Bottling Day

Shepherd

Shepherd

Final Approach
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Shepherd
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is "Brew Day", the day my son, son-in-law, and I brew our Christmas beer.
Today was "Bottling Day". Getting it into the bottles.
Unfortunately I get to do it alone as my helpers run off back to Boston once the brew is in the fermenting bucket.

Thirty-six bottles of beer on the wall, thirty six bottles of beer.....
Five gallons of New Castle Brown Ale all bottled up to be ready on Christmas Day.
Unless Santa tries one on Christmas Eve.
 
Tell Santa you want a kegging setup so you can pour pints. Dedication, man, ya gotta have dedication.
 
How is your home brew New Castle’s? It might be a brown ale but it isn’t theirs.
 
SkyDog58 said:
How is your home brew New Castle’s? It might be a brown ale but it isn’t theirs.
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It’s a “clone” recipe. I bet it tastes very close to a New Castle, if not exactly like it. A decent homebrewer can make great beer. A great homebrewer can make you drool. ;)
 
As a Mackem…you had me right up to Newcastle Brown….
 
Lachlan said:
It’s a “clone” recipe. I bet it tastes very close to a New Castle, if not exactly like it. A decent homebrewer can make great beer. A great homebrewer can make you drool. ;)
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I have a few friends who home brew and do a pretty decent job. I am a big fan of craft beers and micro breweries. But I do not see the point of clone beers. If I want something that tastes just like the brand, I’ll buy the brand.
 
Shepherd said:
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is "Brew Day"...
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Excellent! I've been home brewing for 23 years. I know the date b/c I started home brewing when my first child was born and I was looking for hobbies I could do from home! Gave up golf and started home brewing! I just brewed my last batch before the spring. I make 15 gallons (3 kegs) per batch. I have 3 kegs of Sierra Nevada Porter and 3 kegs of Noda Hop Drop and Roll to hold me over until March :)
 
MICHAEL MAHN said:
Excellent! I've been home brewing for 23 years. I know the date b/c I started home brewing when my first child was born and I was looking for hobbies I could do from home! Gave up golf and started home brewing! I just brewed my last batch before the spring. I make 15 gallons (3 kegs) per batch. I have 3 kegs of Sierra Nevada Porter and 3 kegs of Noda Hop Drop and Roll to hold me over until March :)
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That’s a decent cache, but what happens mid January? ;) I’ve only got about 45 gal kegged right now. Nervous about making it through the winter…. My favorite right now is my oak aged whisky stout @ 9.4%. It’s a sipper, and with a dram on the side it lasts through the better part of a good movie.

62F2E90A-F8E9-47A8-8E17-1EE753F534B1.jpeg
 
SkyDog58 said:
How is your home brew New Castle’s? It might be a brown ale but it isn’t theirs.
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This is the original Newcastle, from Tadcaster, not the hoppy horror Lagunitas makes, or the export stuff from Holland, which is not hideous, but it's not the English original..
It's a clone recipe, and the results are very, very close to the original.
One difference that I notice, but no one else comments on, is that when I pop the top, I get a noticeable scent of vanilla which disappears quickly.
I have no idea where that is coming from.
The other difference is our alcohol content is about 5.2% instead of the 4.7% of the original.
I ferment it at a constant 65 degrees and use Wyeast British Ale (yeast) so it ferments for 15 days. Then I add bottling sugar and let it ferment again in the bottle.

I've also done a Dead Dog Ale, with very good results, and an American Light Ale which was quite good, but is really a lot of work for something you can go to the local deli and buy instead.

My one attempt at a Porter was an unmitigated disaster. It turned into toxic sludge in the fermenting bucket.
The smell almost made me puke when I opened it.
I poured it down the toilet.
I think it's alive in the septic tank.
 
SkyDog58 said:
I have a few friends who home brew and do a pretty decent job. I am a big fan of craft beers and micro breweries. But I do not see the point of clone beers. If I want something that tastes just like the brand, I’ll buy the brand.
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The original recipe Newcastle Brown Ale, made in Tadcaster UK is not exported anymore. At least not anywhere near me that I can find. There is the export from Heineken which is OK, and a hoppy version from Lagunitas which I detest, so I make the Tadcaster clone.
 
Lachlan said:
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Holy crap! That is a serious kegerator setup! I'm not worthy!!!

45 gallons on tap! Again, holy crap! Few brew 15 gallon batches like I do. Fewer keep that much on deck. I struggle keeping my BMI down. I'm guessing you're a kindred spirit in that regard if you have 45 gallons of inventory.

30 gallons of beer should hold me until March. However, I do have a high school senior and my kegs seem to not last as long when he has friends over :) Not too long ago, I looked into installing a flow switch which would send an X10 signal to my home computer which would then send me a text if someone helped themselves to my kegerator. However, I decided to get my instrument rating instead :)

In Charlotte, I can brew earlier than March if I have to. I'm just a wus and would prefer not to brew when it's 20 degrees outside. I already have a batch of Noda CAVU queued up for my first spring brew session. I mistakenly multiplied a 10 gallon recipe by 3x for what I thought would make a 15 gallon batch :-(
 
Shepherd said:
The original recipe Newcastle Brown Ale...
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I'm not a big fan of brown ales but it might have been that I made them before I knew what I was doing. Is Newcastle a good example? If so, I'll buy some and see if it's something I might want. I experimented a lot in the past but have grown lazy. For example, I used to grow hops up the side of the house until I realized that hops and kudzu must be close relatives. I have Noda Hop Drop and Roll on tap year round. In the winter, I have a porter like Sierra going. In the summer, a wheat bear like Noda CAVU.
 
MICHAEL MAHN said:
Excellent! I've been home brewing for 23 years. I know the date b/c I started home brewing when my first child was born and I was looking for hobbies I could do from home! Gave up golf and started home brewing! I just brewed my last batch before the spring. I make 15 gallons (3 kegs) per batch. I have 3 kegs of Sierra Nevada Porter and 3 kegs of Noda Hop Drop and Roll to hold me over until March :)
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I'm probably envious of your setup. Fifteen gallons is more than I can handle with my rig.
Yup. I checked. Seriously envious.
 
Shepherd said:
I'm probably envious of your setup.
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It took me a while to get to get to 15 gallons. There's a ton of information on 10 gallon rigs but not so much on 15. The first progressive step is all grain brewing. Are you there? Once you've mastered all grain, it's just a matter of equipment.
 
MICHAEL MAHN said:
...In the winter, I have a porter like Sierra going...
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Truth be told, my winter brew is a Blueberry Porter. If I didn't tell you there was blueberry in it you probably would never have guessed. Some have told me it's the best beer they've ever had. I tend to agree -- but they could just be patronizing me. One reason I like home brewing b/c you can brew stuff that is otherwise difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, I tend to keep the blueberry part on the low. For example, I've never met @eman1200 , however, I'm thinking he just might not understand the concept of fruit working well with beer :)
 
MICHAEL MAHN said:
Truth be told, my winter brew is a Blueberry Porter. If I didn't tell you there was blueberry in it you probably would never have guessed. Some have told me it's the best beer they've ever had. I tend to agree -- but they could just be patronizing me. One reason I like home brewing b/c you can brew stuff that is otherwise difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, I tend to keep the blueberry part on the low. For example, I've never met @eman1200 , however, I'm thinking he just might not understand the concept of fruit working well with beer :)
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after college we did a little home brewing. we did some kind of raspberry somethingorother. it was ok, I mean it was booze so we drank it. I understand it, I just don't particularly like it. these little craft breweries are popping up all over the place and while I've tried several, I just don't like 99% of what I try. of course when you have your hangar party, we can sample some of your brewing masterpieces.
 
I had no idea. I figured the Newcastle here changed when it was shipped and stored in the clear bottle. It’s definitely better in the UK.

My first home brew experience was actually a New Castle copy. My first was negatively affected by a poor bleach rinse. Drank it anyway.

@Shepherd does that initial fading vanilla smell anything like a Bavarian weissbier? Wondering if you got some ester goin on? Wonder if a ferment temperature tweak might help. Caveat - I am NOT an expert.
 
eman1200 said:
...I just don't like 99% of what I try...
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Same here. I've brewed with strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, kiwi, passion fruit, and blood oranges. They were all very mediocre. The Blueberry Porter, on the other hand, is fantastic. I frequently don't tell people about the blueberry until they are done. They usually say something like they knew something was there but it wasn't strong enough for them to identify. And since Porter is dark, there is no visual cue.

In the summer I like lighter, wheat beers. Wheat brews are where I've mostly experimented with fruit possibly b/c it reminds me of shandy's I used to drink with friends out on boats on hot summer days. My new summer favorite is NoDa CAVU. It's more of a hybrid barley wheat beer than a true wheat. The yeast and hops profiles gives the beer a slight grapefruit finish.
 
@Shepherd My guess would be the bottle condition step is where you get the extra nose. You’ll have more yeast than the macro edition. Cool to see other brewers on board. I’m in a town of good and great beer, but only sometimes fresh. And brewing at home, you know it’s fresh and well stored.
 
I use to be into homebrewing. I liked making the beer but never liked having 50 bottles of just one type to drink. With so many craft breweries out there now there are just too many choices to even consider spending time brewing my own. Half the fun of drinking beer is getting to try all the different types and variations.
 
kmacht said:
...With so many craft breweries out there now there are just too many choices to even consider spending time brewing my own...
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Very good point. This was not the case when I started brewing.

My wife got sick of the bottles long ago. I keg.

I would say my Hop Drop and Roll clone is every bit as good as the real thing. HDR is a pretty expensive beer retail. I can make it for 25% the retail cost.
 
I was brewing for awhile, but it's a lot of work. I gave all my brewing stuff to my son in law, now he does all the work and I still get to drink it. :cheers:
 
kmacht said:
I use to be into homebrewing. I liked making the beer but never liked having 50 bottles of just one type to drink. With so many craft breweries out there now there are just too many choices to even consider spending time brewing my own. Half the fun of drinking beer is getting to try all the different types and variations.
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The large majority of offerings from small brewers are IPAs. If/when you go to a tasting room to check out a new brewery, and they have 5 or more IPAs on tap, there’s a challenge finding a style to drink that’s enjoyable and showcases a brewer’s skill. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can dump buckets of hops into a boil kettle, (or mash, if you wanna be a real “innovator,”) but there are soooo many great styles of beer that most small breweries never brew. Why? IPAs are trendy because they’re easy to brew, and most people think a brewery that can make seven different IPAs must be awesome, right? IPAs are like an 80s cover band: it only has to be a little like the original but still have that one identifier. In this case, an overly aggressive IBU. Lagers, though… lagers are like a symphony, where there are rules, each note constructed by disciplined musicians with countless hours of practice, and there’s no improvisation. Each performance is a complete re-creation of a finely scripted masterpiece, and any mistakes will detract from the whole piece. There’s no room for error. IPAs can be a liquid nightmare of brewing/racking/packaging flaws covered up by isomerized alpha acids and a cool name. A monkey with a paintbrush is not automatically an artist. ;)
 
SkyDog58 said:
I have a few friends who home brew and do a pretty decent job. I am a big fan of craft beers and micro breweries. But I do not see the point of clone beers. If I want something that tastes just like the brand, I’ll buy the brand.
Click to expand...
I don’t think you can go to the store and buy Newcastle. You can buy beer in a bottle with that name but it’s not Newcastle.
 
eman1200 said:
these little craft breweries are popping up all over the place and while I've tried several, I just don't like 99% of what I try.
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I agree with you. Any beer that has the words fruity, rooty, tooty or has had sugar added is not for me.

However, I worked with a guy in Alaska that brewed his own beer. He put blueberries in it and that was pretty good. I mean blueberries so fresh he competed with the bears to pick them.
 
Maybe it’s where you are located but the craft breweries around here are starting to move away from just IPAs. I’m not an IPA fan and the places I go usually have at least a few stouts, a sour or two, a porter and a lagger of some sort. The only thing that seems rare still is a brown. I suspect it’s because most browns taste similar so it’s hard to brew something unique that will draw people in.
 
I used to home-brew; hope to get back to it someday. When I moved from working in the chem lab to a management role, home brewing was one way I compensated for no longer having a lab to play in. The other was to get into professional pyrotechnics. :)

I only got as far as brewing with extracts, and bottling, so it wasn't saving money and certainly wasn't saving time, but drinking a good homebrew is it's own reward.

I tried making a couple of clones along the way; Bass and Pete's Wicked. Both turned out pretty well.
 
GaryM said:
I used to home-brew; hope to get back to it someday. When I moved from working in the chem lab to a management role, home brewing was one way I compensated for no longer having a lab to play in. The other was to get into professional pyrotechnics. :)

I only got as far as brewing with extracts, and bottling, so it wasn't saving money and certainly wasn't saving time, but drinking a good homebrew is it's own reward.

I tried making a couple of clones along the way; Bass and Pete's Wicked. Both turned out pretty well.
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Home brewed beer and pyrotechnics. What could go wrong?

:D
 
I've been doing homebrew for about a year. Have my 6th or 7th 5-gal batch in a secondary fermenter for bottling later this week. Yeah, bottling is a pain, but it makes it easy to share the vast majority of what I make with friends. I usually only keep 6-8 per batch for myself. Just doing ambers and brown ales so far, except one dunkel that came out pretty good. I'd need to get get a fermenting cooler set up to lighter varieties in SoCal, generally too warm for the yeasts. My current mission is to perfect my amber.
 
Half Fast said:
This thread is useless without samples.
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Rough River ‘22. I always bring a good selection.

GaryM said:
I tried making a couple of clones along the way; Bass and Pete's Wicked. Both turned out pretty well.
Click to expand...
Pete’s is what got me started on the whole ‘beer doesn’t have to taste nasty road.’ Maybe one day they will get a commemorative reboot.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
...bottling is a pain, but it makes it easy to share...SoCal, generally too warm for the yeasts...
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Kegs and growlers are also good for sharing.

I avoid brewing at the peak of the summer for the same reason. I put my fermenting buckets over HVAC registers so cool air blows on them when the AC kicks in.
 
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