From New Zealand - a woman named Rachel Beer denied a spot in a homebrewing competition. Uh, that’s not right.

As the article points out, brewing beer used to be considered “women’s work” - since it involved food/beverage preparation and happened in the kitchen.

Equipment List

If you wanted to make a bare bone equipment check list you would be looking for 4 basic things a stock-pot or a brew pot, something to ferment in, something to prepare for bottling, and actual bottles or a kegging system.

Continue reading for more information on the equipment required for home brewing.

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Notes on the bottling of the HefeWheaton

Lost about a gallon to trub. Not sure how that happened. I haven’t lost that much in a long time.
Much more pale than I wanted. I was going for 10 SRM, but it’s closer to 5 SRM.
Too early to know, but I don’t get any clove in the beer. There’s a faint hint of banana if I look for it.
Looks like it’s about 5.1% ABV.
This is going to be drinkable, for sure, but I’m not sure it’s going to be what I was hoping for.
I think I may have collected 1 gallon too much from the mash tun, which is why the SRM is lower than I wanted.
I’m sure the lack of clove flavour is from the fermentation temperature. I understand that WLP300 gives clove close to 70, and I struggled to keep fermentation below 80.
I’m a little hard on myself, I know, because I was comparing my just-into-the-bottle brew with Mission’s Bavarian Hefeweitzen.

#wheat beer

#mead

Connecticut Pale Ale

Last year I came across several ounces of Cascades grown locally in Connecticut. I had enough to do a full brew, so I wanted to take advantage of the situation. After talking with the grower and a few other brewers from the area, I concluded that varieties grown in this part of the Northeast have a tendency to run a touch lower in alpha acids than what we typically see. I tasted a few flowers by popping them in my mouth, and decided they we’re likely between 5.5 and 6.0% alpha, a safe middle ground figuring Cascade’s typical values are 5.0-7.5%. So when formulating the recipe I shot for a pale ale with a few more IBUs than I might actually need, figuring if the alpha content was lower I’d still be in a safe range, but if they were higher than anticipated I’d have something a little more IPA like. Either way would work for me.

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What its all about...

Well I am here to share my home brewing experience.

So far I have 1gal of strawberry mead still in the primary and 5gal hard apple cider in bottles.

(Cider)

I have collaborated with a friend to create 1gal blueberry mead (this was good.. and strong to boot), 1gal raspberry mead, 1gal mango…hooch? Not too sure what else to call it.

(Mango hooch)