Give yourself a break, brew easy.

Homebrewing can definitely become an obsession for some people. Understandable. Think about it- you're making beer. It's awesome.

Life though, is often hard to brew around, and many people who invested time and money in to equipment, sometimes just find it hard to brew regularly. Some people choose to just brew when they want. Either way, you may find brewing even more satisfying, and that you have more time to brew, by keeping it simple.

If you've been doing all-grain batches, and your brewing has slowed down due to weather outside, or just not having enough time in the day, you may find you can satisfy the brew bug by getting a simple extract batch going on the stove. Forget the grains, forget the mashing, forget the starter. Remember, you can make great beer with malt, hops and dry yeast. You don't need to step-mash every time.

So next time you get the itch, and think you don't have the time, stop by your local homebrew shop and grab a True Brew German Style Light Kit, or Brewer's Best Cream Ale Kit. Both turn out great, and make a nice refreshing beer that you won't be left drinking alone. Not to mention, they're quick.

Cheers!
Aaron

Brewstock Buyers Club

February is a funny month for retailers in New Orleans. Depending on your business it can be a month to remember or a month to forget. This February looks to be better for most retailers out there, with Mardi Gras being compounded by the Saints in the Super Bowl. Anything black and gold is going to sell- t-shirts, hats, napkins, flags, shot glasses, jerseys, tooth brushes, underwear, you name it, it's selling.

In the home brewing business these things help as well, as people brew for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. Of course, most of these sales happen in January, so the beer is ready by then!

Since this is only my second February in business, and it seems like a great month to try something new, I'm starting the Brewstock Buyers Club. A one year membership gets you 10% off everything for a year, and many other bonuses.

I feel if I do this every February it'll probably catch on some. It gives me a chance to gain a small padding of extra income in February for store projects. Whether it's a bigger sign, advertising, expanding the product line, or just fixing things that need fixing. In this year's case- it's all going to go toward a bigger store. I've begun a search for a bigger space, and know this would please a great deal of people. More inventory, more room to browse, more room for family and kids.

If the Brewstock Buyers Club seems like something you would be interested in, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. And know, that this year's membership money goes toward something we can all use, a bigger store!

http://brewstock.com/brewstockbuyersc.html

Cheers!
Aaron

Bread Yeast for Wine - A better, cheaper alternative: wine yeast.

It seems silly to recommend wine yeast for wine, but here I am doing so. There are a lot of wine makers that use bread yeast for making wine. Cool. Great. I have no problem with that. But really, what's the logic behind doing so? I asked some winemakers why they chose bread yeast, and I get a lot of answers that are often not true-

It's cheap - Well, that's actually wrong. Wine yeast is cheaper than bread yeast you can get in store. I think the cheapest bread yeast I found in store was 60 cents a pack. I sell a variety of wine yeast for 40 cents a pack. So technically for every two packs of bread yeast you bought, you could have bought three packs of wine yeast.

It works well - This is true and false. It makes alcohol, and you can get a good flavor out of it, sometimes. Since bread yeast has no rules regarding alcohol production quality (since they didn't take that in to account when selecting a strain), the yeast is much more unpredictable. Wine yeast has been closely selected through years of research to maximize alcohol and flavor qualities in wine, mead, fruit wines and the like. If you select the right yeast and treat it well, you will get an equally good, if not always better product using wine yeast over bread yeast.

Bread yeast makes strong wine - So does wine yeast! There are strains that let you get upwards of 22-24% alcohol in your wine! Bread yeast usually can't make it passed 16-18%.

The recipe calls for bread yeast - Well, it might be time to improve upon that recipe, save yourself money, and at the same time, get better results!

Cheers!
Aaron

PS- Any bakers out there looking for a cool alternative to bread yeast should give wine and ale yeast a try. You'll find it gives your bread a slightly different flavor...just don't proof too long, or you will end up tasting some alcohol in your bread;)

Two Grains and Hops to Try in Your Next IPA

One of the most popular homebrew styles, India Pale Ales are easily one of the most popular commercial craft brew styles on the market. Too name some of my favorites- we've got NOLA Hopitoulas brewed locally, Bell's Two Hearted in the Midwest, Bear Republic Racer 5 from the West coast, and Victory HopDevil from the East.

Be brave when brewing an IPA. Most American breweries go their own way on these beers.

Hops-

1. Perle - Don't think you need to just use high alpha hops (though this one is usually around 7%) in an IPA. Find a flavor you like. A lot of breweries out West use Perle as a finish or dry hop for the fresh minty and earthy flavors it gives a beer.

2. Crystal - This hop is a classic in the craft brewing industry, but never seemed to get the same mass appeal from homebrewers. It has a nice spicy character without giving you the massive amounts of citrus notes other "C" hops (Cascade, Centennial, Citra) give. Use at any stage in the boil, and you'll find you get a classic IPA flavor.

Grain-

1. Special B - If you're looking to keep your beer light in color, don't use this grain. It adds a beautiful dark amber color to an IPA, and brings some balance to the hops. Sweet, malty, and built to keep your beer in perspective.

2. Dark Munich - Another great grain to give your IPA some depth. Grainy and chewy, it'll bring your malt bill forward some against the massive amounts of hops your bound to throw in.

All-Grain Recipe - Bite Me Bitter : 1.061/1.015 (5 Gal)

Grain Bill (Assumes 72% Efficiency)

10.5 lbs. - Pale Malt
1 lb - Dark Munich Malt
1 lb - Wheat Malt
0.5 lb - Special B Malt
0.5 lb. - Crystal Malt (40L)

Hop Schedule [49 IBU]

2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (60 min.)
2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (40 min.)
2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (20 min.)
1 oz - Perle hops [7.5% AA] (5 min.)

Yeast

Wyeast Rogue PacMan Yeast

Mash/Sparge/Boil

Mash at 152° for 70 min.

Cheers!

Aaron

Hop Pellet Sales

As well as some beer and homebrewing postings, I'm gonna post a bit about the business as well. Maybe just some info for some of you interested out there.

Top viewed hop pellets online for January (as of 1.24.2010)-

1. Citra
2. Simcoe
3. Cascade
4. Millennium
5. Warrior

Top sold hop pellets for January (as of 1.24.2010)-

1. Centennial
2. Hallertau
3. Simcoe
4. Kent Golding
5. Cascade

I find the viewed hops interesting, as it almost never correlates to the hops sold. People have definitely seemed interested in Citra, a newcomer to the high alpha citrus flavored hop family. Few people though, have had it on their shopping lists. That goes for Warrior as well. A bittering hop, that seems to be fading in sales some.

As far as the pellets that are actually selling, this month has been a bit different. Cascade and Kent Golding have typically been in or around the number 1 and 2 spots. With Hallertau always on this list as well. My guess is, if I looked back at sales, Centennial wouldn't always be on this monthly list of top performing hops. My guess is a few people brewed up some hoppy IPAs that called for Centennial, and it pushed it up to the top. Sales of all these hops were relatively close, Centennial nudging out the top spot to Hallertau by only an ounce.

Happy Homebrewing!
Aaron

Day 30: Imperial Pale Ale

The last day of my 30 day brewing run ends in odd fashion. A lot of home brewers out there got started because somebody bought them a 'Mr. Beer' kit, or something similar. These come with a ready made beer, that really just needs water and yeast added to it. These cans of pre hopped malt are also sold in home brew shops. I personally bought a case of 6 cans when I first opened of Ironmaster's Imperial Pale Ale. I really just wanted one no boil kit around for people who maybe wanted more malt for their Mr. Beer, or just brewed in this way. I sold 5 cans over 8 months, leaving me with 1 can. Let's just say I havent ordered more of these ''ready to go' malts, and probably won't. They don't require a boil, as there is nothing to boil together. Just a fermentation. Having never done one of these, I thought I'd give it a try. I do get people asking about them now and again..and never know what to tell them about the quality. I assume it's ok, but guess I should find out for myself!

On to the beer...


Beer #28 - Practical Pale Ale

Style: Imperial IPA (14C)

Recipe: For 2.5 Gallon (Extract)

4lb Ironmaster Imperial Pale Ale Kit
Ale Yeast

Beer notes: A no boil kit that came with a non descript package of yeast. I'm guessing it's Muntons ale yeast. OG was 1.042. Seems a bit low...who knows. This kit is no longer manufactured. It looks like these no-boil kits aren't being made in England by Muntons anymore. Coopers, out of Australia, is still making them. This kit reccomended adding 2.2lb dry malt extract for an amber, or 2.2lbs corn sugar for a lighter beer. I just want to see how the malt in the can turns out, so keeping this as a 2.5 gallon kit. I'll let you know who this turns out!

Cheers!
Aaron

Day 29: Raspberry Honey Mead

Second to last day of the 30 day ride. I've definitely decided to end this current brewing streak at 30 days. And I knew, I definitely wanted to get a mead in. I haven't brewed a honey wine in a while, and am remembering how nice the last one I did was. I've had a lot of people coming in to the store doing meads. Seem popular with the lady brewers, and have heard of a good amount of people keeping bees in the city, or who have friends keeping bees somewhere. Which is good, cause honey is awesome.

On to the mead...


Mead #1 - Snazzy Razzy Mead

Style: Dry Mead (24A)

Recipe: For 1 Gallon

3 lb Raspberry Honey
2 Tbsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient
2 Tsp Acid Blend
1 Tsp Tannin
1 Campden Tablet
Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

Mead notes: Stirred everything together minus the yeast. This is based on a lot of basic recipes I read, and follows none exactly. I think you could do this mead a variety of ways. I don't think I've ever used tannin in mead before. I found a few recipes that recommended it for dry meads. Meads aren't my forte, most of my meads have been based on basic recipes I've found online. We'll see what happens with this one!

Cheers!
Aaron