Brew Anything Good Lately?

I have a big wagon full of pears that I hope to use. Warm weather and busy me mucking it up

Oh wow, that should be nice! What are you planning to do with them? Whatever you do, I suggest getting to them quick. We have an apple tree in our front yard that I ambitiously thought I'd use to make cider but life gets in the way and I only got to pick and juice like 20% of the apples it gave me. I can still make a hard cider out of that or something, just not nearly as much as I would have liked to get.

SolarEagle wins, I want to be your neighbor. For my tastes, it should be darker though.

if enough people swim in it, it'll get darker in a hurry.

My current human house load does not allow such luxuries. Brewing, not swimming in it. Maybe someday.

I can't see a thing in your post. It's just blank. Apparently, you posted a picture? Any particular format?

Come on Lyn, would that not be a refreshing dip in the Arizona summer?

Well, I doubt that the Arizona Department of Child Safety would think it was a good idea.

I'll stick with water in the pool and beer in the fridge.

All joking aside, I have seriously considered getting into brewing my own beer. It seems like all the brewing kits I see are the paler ales and lagers. I am into the thick, dark, malty German beers, preferably bock style or doppelbocks. Have you brewed anything like that?

Thank you for the tips.

I have a small home brew kit. I have used it a few times and I enjoy the fruits of my labor. My biggest hurdle is temperature control. I have to create a way to keep it at the right temperature.

I understand your woes. Keep an eye on craigslist for mini fridges, people have them for sale all the time. Then you can buy a temperature controller and have your beer ferment in that controlled environment. And if keeping it warmer is your issue, carboy jackets are a great solution!

Another interesting thing I learned recently - lagering doesn't have to be done at cooler temperatures. Well, at least lager-like character can be achieved with Saflager S-23. Great stuff! Made a watermelon lager with this and it turned out great.

If you ever need a tester for an IPA, give me a shout!

Engineering360 has published some good beer-related articles lately. We do try to give our readers what they want to read.

This is about healthy beer with added probiotics.

Here's one about spiffy new home-brewing equipment and another about engineering your own beer.

Freeze-dried beer, anyone? Maybe space station residents?

Some Penn students won an award for speeding up the fermentation process. is that really a good idea, though?

Unlike the above posts. I make a little stronger brew, dilute it and flavor it. Tequila! 98 proof or apple pie about 32 proof. I get about 195 proof on the second time thru the still.

I usually start with apples ( they're free) and ferment it to about 25%abv. Turbo yeast. Run it thru the still twice. I ferment with powdered charcoal in the mix. It slows down the fermentation process and removes the off flavors you sometimes get. For some reason unknown to me the charcoal makes cleanup easier. The left overs from the still go into the compost pile. I bottle in one gallon bottles and age for at least 6 months. Then I rack it and rebottle it in clean bottles, always dark colored bottles. I have had a few people try to convince me to go commercial with the apple pie. It has been my experience that using fruit for strong alcohol taste better than using grains or vegetables. Maybe I just don't do the grains and vegi's correctly.

The still is 8 gallons stainless with a 3 in column 6 ft tall. I run it with the bottom two feet of the column empty with a coarse screen at the bottom. I also insulate the bottom of the column. then above another screen, short small diameter ceramic tube pieces for 3 1/2 feet then copper mess for the rest. I used to use glass marbles in the column. I think the ceramic pieces work better.

I have several fig trees and have been drying the figs. I was thinking about some wine. I'm not a brewer, so I haven't gotten around to it yet. Still need to figure out what kind of brew to make before I try to get the recipe. I'd need a detailed recipe for dummies, tho. I'm not a cook either. Don't know if I'll ever get around to it.

What kind of yeast did you use to allow you to get to 12.25% ABV?

if you are replying to #17 I used brand name "turbo yeast" I buy it from my local distillery supply house. I have gotten as high as 26.6 percent alcohol, this was with excess sugar. It does require using an activated charcoal step. I buy the charcoal in liquid form, at the same place.