frozencorn
Active member
Can't recall the readings off hand....got em at home somewhere where I wrote em down right before I cracked my hydrometer in two. That was fun. It's a dark ale that my guy hooked me up with, so we'll see.
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The Homebrew Beer Thread
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
ctenidae
Active member
First taste of my Smithwick's clone brew- tastes great, maybe a bit darker and hoppier than regular Smithwick's, but darn tasty.
Sorry Marc- the Scottish is all gone. I did bottle the cider, finally, last night. Tastes great, even flat and warm.
FRITOLAYGUY
New member
So my cousin thinks hes a brewmaster now it was decent, hes got some wacky ideas of creating the perfect batch over and over and making a side job out of it selling it, anyone know of someone that has actually had success doing anything like that?
frozencorn
Active member
Two off the top of my head: The guys who started Cisco Brewing and the guys who founded Peak Organic.
ctenidae
Active member
Boston Brewing started the same way. You know, Sam Adams.
frozencorn
Active member
Yes, that little place as well.
BeanoNYC
Active member
frozencorn
Active member
I know. It's crazy. Crazier even that so many are foreign-owned it pushes Yeungling to No. 2 and Sierra Nevada to 3.
FRITOLAYGUY
New member
Now in order to sell it to actual bars , etc u need to get a liquor license correct? I mean drinking it and giving it to your friends is one thing and even though the bars or whoever would sell your beer directly to customers u need a license to sell it to them to begin with correct?
BeanoNYC
Active member
At the very least, I would think that you would need state licenses and health inspections.
ctenidae
Active member
Federal license, tax numbers, 4 zillion permits, adn all that.
Doable, for certain. But not as simple as enjoying a fresh brew on your couch at home.
severine
New member
I'd add liability insurance...
frozencorn
Active member
Those dudes in the AT&T commercial did it no problem though....
ctenidae
Active member
That's true- from start up to international distribution in 5 easy steps. Can't be all that hard.
FRITOLAYGUY
New member
Ok whos in, its free to enter the sam adams homebrew contest, thats what this whole threads about right, u must homebrew to enter this, we have the end of april. http://www.samueladams.com/promotions/LongShot/
BeanoNYC
Active member
drjeff
Well-known member
While not exactly a homebrew per se, there was a VERY interesting article(atleast to me) in today's Brattleboro Reformer about a guy from Dummerston,VT who now works for Harpoon and how his own recipe for a Maple Wheat Ale is now being brewed/released! Mmmmm Maple Beer!
http://www.reformer.com/ci_11832353
"A touch of gold
Brewery uses local man's recipe for maple beer
By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff
Wednesday, March 4
DUMMERSTON -- As a kid growing up in Dummerston, maple syrup was John Baker's favorite golden liquid.
Every year in the early spring, the Baker family would gather friends and families to their home in Dummerston to gather and boil sap.
Now, as an employee of Harpoon Brewery, Baker has another golden liquid that he likes just as much as maple syrup: beer.
He likes brewing it, selling it, talking about it and drinking it.
This month, Baker's two favorite golden liquids will be available in beer coolers all over New England and the rest of the country.
Harpoon Brewery has released Maple Wheat Ale, an original recipe that Baker developed with the brewers at Harpoon and includes some syrup from his family's sugarbush.
"It's a way of combining my two favorite things," Baker said this week from Chicago, where he is now working as Harpoon's Great Lakes area regional area sales manager. "When I was a kid, I wasn't thinking of making maple beer, but now I'm a beer enthusiast and we like to get wacky once in a while."
Baker went to work at Harpoon, a Boston company that now brews at the former Catamount brewery in Windsor, right out of college.
He first made some maple beer for his father as a Christmas present.
"John made a batch and gave it to his father," his mother, Debbie Baker, said. "Then he gave some to the folks at work. They thought it was great and so do we."
Making
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syrup is a longstanding family tradition, Debbie Baker said, and she said John learned about more than the basics of boiling syrup during those warm spring days.
"Helping out the family was part of the deal," she said. "All his friends would come over and it helped build a good work ethic."
John Baker knew he had a pretty good recipe when he made that first batch for his dad.
He knew most brewers tend to stay away from maple syrup because it is expensive, but he decided to pass some on to the owners of Harpoon.
He was proud of the beer and didn't really think it would end up on a grocery store shelf someday, but Harpoon president and co-founder Dan Kenary thought the brew was pretty good.
"We've been interested in making a maple syrup beer for a while," Kenary said. "John made some and it was delicious. It's great stuff."
Baker had already been a popular employee around Harpoon after giving out tins of his family's maple syrup around Christmas.
"Everyone loves it and we got to talking about how much fun it would be to do a maple beer," said Kenary. "John took it from there. He did a test batch and it was delicious."
Some of the maple syrup in the Maple Wheat Ale comes from Scrag Mountain sugarhouse in Waitsfield.
Harpoon is producing the beer under its "100 Barrel Batch" label.
The brewery experiments with different flavors and ingredients that might be a little more expensive and experimental and the Maple Wheat Ale is now on the shelves in 22-ounce bottles.
John Baker is not the first one to add maple syrup to beer.
For the past five years, he has been talking to retailers and distributors about various Harpoon products and now he can talk to them about a brew he helped develop, and one that even has his signature on the bottle.
"People laughed at me when I first talked about this," he said. "When you are using maple in food, you want it to be delicate. You don't want to overwhelm the beer. And with this, the recipe is key. It's good."
Maple Wheat Ale is available at the Brattleboro Food Co-op and Harpoon is hosting a special tasting party with John Baker at the Windsor brewery tonight at 6.
More information is available at Harpoon's Web site, www.harpoonbrewery.com.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reform-er.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279"
http://www.reformer.com/ci_11832353
"A touch of gold
Brewery uses local man's recipe for maple beer
By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff
Wednesday, March 4
DUMMERSTON -- As a kid growing up in Dummerston, maple syrup was John Baker's favorite golden liquid.
Every year in the early spring, the Baker family would gather friends and families to their home in Dummerston to gather and boil sap.
Now, as an employee of Harpoon Brewery, Baker has another golden liquid that he likes just as much as maple syrup: beer.
He likes brewing it, selling it, talking about it and drinking it.
This month, Baker's two favorite golden liquids will be available in beer coolers all over New England and the rest of the country.
Harpoon Brewery has released Maple Wheat Ale, an original recipe that Baker developed with the brewers at Harpoon and includes some syrup from his family's sugarbush.
"It's a way of combining my two favorite things," Baker said this week from Chicago, where he is now working as Harpoon's Great Lakes area regional area sales manager. "When I was a kid, I wasn't thinking of making maple beer, but now I'm a beer enthusiast and we like to get wacky once in a while."
Baker went to work at Harpoon, a Boston company that now brews at the former Catamount brewery in Windsor, right out of college.
He first made some maple beer for his father as a Christmas present.
"John made a batch and gave it to his father," his mother, Debbie Baker, said. "Then he gave some to the folks at work. They thought it was great and so do we."
Making
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
syrup is a longstanding family tradition, Debbie Baker said, and she said John learned about more than the basics of boiling syrup during those warm spring days.
"Helping out the family was part of the deal," she said. "All his friends would come over and it helped build a good work ethic."
John Baker knew he had a pretty good recipe when he made that first batch for his dad.
He knew most brewers tend to stay away from maple syrup because it is expensive, but he decided to pass some on to the owners of Harpoon.
He was proud of the beer and didn't really think it would end up on a grocery store shelf someday, but Harpoon president and co-founder Dan Kenary thought the brew was pretty good.
"We've been interested in making a maple syrup beer for a while," Kenary said. "John made some and it was delicious. It's great stuff."
Baker had already been a popular employee around Harpoon after giving out tins of his family's maple syrup around Christmas.
"Everyone loves it and we got to talking about how much fun it would be to do a maple beer," said Kenary. "John took it from there. He did a test batch and it was delicious."
Some of the maple syrup in the Maple Wheat Ale comes from Scrag Mountain sugarhouse in Waitsfield.
Harpoon is producing the beer under its "100 Barrel Batch" label.
The brewery experiments with different flavors and ingredients that might be a little more expensive and experimental and the Maple Wheat Ale is now on the shelves in 22-ounce bottles.
John Baker is not the first one to add maple syrup to beer.
For the past five years, he has been talking to retailers and distributors about various Harpoon products and now he can talk to them about a brew he helped develop, and one that even has his signature on the bottle.
"People laughed at me when I first talked about this," he said. "When you are using maple in food, you want it to be delicate. You don't want to overwhelm the beer. And with this, the recipe is key. It's good."
Maple Wheat Ale is available at the Brattleboro Food Co-op and Harpoon is hosting a special tasting party with John Baker at the Windsor brewery tonight at 6.
More information is available at Harpoon's Web site, www.harpoonbrewery.com.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reform-er.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279"
drjeff
Well-known member
I picked up a couple of bottles of this today at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. It's from Harpoon's 100 Barrel series (batch #26) Nice brew. Medium Amber/Carmel color, light foam on pour, distinct Maple aroma. Initial taste reminded me ALOT of Sam Adams Boston Lager, but the finish was slightly hoppier and ended with a subtle but definite maple flavor
Nice beer for my palate
ctenidae
Active member
Made a 10 gallon batch last night with 13.2 lbs amber malt, 2 lbs 2-row Crystal malt, and 2 oz Fuggles and 2 ozCascade hops. Split the batch in two, and pitched one with Safbrew T-58 yeast (which I've used several times now and like a lot) and the other with the 99 cent basic Muntons beer yeast. OG was 1050.
Interested to see what difference the two yeast strains makes.
Interested to see what difference the two yeast strains makes.
ctenidae
Active member
Early results of the yeast test are dramatic. The cheap yeast tastes like alow-mid grade homebrew. Malty, sweet, a touch yeasty an a little green tasting. Low carbonation, and an excess of drub in the bottles. The T-58, on the other hand, is much smoother, a touch of spicy tang, and undertones of a Belgian Abby style. Stronger carbonation (fine bubbles, creamy head), and little muck left in the bottle.
Take home lesson for today- buy good yeast. It makes a difference.
Next side-by-side yeast comparison will have to wait until I find another yeast I like. Darn it all, that means I'll have to brew up several more batches. However, next batch will be a hefewiessen for my wife.
Take home lesson for today- buy good yeast. It makes a difference.
Next side-by-side yeast comparison will have to wait until I find another yeast I like. Darn it all, that means I'll have to brew up several more batches. However, next batch will be a hefewiessen for my wife.
