Homebrewing boom

In the past two months, I found out that three good friends have begun making their own beer. I had a chance to try an IPA my buddy Mike made at a Super Bowl party and I was really impressed. I'm not a big hop person, but it was a very smooth beer, and I had a twinge of jealousy when I drank it that I didn't make it! My beers of late haven't turned out how I have planned and that's a really a set back because I don't like to finish them off with the same gusto, leaving me undersupplied for bottles.

I think my enthusiasm for making beer, and the early good results I had, encouraged some of them to get into it. Though, I really don't know for sure what motivated them. After the equipment purchase, it's a really good deal. You can make two cases of quality beer for $30 or less. Eventually, I probably will get or make equipment to make all-grain beers. The problem I am running into is that I don't drink enough to justify all the beer making and some of my more recent batches aren't that great, so I don't want to give them away. I will plow through the bottles eventually.

I bottled the golden ale I made last weekend and was disappointed to find the final gravity was around 1.022, way above the intended range, meaning the beer is sweeter and lower in alcohol than I intended. I tasted the beer, pre-bottled, and found it to be pretty solid. Certainly, I should be able to drink it. It's also a nice light color and I left it in the fermenter for more than three weeks, so it cleared out well. I'm hoping the wheat I used will help it with head creation. I have had the best luck brewing with English ale yeasts. They produce fruitier flavors in the beer, but the beer tastes good and I am getting good attenuation - or alcohol creation.

Brewed in Style

A shout out to Paul Koeller, who sent me his book ``Brewed in Style,'' the book about the G. Heileman brewing company. I started reading it struck me how much work it was to make lagers in the 1800s. They have to carve ice out of the river and stick it in caves to keep the temperature low enough. They had to really love beer.