The Official Home Brew Thread

[mmmbeans]

You try farmers markets? I think whole foods and trader joes carry stuff without preservatives as well.

[Kettle]

wilmington has whole foods and trader joes both in the process of construction. i haven't tried a farmers market. i'm not sure there are any up and running right now. The ones i know of open certain days in non-winter months.

i've checked grocers and retailers looking for brands like musselmans that i've seen recommended online.

[Kettle]

My smoked porter. I haven't tried many of the style, but I think its good.

[Kettle]

My barrel aged stout. I've tried a few of this style, and while I won't say I'm in the league of a yeti, I wil say its on point. Tastes of chocolate, oak and Jameson make it smooth and easy drinking brew.

[Hairless Cat]

My first batch of homebrew beer will be ready to drink in about a week- looking forward to it and if its any good already have plans on starting another.

Does homebrew improve with age say after a couple weeks in the bottle?

if youre into cider take a look at the skeeter pee recipe I linked to a page or two back- easy to make and great for the summer and cheap - or just google skeeter p

[Kettle]

home brew can improve with age

[Hairless Cat]

can I get a recommendation for an online outfit that sells home brew supplies? Looking for best prices- selection isnt a huge issue at this point

[Kettle]

I've not bought anything off line, but would be interested in that info as well.

Along those lines, there is a new homebrew store in Wilmington, but I have not been to it. The owners are members of The Wort City brewers, and their store is Wilmington Homebrew Supply. They told me that they will cater more to beer brewers instead of wine like the other two stores in the area. http://www.wilmingtonhomebrew.com/

[Hairless Cat]

interesting about the new store in Wilmy - with the price of gas though it makes about a $ 25 round trip for me from here- at that price I can afford the shipping charges from online -

as an aside- does anyone remember Dergys beer?

just looked up the new places address- they are very close to another place that used to sell home brew and wine making supplies - that went out of business years ago- a little strip mall close to Honest Injun

[Hairless Cat]

Ok a question for the experts - I want to use DME with my next batch of mr beer to bring up the alcohol content and make the beer taste maltier- the mr beer onlyt uses HME and corn sugar they call booster- you dont have to boil the HME according to their directions - only the syrup you make from the " booster " is brought to a boil then removed from the heat and the HME added to it. From what I have read you have to boil DME - how long does the DME need to boil for and why do I need to boil it? Is it to kill the bad stuff or does it need to boil to activate it and release the sugars?

[mmmbeans]

both... are you not using hops?

[Hairless Cat]

Thanks for the quick reply. There are hops in the HME from mr beer and Im also planning on hopping the last few minutes of the boil using a t ball. Does that sound ok?

[mmmbeans]

i mean... use up what you have but I'd stay away from prehopped hme... the quality just isnt as good and you don't have as much control. If you aren't doing grain try to stick with fresh liquid DME.

That said, I've never used hme. That's just my understanding of it.

you really don't need to use a tea ball either, just throw the hops in there... they'll settle out with your break.

[Kettle]

not sure how I missed these last few posts, but bump for having a fermentation chamber now! $85 for a 7.2 cubic foot chest freezer off craigslist and another $75 for a wired johnson A419. I'm looking forward to tasting the difference this makes, and to being able to brew more this summer. Cheers!