Exploding Beer

I was watching a beer making video on YouTube and of coarse the backdrop to video was this beautiful kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and so on - well the host commented that this was the second episode, where he should be talking about how well the beer was fermenting, but in between filming the episodes, the beer had bubbled so vigorously that it eventually turned into a gusher and plastered the entire kitchen. I've been brewing beer (and making wine) for many years and had never had this problem, but had heard some stories. I always thought that the stories were sort of myths. Recently, I started using liquid yeast vs. the typical dry packets of yeast that come with most beer kits. The liquid yeast generate many more yeast molecules during the fermentation process and the end result is a better beer. Well my beer did bubbled vigorously and foam pushed through the air lock. There was a little clean up, but fortunately no gushers. This beer will be ready in 5 weeks and I'm sure it will be mature and tasty in the spring. Reply with your beer making experiences and visit http://www.makingbeerisfun.com/

Key to Making GREAT Hombrew

I've been making beer for many years and have made many batches and styles. I generally use Brewer's Best recipe kits that come with everything you need, including, dry malt, liquid malt extract, grains, bittering hops, finishing hops, yeast....etc. These kits make it simple, as all you have to do is boil all the ingredients together for 1 hr and then pitch your yeast on top (be sure to follow the detialed directions). My latest recipe that I'm working on is a batch of Traditional European Boch. The kit comes with the standard dry packet of yeast, but this time I've put that to the side and I am using White Labs German Boch Liquid Yeast. I've heard from a friend that your yeast selection is the true key to a GREAT beer. Esseentially, he said it is the difference maker for homebrew that is submitted for local, regional, and national compititions. So I'm trying it out. After boiling all my ingredients for 1 hr per the instructions, I placed my brew kettle in a bath of ice watter to cool it down then further cooled it down by topping with water to the 5 gallon mark. When the wert (as they call it - unfermented beer) cooled down to 80F, I pitched my liquid yeast on top of the froth. I expected to see bubbling action within 24 hrs, but nothing. :-( After some researc, I'm so glad that this batch of beer is back on track. It turns out that I needed to ferment this type of beer at a much lower tempereature than I'm used to. Typically, I have always fermented my beer at just below room temp (65 F). This beer needs to ferment at around 45F - so I took it down to the unheated part of my basement and now it is bubbling away - the tell tale sign that everything is going well and beer will be ready in 5 wks! If you have an interest in making beer goto http://www.makingbeerisfun.com/ CHEERS!

What's in Your Carboy?

What's in your Carboy? I just bottled a batch of Merlot and another batch of Chocolate Raspberry Port. The Merlot was made from a Vintner's Best ingredient Kit, which is the best quality for the price in home wine making (~$70 makes 30 bottles of wine). Of course, if you spend more money, the wine gets even better as you get more juice with your kit and that basically leads to a superior wine with a fuller body. But I generally stick to the Vintner's best kits and I have not run into anyone that does not rave over the wine I make. The batches that just came out of my carboy has sat for a while and tastes pretty good right now, but they will surely get better with some aging in their bottles. My family and friends love the port - I have to stash it away or they will drink it all! My beer stock is low and I will be making a Traditional European Boch next. This will be the first time I'm using liquid yeast (usually you get a dry packet of yeast in the Brewer's Best kits). The dry yeast work out just fine, but I was told by a friend that competes nationally in hombrew, that the key to GREAT beer is using liquid yeast. I'm going to try it out and I will let you know. Share a story about your hombrew - I would love to hear from you. Make your own Beer or Wine? Visit www.makingbeerisfun.com or www.makingwineisfun.com, which are both divisions of Top Shelf Specialties.