The recipe also calls for Montrachet yeast which is not available at the Beverage People in Santa Rosa. They recommended the Epernay. I think it attenuates slightly earlier than the Montrachet. My results are definitely not sweet, but I didn't get the 0.999 final gravity described in the recipe.

[Josh Likes Beer]

I just started a Scotch Ale this morning, following the extract recipe near the beginning of Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide. The recipe calls for 1 lb of brown sugar, but the brown sugar in the grocery store is nothing but completely refined white sugar some molasses added back in. So, I bought a pound of sugar cane candy from an Asian market and ground it up with a mortar and pestle. Another difference is that I used 1/2 lb of chocolate malt instead of the 1/4 lb called for.

I was a bit surprised when I took the original gravity reading. The recipe said the original gravity should be 1.055. My reading was 1.094. Heh, oops. I guess I'll call this an Imperial Scotch Ale.

[Skervenstein B-B]

I've got a blueberry melomel clearing right now. I racked over 3 pounds of frozen blueberries and then added 1oz blueberry flavoring to kick it up a bit. I'll be bottling in a bunch of blue swingtops I got free from the good people at Red Stone Meadery. Those guys are awesome!

[Steve/hbbeerguy]

Just bottled 5 gals of all-grain Pale Ale (simple 2-row, crystal, carpils, Cascade, and WhiteLabs Cal Ale yeast) Turned out great... Also have 10 gals of a Honey Blonde in two carboys currently bublin'. Made up recipe from a few other recipes I saw. Made that for the whimpy neighbors and friends who think the Pale is "too bitter" (whaaaa)..

[Scott]

I just bottled a summer-time wheat, the wheat is a low hoped, high malt brew with a full lemon that was zested and four citrus zest teabags thrown in for good measure. It came out to be around a 3.9 ABV, so it should be good for all day drinking while floating in the pool.