Roll call for all the homebrewers!

[culturejam]

Wow, must have been really funky one. Most of them are slightly funky and a little sweet but also with a dry finish. Saison, like most Belgian styles, really doesn't have a very well defined style guideline. Belgians just refuse to follow rules. 

[atreidesheir]

 I see what you did there Naughty Naughty

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

After years of "thinking" about brewing I finally started this year. I've done 2 batches so far on my own, but have helped with many other brewers now. My biggest push has been joining a local homebrew club, and a good club at that. We have an awesome meeting once a month at our local homebrew shop where we taste based on a style of the month. I've been hanging with the guys that provide most of the beer, helping them brew whenever I can. They always do all grain which is great experience for when I get some better equipment. Some of the guys in the club are extremely technical (EE's and the like) and make very fabulous beer. There's even a chemist that's basically our brain guru, ask him anything! Only about 5% of the members actively brew so its really a drinking club, and they really know how to drink.
My question is are any of you BA's? 
We had a great bottle share yesterday. Here's a link which has a full list of what was opened and link to pictures...
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bottle-share-in-redondo-beach-july-29th.29663/#post-385147
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/306391_360355920701893_2090296372_n.jpg

[culturejam]

My question is are any of you BA's? 

You mean members of the Brewer's Association? I think you need to be pro for that. But I'm a member of the AHA.

I've been tempted to study up for the BJCP, but it's such a pain in the ass to get a local group together. You can't just study and take the test, it's this ludicrous process.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I actually wasn't talking about that, but yea I'm part of the AHA also. I absolutely love the zymurgy, so much fun info.
I was referring to Beer Advocate. That chemist guy in our club is a beer judge and it is a really crazy process. I understand the whole fitting the style guidelines but I think its a little too much. There's so many grey areas between styles it kinda makes the possibilities endless. I saw you said you skip the second ferm. process. My first batch we did transfer and the second we didn't. Given they are completely different beer styles its hard to compare but they both came out great. I think the plus to using the conditioning stage is how you can add all sorts of extras...makes its kinda easy to dry-hop or oak chips/cubes to make a taste alike barrel aged..
One of the guys I help out recently took the dregs of a Fantome bottle, made a starter and pitched it into a saison. The yeast finished something like 1.002! It was pretty damn tasty...

[culturejam]

You can still dry-hop or add other flavorings if you don't go with a secondary fermentation. Once the yeast has sufficiently flocculated and fermentations is largely finished, you add your goodies.

The main reason homebrewers started doing secondary is because there was a belief that leaving the beer on the trub too long would cause bad flavors. There is now more and more evidence (mostly anecdotal) that this is not the case, and that extended primary can even help remedy some off flavors.

One of the guys I help out recently took the dregs of a Fantome bottle, made a starter and pitched it into a saison. The yeast finished something like 1.002! It was pretty damn tasty...

Culturing from commercial beers is fun. But you have to be careful, because some breweries add a different yeast for bottle conditioning (that is, it's not the same strain they fermented with).

[alanp]

Decided to do another batch, so I picked up a can of Brewtec Dark Stout and some dextrose (is it? The special sugar stuff) from Super Value. I'd normally buy from the local homebrew store (which carries UK-made stuff as well), but they close about five minutes before I can get to their shop after work. No, I don't do the True Jedi thing with boiling stuff on the stove. The closest I get is standing the can in hot water to soften the malt in it. It still works out a lot better than the shop beers.

Opened the fermenter tonight (it's been sitting next to the PS3 with a teatowel on top for dust), and there was this incredible, nose-watering smell of strong vinegar. So it's sitting overnight with 25 liters of sterilizing solution in it, and it's getting a good scrub tomorrow. (I don't know if this is good practice, but when I empty the sterilizing solution, I empty it into the bottles I intend to use, so they can sterilize for a week or so while I wait.)

I also tend to not put anywhere near enough sugar in the bottles when I decant it after a week or a week and a half, so my stuff tends to be a wee bit flat compared to anything else. I don't mind, it means one, never worrying about exploded bottles and two, not feeling gassy like when you drink coca-cola.

[Gledison]

You should get some good Belgian beer. It's quite a bit different from "standard" beer, and it'll get you hammered pretty quick. Most of it is > 7% ABV.

If you despise shitty beer like Budweiser, give a try to Chimay, or LaChouff, or Saison Dupont. There are some great domestic micros that are making great Belgian-style beer as well. If you want some suggestions, I'll be happy to make you a comprehensive list. 

Yeeeessss! Talk dirty to me
Some friends of mine are brewing their own beer in Brazil (the comercial ones have to be verrrrry cold in order to mascared the terrible taste).
they asked me in the beginning some raw material from Germany but now they can find there in some shops. Its been a increased homemade producers in the last couple of years and im pretty sure came from the US invasion
As DutchMF said: im better in drinking it! so, Please now that you started the thread we are all interested in tasting you beer, right guys?
Do you know the Kwak ? if you have something based on this recipe would be awwwwwwweeesome!!!
love this beer!!!
PS: how do you find time to build also great pedals? great time manager! thumbs up!

[chromesphere]

Culturejam, cool hobby mate...I just don't think my bank account could afford both pedals and brewing

[stevie1556]

I don't like beer but I do brew wine and cider. I love what's called a Wurzels Orange Wine (WOW) but with doing varients of it. Best one I've done is with pineapple juice and white grape juice. When it's sweetened up, tastes just like the Gallo wines, the Moscato one. Even better when it's about 60p a bottle!

I haven't brewed since splitting up with the ex, I do need to start again soon though

Sent from my thumbs using Tapatalk!

[Jmilla]

At the moment I have an all grain oak aged imperial stout in secondary, about 12% abv.

[nieradka]

Im a all grain homebrewer as well, been brewing off and on (had to take a break for grad school) for like 10 years. Been brewing every week like clockwork for the last year or so. Love the hobby, going to brew a kolsch after work today.

[pedalman]

On and off brewer for 20 years or so. I loved doing it and looking for new equipment and all. Sterilization was a huge bummer if done incorrectly. Just one fingerprint would ruin a batch. Lots of fun though. After a few batches you would learn how to tweak your recipes to suit your taste or style. Once I made a ale that was 14%. Never got into lagers, they required a lot more equipment to ferment properly. Lol my 2nd batch of beer, I was so proud of. I made about 80 bottles of that batch. drank about 50 of them before sharing one with the guy that was teaching me. He took a huge swig and said, "oh mad, this is bad beer. its moldy" then went on about how proper sterilization was the key. all that time I thought it was just a skunky beer ! LOL

[micromegas]

You should get some good Belgian beer. It's quite a bit different from "standard" beer, and it'll get you hammered pretty quick. Most of it is > 7% ABV.

If you despise shitty beer like Budweiser, give a try to Chimay, or LaChouff, or Saison Dupont. There are some great domestic micros that are making great Belgian-style beer as well. If you want some suggestions, I'll be happy to make you a comprehensive list. 

Do you know the Kwak ? if you have something based on this recipe would be awwwwwwweeesome!!!
love this beer!!!
PS: how do you find time to build also great pedals? great time manager! thumbs up!

Kwak tastes awesome. I've been to Belgium this summer trying a new beer every day... I think I took some notes. I remember liking the typical Brussels beer: "Geuze" beer, bitter and strong (I read somewere it is not for everyone, but it suited me)

This is one I found recently and enjoyed quite a lot: Samichlaus:

I would love to brew myself, but I have a certain lack of space...

[alanp]

What findings do other people have for water?

The water where I live is quite hard, and I really like the taste of the beer I make with it. (I'm cheap and lazy, as everyone knows from my build reports and graphics, and I'm not paying for 30 litres of bloody bottled water.) But I've read that most other people prefer soft water.