Since I am credited with starting this discussion I should reply to it shouldn't I! ;-)

Cowdawg Beer

Breaking from my decidedly canine patterned naming schemes I actually use the name "Schooner Brews" when labeling my brew. I brew the following styles of beer:

• Belgian
  • Trappist
  • Abbey
    • Dubble 8.5% ABV
    • Trippel 9.5% ABV
  • Saison 7.5% ABV
• Stought 6% ABV
• Pale Ale 5.5% ABV

I started brewing way back in 1974 when it was just barely legal to do so. There wasn't any where near the support for homebrewing that there is now. I stopped brewing while I was in the Navy and didn't start back up again until 2001.

Brewing Setup

I have two converted 15 gallon kegs that I use as a HLT and boiler. My MLT is a commercially produced one with a capacity to handle 30 pounds of grain. For a ten gallon batch of Trippel that's about what I need.

Which is the best?

The jury is still out. My tasting panel tends to lean towards the Stout but I think they are afraid I will not submit any samples of the other stuff when I brew it if tell me they like one over the other. I'm partial to the Belgians myself, but that is my personal taste preference anyway.

I've been homebrewing down here in the humidity for nigh 12 years.

All of my brews thus far have been ales (no lagering fridge until recently) and meads of great variety. For the ales, I typically do partial mashes since I don't have my full grain brewing system yet (which I plan on custom building).

I'm a hop head when it comes to beers. Though I shun no varieties and can appreciate most if not all, I find myself returning again and again to a Sierra Nevada Celebration clone I affectionately refer to as "Hop Damn!" APA.

Another perennial favorite, around November or so each year, is a light-on-the-sweet-n-spice pumpkin ale made with fresh baked pumpkins as an adjunct.

As for the final stage...I grew tired of bottling (ales) a while back and went with a kegging system. Kegerator!

If any perl brewers are out and about in Houston, I'm game for a brew-in or some perl talk over a frothy.

Cheers,
Matt

mmmmmm kegs.. I've got an old freezer, 1 keg, and some stainless tubing but the Perl has kept me too busy to put it together so I'm still washing, rinsing, and bottling for each brew.. bugga.. gotta get that sorted.

Coopers Canadian Blond is my current tin of choice.. (Coopers Pale Ale if buying the "real" stuff) mmm probably not classified as real brewing compared to some of the monks here, but the result is real enough.. 8)

cheers,

J

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

Homebrewing isn't necessarily about a lack of good microbrews in your area. Just because there are tons of good restauraunts within a few miles of my mother's house doesn't mean she isn't still going to whip up a delicious home-cooked meal.

In any case, I've never brewed anything myself, but used to play "brewmaster's assistant" back when my old roommate brewed. Good stuff.

-s.

I concur, when I started brewing it was because I lived in Oklahoma and the choices were pretty much Miller, Bud or Coors.<p. Over the years, with microbrews becoming more available the choices have grown considerably but I still brew periodically because there is nothing quite like enjoying the fruits of one's own labors.

I would have to agree! though I am not a veteran brewer myself and have only brewed a few batches I much more enjoy the beer I have made, even if it is only because I have took part in the process of turning those wonderful ingredients into the beverage of choice, (for me that is!).
~Dan

An excellent hobby. I've been neglecting it for almost 4 years now. Before that time, I brewed a 50 liter batch once a year.

The bassplayer of my band and me would make our famous Barbarian Blues Beer ©. Experimenting with the ingredients would allways make sure we had loads of fun during the brewing-process.

And while our first tries were pretty horrible tasting (add too much sugar, and it may look like, and taste like, bad wine), the quality quickly improved over the 8 years that I've brewed beer. It's definitely worth trying, fellow monks.

Almost as much fun as skydiving, but that's an entirely different off topic post ;)

Cheers, Teabag
Sure there's more than one way, but one just needs one anyway - Teabag

On a serious note, I don't (yet) brew, but I hope I will start one day. Give me some time - I've just found out how to make coffee last week! I mean the real one, not that staff from the can. :)

PS: Quote for the topic: "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." (C) Benjamin Franklin.

Leonid Mamtchenkov aka TVSET

I can make some kind of ginger beer. But it is not very good :)

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it - even if I have said it - unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -- Buddha

I don't know about that.. I've seen some Perl code that would best be described as "fermented juice from under a radiator."

I make mead as well, but with the recent issues with honey bees and mites, honey has become pretty scarce and expensive.

I have some mead put up that is about 5 years old...just getting really good.

Beer has a more immediate satisfaction in that after a few weeks of effort, I can tell if my results were good and make adjustments....mead can take years to mature so my turn-around for mistakes and improvements is much longer.

My favorite brew I made I'll never be able to do again. It was some all-grain or partial mash during a home-grown oktoberfest in Montana (my best friend, and later, best man, hails from Berlin), and by the time I got to putting the hops in, I was quite soused. It was a nice amber ale with great aroma... wish one of the designated drivers had been writing down what I was doing!

Another memorable one is from the Joy of Homebrewing, the famous "Goat Scrotum Ale", which was named "Tumultuous Porter" in later editions. It calls for quite a number of optional ingredients, and the first time I made it, I included juniper berries picked while trekking in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, fresh grated ginger, and bakers chocolate. 10 days after bottling, it tasted like gin; a month later, it tasted like a ginger beer; a month after that, all chocolate; a month later, an incredible blend of the three.

Then there was the "Mexican Mocha Stout", a nice blend of bakers chocolate, cinnamon, and coffee (yes, coffee!) -- two friends and I finished a case of it one evening without even realizing... Guess my tastes run to dark, huh?

Some day, I'll be able to do it again... maybe when the little girl's big enough to go to friends for sleep overs!

Cider

1. Get cider kit from homebrew shop.
2. Empty kit into barel/drum/container.
3. Get 2L fresh apple juice, put in same container
4. Add 2Kg sugar
5. Brew and bottle as normal.

Sorry for coming in late. We started brewing beer earlier this year, and it's a blast. Beer's easy and fun, if you like cooking and can maintain some basic cleanliness.

It being south Florida, we're kinda tempting fate by brewing beer in the summer. Thankfully the A/C and a wet t-shirt keeps fermentation between 70-75F.

Before the year's done, we'll have made six batches of beer:

1. A generic red ale, from a kit.
2. "Perl 5 Porter" (really a stout), shared at YAPC::NA.
3. A Belgian-style ale. Our first (thankfully only) infected batch. The infection just made it taste more Belgian. :)
4. A bitter (just becoming drinkable).
5. A pumpkin(g) ale (going into secondary tomorrow).
6. "Perl 5 Porter" version 2 (should start next week).

Even bad homebrew tastes better than good storebought.

-- Rocco Caputo - rcaputo@pobox.com - poe.perl.org