cutegrl289

Does anyone on this site homebrew beer? My fiance, Kevin, and I are getting into it and if anyone here has any tips, that would be great!

solosater

Sorry, I only brew tea. But I do make a mean cup of tea. You could always add whiskey or rum.

Yeah, I know, that doesn't help.

anotherronism

I am an old homebrewer. Me and my friends got into it big-time in the early nineties.

Here is my entire advice and philosophy. Sterilize everything!

Use clorox... Rinse, rinse and rinse again.

Clorox is chlorine - and your nose is unbelievably sensitive to it. When you can't smell it - it's gone and you're done sterilizing...

Here's the greatest recipe I've ever found... (Might not be appropriate but I don't care...)

Start with this:
Two Ounces of Pot (whatever!)
One 375ml bottle of grain alcohol

This is so, so expensive already

Now...

Take all that pot and put it on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Cook it for 25 minutes at the lowest setting on your oven.
(This will leach all the essential oils to the surface)

Now take this goop and combine it with the grain alcohol in a tupperware container. Seal it up and put it away for two weeks.

Two weeks later...

Brew whatever beer recipe takes your fancy (Pilsner and Lagers are hard - stick with browns and ales to start - they're easier!)

When you're comepletely finished with your recipe and ready to throw some yeast stop.

First - take the goop from your tupperware container and strain it through some cheesecloth into your recipe. Squeeze the mass to get every drop out. Don't worry about waste here - the heat and alcohol have liquified every thing of value in those initial two ouces) Discard the resulting goo.

Now toss your yeast.

The alcohol content is already high on your wert. So the yeast might appear inactive. (Many of them are gonna die when you toss 'em) But the remainder will live by the mantra "Whatever doesn't kill us will make us stronger"

You're not going to get such a dramatic change in specific gravity as you would otherwise - but remember that's a measurement of alcohol productio and we've added a major jolt of grain alcohol so it doesn't matter.

This will leave a lot of unvonverted sugars making a very sweet beer.

So you'll never be able to call this a "bitter" but as far as brown ales go it won't matter.

Let it gurgle for five days and when you're ready - bottle it.

When you add the sugar on bottling knock off about ten percent of the added sugar. (Remember - a lot of the original sugars didn't get converted so you're starting at a higher sugar level)

Bottle and add a week to the wait time.

Then - and I MEAN this - drink them S-L-O-W-L-Y.

You've never, and I mean never had anything like this before.

It's a joint a shot and a brewsky! All in on bottle.

Expect two-and-a-half cases production. Figure $375US for ingredients and you're looking at (cost) about $6.25US per bottle. But it is so, so worth it!

Have fun,
Ron

solosater

You can also brew pot as a tea.

No really, you can. But apparently there's not the same high...

I really wouldn't know but a friend with MS was telling me about it.

solosater

Ron, I gotta say, you've mentioned in the past that you either drink a lot now or you used to and I know I had mentioned that there was alot of drug and alcohol abuse in my family tree but wow, thats some recipe! I had no Idea you could do that. Or really that you'd want to. I think that might just kill a normal person.

I'm far from normal;-)

anotherronism

I didn't say I'd ever made it or even tasted it - it's just a cool recipe I know of. Now - if I had $400 or so lying about... Hmmm... (Just kidding)

cutegrl289

Uhhh... not quite what I was looking for. Entertaining to read, but I think you missed the mark with me, Ron. Sorry. The closest I've ever come to even smoking pot is at a Dave Matthews concert and that didn't happen.

Anyway, we're trying to find good ideas/recipes for a light summery beer since summer is coming soon. Any fruit beers or something like that would be a good idea.

anotherronism

cutegrl289: I'm sorry. We were "purists" when we brewed. We only did browns, ales, lagers and pilsners and limited out ingredients accordingly. We were not fans of fruity beers.

I did have one friend who did a pumpkin brew for halloween (heavy for summer) that was delicious.

There are SO many sites on the web. Just google homebrew. There also used to be a monthly magazine we'd pick up a copy now and then. Lots of recipes.

btw: I never, ever made the recipe I described. I'd like to one day - but it does NOT reflect my personality or lifestyle

I think, maybe, without the fruity side - a basic India Pale Ale (IPA) would be a good first try and the result, while brown, is still light and bitter enough for spirng or early summer.

But when the dog days come - you'd better have a pilsner. Let me tell you - they are hard to do. Getting that clarity and any semblence of flavor... Our most succesful batch we finally called Poinson Pilsner. It tasted like rancid peaches. We had one friend though who LOVED it and wouldn't let us throw it out.

cutegrl289

NP, Ron. We really like Belgian style beers that add crazy things and push the boundaries of brewing. I think we are going to try to find a clone recipe for Dogfish Head's Aprihop, a hoppy apricot IPA. It's very yummy.

anotherronism

Good luck - but to me that's like spreading jam on filet mignon...

It's not a problem - it's just not for me - especially with IPA. Or any bitter for that matter. I just never understood the "fruit" thing - But - I also liked to let aspirin disolve on my tongue when I was a kid and would eat green beans in the produce section at the grocery store when my friends were raiding the bulk-candy isle.

I've always liked bitter better (I like the sound of that )

anotherronism

Cutegrl: This is actual advice... (surprised?)

Anything you make now isn't gonna be ready until June. If you fond you don't like it your 2nd batch won't be ready until mid-to-late July.

I would so, so play it safe right now and not try any expiriments.

Go with a straight IPA or Light Brown Ale. It'll be a smashing success for your summer picnics and barbecues and parties.

But if your "fruit" experiments fail - they fail - and the season is past.

Use the fall and winter to expiriment.

(I know I'm mis-spelling expiriment but the proper spelling is just escaping me tonight )