Official Beer and Wine making Thread

[Big Shasta]

My first attempt at a starter. Yeah I should have bought a smaller flask.

It had a nice cap on it this morning (after about 8 hours) until I gave it a good swirl. I'll probably brew late this afternoon. It will have sat for about 20 hours. Think that's enough?

 

[BobJohnson]

20 hours should be good. i think I have heard tha 18 hours is the minimum. i think... if anything, the yeast will still be ferementing a little in the starter when you pitch, which is nice, because you are putting in active yeast. what are you brewing?

 

[Big Shasta]

20 hours should be good. i think I have heard tha 18 hours is the minimum. i think... if anything, the yeast will still be ferementing a little in the starter when you pitch, which is nice, because you are putting in active yeast. what are you brewing?

Cream Ale. Going to add 2 pounds of orange blossom honey at flameout and orange zest to the fermenter....fingers crossed.

 

[Big Shasta]

Orangesicle Cream Ale. 1.052 OG

 

[Big Shasta]

Mental note...DO NOT sit your big mouth bubbler plastic fermenter 18 inches away from the burner for the last 5 minutes of the boil Melted the crap out of the side of it. It's still usable but the threads must be messed up also, the lid was a pain to seal. Oh well, ordered the ported version with the 20% off coupon that was in my email this morning. Thanks Northern Brewer. UPGRADE.

 

[Big Shasta]

I'm "cold crashing" the primary and going right to the keg. My first time not using a secondary, any thoughts on how long I should hold it at 34 degrees before kegging?

 

[BobJohnson]

couple days at least. some yeast flocculate (sleep and drop out) sooner than others. So, couple days if the yeast is a high flocculator or maybe around 5 to even 7 if it is a slow flocculator. 3 to 4 days would be a good middle ground and doing it to soon will not really hurt anything, since you are kegging. The keg will get cold also, and the yeast that come over will just drop out there. by the time your beer is carbonated, after the first pour, you should be seeing clear beer.

 

[Big Shasta]

Crashed it for 4 days. Kegged it last night. FG 1.025. Turns out to be 5% . Hoped for better fermentation with the starter. It took off right away 13 days before crashing, it was definitely all it was going to get.

It's flipping delicious, can't wait for a carb'd glass. Sitting in the keg at 30PSI right now. still experimenting with getting the force carbonation right. Going to try 30psi for 2 days.

Next beer is the Ginger snap saison again. That was so good, I'm doing it again. Hopefully this sunday. Can't have my second keg sitting empty!

 

[Eurocat]

I am about to receive 5 containers of beer (just north of 7500 cases), 4 from Europe and 1 from Brazil. Anyone willing to travel to the general NY metro area I'll keep you posted for the launch of the Brazilian brand.
I know I didn't make it myself, but I have been to several factories and drank it right from the tanks (tasted is more like it, much better to do so from the cold kegs). Does that count?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Nice! Are you a beer broker?

 

[Big Shasta]

I am about to receive 5 containers of beer (just north of 7500 cases), 4 from Europe and 1 from Brazil. Anyone willing to travel to the general NY metro area I'll keep you posted for the launch of the Brazilian brand.
I know I didn't make it myself, but I have been to several factories and drank it right from the tanks (tasted is more like it, much better to do so from the cold kegs). Does that count?

Europe...hmm....Any of them Caffreys? I have a buddy that would probably trade me about anything I wanted for a case of Caffreys.

 

[Eurocat]

No to both. I manage a wine liquor and beer import and distribution company. In some states we are also distributors, others we sell through other distributing companies.
I also own a small wine tasting and events company that complements the import and distribution side.

Our beer division has been growing nicely and although we started with a single brand from Portugal (Sagres), we now have a Spanish beer (Estrella Galicia) and we are just launching the Brazilian brand (Proibida).
We will have a launch event where we introduce it to other distribution companies and a select guest list. I have my marketing manager working on hiring a couple of girls so we can dress them up. Should be fun.
Over the last 15 years or so (up until 1-2 years ago) Brazil enjoyed a tremendous growth in their economy. None of their beer producers needed to export as their production couldn't even keep up with local demand. ( just to give you an idea of their dimension, AMBEV, a Brazilian company purchased Budweiser some years ago. They have not launched any brand in the US market because they simply rather focus on internal market share.) Since it has cooled down, smaller companies are already starting to look at exports and pretty soon you will see the big players position themselves with the large brands.
I had to tie down one brand which we signed an exclusive agreement, not because of potential year one sales, but what I can mean 10 years down the line when the large brands invest in the US market.
I do enjoy full flavored microbrewery batch beer with my meals (besides wine), but in the summer heat, ice cold Brazilian beer is hard to beat. The light style of beer is called "chope" by the locals.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I will have to look in ABC Liquor for some Brazilian beer later today!

 

[Big Shasta]

No to both. I manage a wine liquor and beer import and distribution company. In some states we are also distributors, others we sell through other distributing companies.
I also own a small wine tasting and events company that complements the import and distribution side.

Our beer division has been growing nicely and although we started with a single brand from Portugal (Sagres), we now have a Spanish beer (Estrella Galicia) and we are just launching the Brazilian brand (Proibida).
We will have a launch event where we introduce it to other distribution companies and a select guest list. I have my marketing manager working on hiring a couple of girls so we can dress them up. Should be fun.
Over the last 15 years or so (up until 1-2 years ago) Brazil enjoyed a tremendous growth in their economy. None of their beer producers needed to export as their production couldn't even keep up with local demand. ( just to give you an idea of their dimension, AMBEV, a Brazilian company purchased Budweiser some years ago. They have not launched any brand in the US market because they simply rather focus on internal market share.) Since it has cooled down, smaller companies are already starting to look at exports and pretty soon you will see the big players position themselves with the large brands.
I had to tie down one brand which we signed an exclusive agreement, not because of potential year one sales, but what I can mean 10 years down the line when the large brands invest in the US market.
I do enjoy full flavored microbrewery batch beer with my meals (besides wine), but in the summer heat, ice cold Brazilian beer is hard to beat. The light style of beer is called "chope" by the locals.

CLOSE:

Ambev operates in 14 countries in the Americas and its portfolio includes beers like Antarctica, Brahma, Bohemia, Skol, Stella Artois and soft drinks like Guaraná Antarctica, Soda Antarctica, Sukita and the innovations H2OH! and Guarah. As the largest PepsiCo bottler outside United States, it sells and distributes PepsiCo products in Brazil and other Latin American countries, includes Pepsi, Lipton Ice Tea and Gatorade by agreement of franchising. It is controlled by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

They didn't purchase Budweiser, the company that purchased Budweiser (InBev) controls Ambev.

 

[RiverRat]

hey @Murf'n'surf I'm enjoying some pretty awesome Surly tonight!

 

[Eurocat]

It's like this, Ambev was the original company but later became the operating name of the South American division after a merger with a European company, this resulted in InBev. Later, this merged company acquired AB, but due to regulation (anti trust laws) it had to appear like a merger rather than an acquisition. Thus the resulting corporation became the worlds largest brewing company (all brands together) Ab-InBev.
Ab had already contended with a huge loss in market share when Corona (at the time owned solely by a Mexican corp) started its steep ascent in the US market. The worldwide growth phenomenon was so rapid, that after the initial Inbev/AB merger, the best solution to avoid direct confrontation was to acquire a percentage of the Mexican Brewer. AB/Inbev gained all the HL (hectoliters - common measurement of sales performance for beer) from Corona which are now accounted for under Ab-Inbev contributing a very nice slice to the status of #1. Corona's parent company gained assurances of distribution partnerships in the US and through ought the world vs having to spend millions trying to compete. Everybody wins. (except their completion)

The trouble (or opportunity) is that brands like Brahma or Skol (some of Brazils internal leading brands, both under the Ambev umbrella ) have been getting much international attention for their great qualities, attractive packaging, and much better flavor with no lime needed. Add to that the fact that every time you mention Brazil you can't help but think of sex, (although some think of soccer, go figure) and you have the perfect candidate for the next worldwide rocket brand.

Inbev has been trying to control this since they don't want o spend more money advertising another brand in the US market or the world for that matter, but has smaller brands start to expand into these markets they eventually will not have a choice.
Granted that they control the biggest brands, but the smaller ones have a shot at retaining some market share if they capture some before Inbev starts their campaign. Might take 2-3 or even 10 years. but unless Brazilian women stop wearing those Bikinis and the country is taken over by zombies there is only one direction.

 

[Big Shasta]

Force carbd at 30 for 48hrs and 15 for 24 hrs. Perfectly carbonated.

Only problem I have is my wife likes it too much. It isn't going to last long.

Brewing the Ginger snap saison again tomorrow. That was a GOOD beer.

 

[BobJohnson]

Glad it is good. Nice when wife likes it also. I always try to keep a hefeweizen on tap for my wife. That is the only beer style she likes.

 

[Big Shasta]

20% off labor day sale at northern brewer.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...218790061&mc_cid=4fcf8de773&mc_eid=894d801384

 

[Big Shasta]

I'm making the Cream ale again. I didn't get as much orange flavor last time as I had hoped. It was good but it was a little too easy to miss.

This time I used 3 lbs of orange blossom honey at flameout. (surprised it didn't up my OG with that much more fermentable sugars.)

I put 3 oranges worth of orange zest in the primary last time. This time I'm going to add it in a secondary. Would it be better if I used cut up oranges? Is there a risk of infection that way? I have some vanilla beans soaking in a little vodka, I'm going to add that in the secondary, should I just zest oranges and soak them in vodka as well for safety?

Thoughts?

One of my least favorite things to do was messing with the DME making a starter. So I went this route. Northern Brewer started selling canned starter. It's just 2.50 a can. I boiled and cooled the 16 ozs of water to add to it and then added the starter and the yeast. Took off nicely and after 2 days had dropped out with a lot of yeast visible. Maybe it was the lazy way but it was super simple.