Speaking of Christmas wishlists: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Beer-Garrett-Oliver/dp/0195367138/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319052687&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: The Oxford Companion to Beer (9780195367133): Garrett Oliver, Tom Colicchio: Books[/ame]
Congrats. Make sure and do your homework. There are some brands that many people avoid. Also, check used. Mine is a "True" brand. They make commercial products. They are $1200 - $1500 new. I got mine used for $450 -- it was a steal.
Hofbrau Octoberfest is very good this year. Brooklyn Brewery did a good job with there Octoberfest as well. Hooker Octoberfest is average
i noticed in the pic you posted. if i were to go this route, i would def go commercial as well. plus there's better insulation and therefore less energy cost. just like that old beer fridge we should all be getting rid of, but are too attached to, all the newer models with newer compressors are way more efficient. 450$ used really is a steal...
Great news for American lovers of Belgian beer. The fabled abbey brews of Westvleteren will finally be sold in the U.S. http://www.brewbound.com/news/westvleteren-beer-to-be-distributed-in-u-s
From the article... In the meantime, those looking for an American trappist-style ale ought to check out the Sierra Nevada Ovila dubbel... It's a limited release brewed by Sierra Nevada in collaboration with the monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA. I had some tonight and it was outstanding.
Had two big ones of DC Brau Imperial Pumpkin last night. Picked up Southern Tier Special Harvest Ale, Long Trail Harvest, and Weyerbacher Harvest Ale for today's Turkey Day celebrations.
Not happy with the New Belgium winter seasonal "Snow Day". Why to micros think that just throwing in a crapload of hops makes a good beer?
Our local christmas market has a stand with Belgian beer. Had a punch made from kriek there last night, was awesome! Is anybody here into mulled beer? I don't like the Polish versions too much, but the Belgian ones I had were quite good.
Speaking of things Belgian... One of the better on-line beer reads I know of is the Thirsty Pilgrim blog. Good stuff, and written (very well so, I'll add) from a more varied perspective than one often encounters from "beer writers." Anyway, Joe's latest entry links to a 26 minute "Beer Amongst the Belgians" pilot episode featuring noted Belgian beer expert Tim Webb: [ame="http://vimeo.com/19367846"]"Beer Amongst the Belgians" Promo on Vimeo[/ame] Yeah, it's a little beer-geeky. But Webb's extended interview with Cantillon head brewer Jean Van Roy is wonderful. Rumor has it that a full-blown, multi-episode mini-series of BATB could be coming to an American network in the next year or so. The Thirsty Pilgrim blog has actually linked to two great beer-themed videos this week, the other being a short film featuring the owner of Brussels restaurant Midi Station (the mysterious "Mr. De Prins"), and again highlighting lambic. Love the feel of this video: http://www.midi-station.be/midi-stories/thanks-to-the-bad-breath-of-the-people-of-brussels/
Gonna end up being about 7-8%...red ale of sorts. Cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, orange peel. Took about 3 weeks to fully ferment...I'm hoping just because the beer was cooled and the yeast were as active as they were when I originally put them in. My 13% ciders only take two weeks though, so, we shall see...hoping for a decent outcome! The original taste before I bottled it was pretty nice, had some warmth to it.
Yes, but I haven't been able to in about a year. (Out of my control as I brew with a group of buddies). We have a great system. One of the guys picked up a surplus vacuum pump from the US Mint - its about the size of a shoe box. We hook the vacuum to the carboy which is also hooked to the counter-flow chiller. So, the brew goes from brewing through the chiller into the carboy w/o touching the vacuum itself. We can transfer 5 gals from brewing temp to 67-69° in under 10 min. Very low chance of going bad. Carboy is then roughly dumped (to help aerate) directly into a stainless steel conical fermentor. After fermenting, we transfer soda kegs. I never bottle anymore. I have a three-tap kegerator.
This. My buddy and I have got a really effective (and inexpensive) system in place, but wort chilling is the one thing we don't have a solution for yet. We've been fortunate though to not have any problems with the slower, bathtub based cool down.