boycott big brew

[Sambo]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/08/11/boycotting-big-beer/


Anyhow, don't be afraid to sample a craft beer that you haven't tried before, until you find your fit. Big breweries might make a consistently bland product that many people enjoy; however, on an employee to volume of production ratio big brew fails by comparison to the jobs created by smaller production breweries.

Support craft, support local. Big brew is for shareholders profits

[Unquenchable Angst]

I enjoy craft beers, ales, stouts, porters, home brew. I don't bring any big brews in anymore. I hope to be able to do my own soon.

[PB the Deplorable]

I haven't had a drop of that shit beer since about 1992.  For me a 'big' brewery is Sierra Nevada.

[Unquenchable Angst]

big brewery for me is Sam Adams

[Sambo]

I enjoy craft beers, ales, stouts, porters, home brew. I don't bring any big brews in anymore. I hope to be able to do my own soon.

Start looking in to BIAB brewing. It's the easiest entry point in to all-grain brewing. You'll also want to get a Jonson controls a419 and a freezer or fridge for your fermentation chamber. Fermenting at room temp is not good for 95% of the beer you can make. For ales you want an ambient of about 62F constant, and for lagers you want about 51F constant. Also consider your storage options. Bottling vs. Kegging. I prefer 5gal soda kegs and CO2 over bottling and priming.

[cweb]

Start looking in to BIAB brewing. It's the easiest entry point in to all-grain brewing. You'll also want to get a Jonson controls a419 and a freezer or fridge for your fermentation chamber. Fermenting at room temp is not good for 95% of the beer you can make. For ales you want an ambient of about 62F constant, and for lagers you want about 51F constant. Also consider your storage options. Bottling vs. Kegging. I prefer 5gal soda kegs and CO2 over bottling and priming.

I've helped my buddy brew 4 batches so far and we've had reasonable success with bottling. We'll be transitioning to kegs once we do a little more reading and pool some cash. Kegs really are the way to go.

My advice to anyone here who is starting up would be to have patience. Your first brew might not be a world-beater, but you'll get better with practice.

We just did a pumpkin beer (with real pumpkin from scratch, not puree or extract) and it turned out great. It was really rewarding to take that first sip (after weeks of nervousness) and be greeted with such a taste!

[Sambo]

Nice. I'd like to try to make a pumpkin some day.

As for the kegging, you'll probably want 5gal ball lock (Cornelius)  soda kegs. A picnic tap is decent and cheap. Some people claim you need 10 ft of hose to prevent over foaming, but i use 4-5 tap hose and never have a problem, and i carbonate apropriately.

You should be able to spend no more than $200 for a refurbished keg, a 5lb co2 tank, picnic tap, and co2 regulator. Some keg lube or Dow 111 and replacement puppets and o-rings can usually come a little later.  If I want to bottle I just jam a sanitized 3/8 hose in to the tap and bottle.

I also use a 5 pail with spigot for fermenting and go straight to keg. No secondary, or if I want I will jump my beer from one keg to another as though the first keg were my secondary.

[West of the Rockies]

Friends don't let friends drink Bud.