I bottled my first lager today. Pre-carbonation it tastes better than I feared. It’s quite hoppy (Saaz hops, for aroma) and I am not a hophead, but it’s much smoother than I anticipated. I’m pretty new to homebrewing. This is just my third batch, but it’s my first original recipe. I was going for a Czech pilsner type of thing but I wound up with a pilsner that too strongly resembles an India Pale Ale (think Hop Devil from Victory Brewing Company). Things could be a lot worse. Next time I need to keep the secondary fermentation lower, I think, if I want a more lagerish taste.
Am I weird to feel vaguely survivalist about brewing my own beer? What’s next, venison in the freezer that’s hooked up to a generator?
Also, I want to thank the nearly thirty people that made donations this month. You really make a difference. Do you know how much hops costs these days? But, seriously, thank you. I mean it.
Brewing your own beer is like having a garden so you can grow okra. Or rutabagas.
nalbar
If you have a garden you should grow your own hops.
Of course I am not talking about domestic okra, but the kind that grows on west facing hills in the valleys of Germany. Sweet, with just a hint of radish in the after taste.
nalbar
You’re welcome. It’s great to be here.
Freezer? Generator?
Make your own pemmican. That’s survivalist.
Now that you mention it, I’m surprised REI doesn’t sell high-tech, lightweight pemican dryers to take with you while backpacking..!
I like pale ales, but not necessarily India pale ales. But still, I think that’s really cool you’re brewing your own. I’m faintly jealous, except that my place will smell better than yours. 😉
I’ve done quite a bit of home brewing over the years, so here’s a few tips about yeast.
Yeasts will have different results at different temperatures. Lager yeasts, on the whole, like cool-to-cold temperatures to do their stuff. If you’re going to brew a true lager, you need to keep the temperature within a couple of degrees of the yeast’s optimal fermentation temperature (it usually says what that is on the container). If you let a lager yeast ferment at ambient room temperatures, you’ll end up with something that has ale-like qualities; delicious, but not a lager. Anchor Steam, or a California Common (since Anchor copyrighted the phrase “steam beer,” I shit you not) is an example of a lager yeast fermented at ale temperatures.
The thing to do is get a cheap fridge and a plug-in thermostat. Then you can control the fermentation process adequately to get the kind of finish your looking for.
Another thing, lager literally means to “keep” or “store,” so you’ll find that allowing 2-3 months to pass — allowing time for the very fine particulate in the beer to precipitate — will really help as well. When you pour, try not to disturb this sediment. Unlike a hefeweizen, lagers should have zero opacity.
Home-brewing is survivalist? Most of the home-brewers I’ve known were peaceniks who didn’t want to pay war taxes. Maybe you should talk to Geov about this.
Homebrew is the best! If it tastes good at bottling you’ll probably be very happy in a month.
I’ve brewed for 4 years now and still haven’t made any lager.
One of the friends who helps consume my brew sees it that way. Of course if hard times do come, you have to be able to get barley somehow.
I like that I can make a beer that isn’t like anything I can buy, and that tastes good; and that I can duplicate something I’ve drunk but can’t get locally.
Homemade stuff is the best. Not just the eating or drinking, but the patience and care that goes into it, and the delight in watching something grow. In many ways, it’s like gardening.
I’ve been making my own sausages–all kinds, you name it–for awhile now and was blessed with a copy of Michael Ruhlman’s “Charcuterie” for Christmas.
Handmade corned beef, pancetta, guanciale, sauerkraut, bacon–it’s all great.
Tip one to the Supreme Court of Iowa for UNANIMOUSLY legalizing same-sex marriage.
Iowa has a progressive history and was the first state to rule against separate but equal schools (1868) and ruled against returning a slave to the South before the Dred Scott decision.
How bout the Hawkeye state!
Hey, I live in Mason City IA.
Moved up here from New Orleans 10 yr. ago.
I’ve always found Iowa to be a strange mixture, and a place not easily categorized. In many ways very socially conservative and in many other ways very progressive. Hard to get a handle on the place.
You know what though? Unlike many, many other states, I doubt there will be any grassroots uproar about the decision. Folks here will just accept it, part of the live and let live ethos of Iowa I guess.
Oh. Mason. I know it a little bit. Have some relatives there.
You’re impressions on Iowa seem spot on. Not very complicated people. Very accepting of many different kinds–whether it be minorities, gay people, or even uncomfortably religious folks that will be squawking about this decision. Iowans might be conservative in nature but they won’t leap to condemn others and they don’t like conflict.
But the religion stuff is interesting to me because I never saw many bible thumpers growing up (mostly in the 80s) but I guess they were there. I’m sure there have always been religiously devout Iowans but it seems to have gotten much more conservative over the recent years (think Rep. Steve King in the Western plains going into Nebraska). Or they’ve gotten more vocal. That’s what I think it is. As the South and the Christians have taken over the Republican party and intimidated Democrats the Christian conservatives in Iowa have become more emboldened. And they’ve overplayed their hand.
I think the upper midwest in general has become less liberal since small farming and industry has been slowly wiped out . . . but there are still some remnants of the progressive movements in Iowa and the UMW and now these few remaining remnants of homebred American liberalism seem jarring to recognize. Look at the pride in the Court’s opinion about prizing our liberties and how the court makes a very clear and unabashed moral and legal case in defense of equal treatment under the law. It seems so odd to those of us that are used to the Democrats caving in on unpopular issues and not standing up for our rights. On this issue in particular most centrist Democrats wanted to avoid a full-throated defense of equality under the law and instead sought compromise or half measures.
And I’m so proud to see a bunch of boring, lily white, Iowa Justices take a couragous stand and remind us that our country is based on liberty and equal application of the laws. If they are true Iowans they may be boring to hang around with and they might look conservative (similar to the Iowa legislator in this video http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/04/more-on-iowa.html ) but they are very accomodating people and they’re not haters–in general.
These progressive roots show up in such things as one of the strongest teacher’s unions in the country (with some of the best schools around ), opposition to the death penalty (this was the fight in the 80s), womens 6 on 6 basketball (I’m serious–progressive roots), and of course some of the economic populism that comes from it’s farming and manufacturing heritage (which is dying like the Iowa population).
Anyway, as you may appreciate, I’m surprised but not too surprised.
oh yeah. thanks for being here.
I just make wine now.
This year, I bought 17 gallons of “traminette” – I don’t really trust the vineyard – she often mixed misc whites – but that’s ok.
It cost $16/gallon. About the same cost as a wine kit, to be sure. However, the trip to the winery is always a lot of fun. The winery is in Nauvoo, the home in Illinois of the mormons. Sort of ironic, a winery in a mormon shrine – life is strange, eh?
We always drive there in September, although this year the harvest was very late. The winery is spitting distance from the Mississippi river, and we drive back and forth over the river, through the harvested fields of golden corn, with that fall sunlight which is sort of a little golden. Then we get to the winery, get our juice (already fermenting a bit). I always pitch the yeast immediately to make sure that the juice is not getting fermented by the wrong critters. Then we drive home, and usually get here late – it’s about a 3 hour drive. There’s one stretch of the highway, just south of Nauvoo and north of Quincy, which is about 5 ft above the river, and the river is filled with water lillies, and the sun is setting across the way, very pretty indeed. One of my favorite memories.
The actual making of wine is really pretty easy. Here’s the drill –
DO NOT LET WINE GET TO 5 F – FREEZE TOTALLY – carboy will explode – I lost 6 carboys one year that way – what an ANNOYANCE
5) Rack again and bottle – usually between Jan 15-March
If you choose to do that, get “Grapes into wine” by Philip Wagner. Excellent excellent book. This year, my wine would not clear. The book recommended adding 1 tsp wine tannin. I added the tannin – the wine was clear in 2 days – it was really amazing.
I am drinking a glass right now. Have a glass yourself – it’s in the dining room… :->
We brewed beer when I was in college about 40 years ago. Did something wrong; we’d set it in the crawl space under the house. One day fermentation blew the caps off and some of the bottles up as well.
Here in the Catskills, venison in the freezer that’s hooked up to a generator just means there’s been another power-out.
I usually just head out back to the still. < hiccup >
We had a friend who used to make mead. It was delicious.
A friend of mine made mead for years, to take to gatherings for all to enjoy. I helped her on one bottling. The entire process seemed very easy — probably moreso than brewing beer.