Crazy S Homebrew Activities: Let's Get Started

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.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Let's Get Started

When my son Andrew went off to college and began to enjoy beer, we spent a lot of time trying different types of microbrews. We really enjoyed the different tastes and flavors. For Christmas, in 2010, I got him a starter kit for home brewing. We took it back to school, and we made our first beer in January of 2011 in Bellingham along with his roommate Max, and Max's dad Tim. Our first creation was a clone of Rogue's Dead Guy ale and came out really good. Andrew continued to brew with Max, and produced some really good home brews.

In January of this past year, Andrew moved to New Jersey to start graduate school at Rutgers University studying Music Performance. The home brew kit ended up in our home in Issaquah, so I started to make different beers. I also began to experiment with Apertif's, which use a base of wine and vodka along with seasonal fruits. Along the way, I found a Sangria recipe that I also really enjoy making.

While I enjoy drinking anything we've made, I actually really enjoy the experimentation and process of making new and different beers and wine creations. It's fun, and I love distributing what I make to friends and co-workers to get their feedback.

I brew about 2 or 3 times a month, and will be posting different things I've tried, along with things we are currently working on or have tried.

Here is the beer we've made so far

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - Toasted Rye Ale (2nd batch in fermentation)
Arrogant Bastard clone
Shakespeare Stout clone
Scotch Ale
Scottish Ale
American Amber
American Amber with a bit of honey wheat
Pale Ale - juiced up with an extra 1lb of malt
Blonde Ale
Bery Blonde - Blonde ale with strawberries and raspberries - recently bottled - 1 week to go

Here are the wine creations we've made so far. All recipes include fruit, vodka, and sugar

Sangria (recipe on the blog)
White wine with strawberries - not the best combination
White wine with raspberries
White wine with pineapple and kiwi
Cab Sav wine with raspberries, and oranges
Cab Sav wine with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries

There will be polls so that those of you that have sampled our creations can rate your favorites. We just love the process of making things and getting feedback so that we can improve and try new and different things.

I hope you enjoy reading about what we do as much as we enjoy doing what we do!