Home Brewing Principles

There are a couple of things that we do with all of our home brewing that we feel make a difference in the quality of what we make.

1. Fun, fun, fun - Our primary reason for making our own beer and wine apertifs is to have fun with the process. Experiment with new ideas, and enjoy the process.

2. Water - We only brew with spring water to avoid any chemicals or additives related to tap water. We feel it makes a difference in the taste of what we make, and possibly contributes to a higher alcohol content (a guess, not fact)

3. Water Amount - We always brew our beer in 5 gallons of water. Some recipes and sites suggest adding water, but we feel that you want the grains and malt in the full 5 gallons so that none of the flavor is diluted.

4. Carboy - We always ferment in a glass carboy. We find it has the least influence on the overall flavor of the beer.

5. Tea Bag Technique - When the grains are soaking we move the bag just like you would a tea bag in a cup of water to ensure you maximize what you get from the grains

6. Bread - We make bread from the grains of our beers, and usually end up with approximately 5 loaves of fantastic tasting bread.


Saturday, September 8, 2012

"Bery Blonde" Review

This evening, I opened up a bottle of my "Bery Blonde", which is a combination of a blonde ale with a mix of raspberries and strawberries in it.  I added them during fermentation, and then also added small pieces of raspberry and strawberry to each bottle.  It was definitely one of my more experimental batches of beer, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had read mixed reviews of fruit based beers on the different brewing web sites, so I knew there was a chance it wouldn't come out very good.

I have to say that overall, the flavor wasn't bad at all.  Because I added the berries to each bottle, I had to pour it into a pint glass in order to avoid getting parts of the berries in it when I drank it.  I would say that there is more than a "hint" of berry flavor, but it isn't overwhelming.  It was a bit tart from the raspberries, which I read can happen, and that the tartness fades as the beer ages.  So, I have several bottles of it that I'm planning to save to try after a couple more weeks.

It wasn't my worst creation, but was a bit less than I was hoping for.  I would like to try it again at some point and make some adjustments to the recipe.
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