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Beer |OT|

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I've already got a Berliner Weisse on the brew schedule for when it gets warmer. I haven't had a truly good one since I was in Berlin last year.

I'm planning on aging 2-3 months and want it ready for (Australia's) summer, so will be brewing it in July/August. Going to leave the mash tun in the shed outside over a weekend I think, the wife won't be happy with the smells coming out of it!

If you can, hit the mash tun with CO2 before you let it sour mash. It will greatly improve your results due to inhibiting the growth of aerobic microbes.

You pitching a pure lacto strain or trying your luck with grain?
 
codswallop said:
Thanks for the response. Yeah, I've already got a Berliner Weisse on the brew schedule for when it gets warmer. I haven't had a truly good one since I was in Berlin last year.

I'm planning on aging 2-3 months and want it ready for (Australia's) summer, so will be brewing it in July/August. Going to leave the mash tun in the shed outside over a weekend I think, the wife won't be happy with the smells coming out of it!

I turned out a 40pt BJCP Berliner using the method on this site last summer. Soured for ~72 hrs, boiled 15 min with ~10IBUs worth of hops and fermented with dry English yeast. Very tart and clean lacto sourness, which surprised me from a full sour mash. You could have a decent Berliner kegged and carbed in ~2 weeks. Keeping the sour mash covered in CO2 and at temp is the most important.
 

bowery

Member
In Stowe, Vermont: have 2 cases of heady topper in the car, heading to hill farmstead brewery tomorrow and the alchemist truck sale to try their other beers and also to eat a lot of cheese. Be jealous
 
You pitching a pure lacto strain or trying your luck with grain?
I turned out a 40pt BJCP Berliner using the method on this site last summer. Soured for ~72 hrs, boiled 15 min with ~10IBUs worth of hops and fermented with dry English yeast.
Wow, thanks for the advice guys. I happened to meet one of Australia's best sour brewers the other day (who, according to Deschutes or Stillwater's brewer had brewed the best Berliner he'd ever had), getting tons of great advice right now! I'll make sure I read more about what you've suggested.

I think I'm going to try my luck with a no boil (or perhaps partial). Unfortunately I don't have any CO2 so I'll let the beer gods decide how it'll turn out. I've had a wild, spontaneous fermentation work from my garden before so we'll see!

I'll be sure to post in the homebrew thread when I try it. I'm using a cooler tun so it'll be an interesting experiment for sure.
 
I like this method of sour mashing. It splits the difference between pitching a commercial culture and just hucking a fistful of grain into your tun.

If you can't flush with CO2, a lot of people have good luck with doing a thick mash and then pressing plastic wrap down on top of it.
 
Deer beer GAF, my birthday is coming up and I'm getting a butterfly knife bottle opener as a congratulations for getting my license to serve alcohol, and I realized that I don't think I've tried more than three different beers in my life, and I certainly didn't enjoy them all that much.

What I want to know is what beers that I can easily get at, like, a Safeway in a bottle are good? If I'm actually going to be a bartender I should probably try some different beers, but I have no clue where to start.

I've tasted Coors Light, Budweiser and Dos Equis. Thanks.
 

codhand

Member
Deer beer GAF, my birthday is coming up and I'm getting a butterfly knife bottle opener as a congratulations for getting my license to serve alcohol, and I realized that I don't think I've tried more than three different beers in my life, and I certainly didn't enjoy them all that much.

What I want to know is what beers that I can easily get at, like, a Safeway in a bottle are good? If I'm actually going to be a bartender I should probably try some different beers, but I have no clue where to start.

I've tasted Coors Light, Budweiser and Dos Equis. Thanks.

We need to know your region, to assess the good beers distributed in your area. So, I'd say, start local. Drink from breweries around your town.
 
Oregon. Is beer really that regional? I'm talking, like, the mainstream stuff sold in retailers. I can move onto local breweries when I'm comfortable with bottles from stores.
 
Oregon. Is beer really that regional? I'm talking, like, the mainstream stuff sold in retailers. I can move onto local breweries when I'm comfortable with bottles from stores.

Depends. Where are you? What are you lookin for?

You should probably familiarize yourself with IPAs, PNW is hop crazy. The ones at Safeway probably won't cut it, though.
 

skynidas

Banned
Oregon. Is beer really that regional? I'm talking, like, the mainstream stuff sold in retailers. I can move onto local breweries when I'm comfortable with bottles from stores.

get pale ales. i don't know what is sold in oregon but i would bet you can find some great stuff there. but yeah, look for pale ales, if you find one you can google it and there are websites that give you a score to see if it is good or not
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
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Got some beers from down under as a gift!
 

Eusis

Member
Oregon. Is beer really that regional? I'm talking, like, the mainstream stuff sold in retailers. I can move onto local breweries when I'm comfortable with bottles from stores.
Some craft brewers DO have wider distribution, such as New Belgium, Dogfish, Stone, Goose Island, and more that I may not have expected to have wider distribution. Fat Tire was a solid beer I was suggested once before trying many others, so you can try that out.
 

dubc35

Member
Nothing really caught my eye at the store today so I just grabbed some Stone IPA's. I hadn't had it in a while and I remember why now. It's a below average IPA imo (not a troll post). I think there are much better ones out there. Their Ruination is tasty for a heavier IPA, which I'm starting to lean away more and more. Treats me right for grabbing something at Safeway instead of going to a beer store where I could be enjoying Bale Breaker or a tasty Fremont ale.
 

Socreges

Banned
$14 is about as cheap as it gets for an American sour. Most American sours you're paying that much for a 375ml.
$14 for La Folie?? I just found it in Canada for $11.50. And imo it's delicious. Drinking it as we speak. Not as good as Terroir, but very good.

Can't tell you guys how wide my eyes got when I saw it. Did not think I'd find it up here.
 

Eusis

Member
Nothing really caught my eye at the store today so I just grabbed some Stone IPA's. I hadn't had it in a while and I remember why now. It's a below average IPA imo (not a troll post). I think there are much better ones out there. Their Ruination is tasty for a heavier IPA, which I'm starting to lean away more and more. Treats me right for grabbing something at Safeway instead of going to a beer store where I could be enjoying Bale Breaker or a tasty Fremont ale.
I should look into other IPAs perhaps, but I do know that I wasn't particularly impressed with the base Stone IPA (though I had minimal beer experience then) and it was the Cali-Belgique IPA of theirs I actually liked more.

Speaking of Stone, I got to have the Espresso Russian Imperial Stout! Though it's been aged a year, so I wonder if the coffee flavor mellowed out or just blends in that easily.

EDIT: Oh, I also did like their Go-to IPA more.
 

t-ramp

Member
Nothing really caught my eye at the store today so I just grabbed some Stone IPA's. I hadn't had it in a while and I remember why now. It's a below average IPA imo (not a troll post). I think there are much better ones out there. Their Ruination is tasty for a heavier IPA, which I'm starting to lean away more and more. Treats me right for grabbing something at Safeway instead of going to a beer store where I could be enjoying Bale Breaker or a tasty Fremont ale.
I wasn't amazed by Ruination, but I'm hoping RuinTen shows up soon since I liked it quite a bit last year. Haven't had their regular IPA, though.

Anyone had Deschutes' Hop in the Dark yet?
 

bowery

Member
vermont is actually craft beer heaven, was in waterbury today and alchemist, lawson and hill farmstead were hosting events today at local pubs.
To give yall an idea they were selling all hill farmstead brews ever made on tap in addition to cantilllon geuze on tap and fresh kegs of 3 floyds zombie dust. they also had bottles of drie fonteinen geuze, fou foune and hommage at ridiculously cheap prices. i think ive reached the pinnacle of how good craft beer can get....
 
Damn that's a gorgeous color!

Finally found a bottle of Stickee Monkee, PG2G or anyone else tried it yet? I'm not in any rush to drink it in this hot weather to be honest but I'm not too sure what to expect, since I understand it's not really a "quad" (which is a good thing for me).
 

mcfrank

Member
Damn that's a gorgeous color!

Finally found a bottle of Stickee Monkee, PG2G or anyone else tried it yet? I'm not in any rush to drink it in this hot weather to be honest but I'm not too sure what to expect, since I understand it's not really a "quad" (which is a good thing for me).

PG2G and I both had it on tap 6 weeks or so ago. I liked it a lot and think he did too but then it was characterized as a Barleywine. I don't recall it being Quad like, more of a less rich Sucaba.
 

PG2G

Member
I haven't tried the bottled version, curious if the change in "style" is actually reflected in the recipe. I heard they might have changed the sugars or something.

But yeah, what I had on tap was delicious but not quite sucaba
 
Weekend trip to Chicago. Good lord, caught the end of Chicago Beer Week and many places still with some awesome beers on tap. Binny's Lincoln Park location just opened a tasting room so we were shopping while drinking Bourbon County on tap and Surly Furious (they had quite a selection). Spent too much there. Go across the street to Goose Clybourn, more Bourbon County on tap. They also had one called Pineapple Brettanomite on tap which was outstanding.

From our hotel we walk to Paddy Long's, Bourbon County Stout and Barleywine on tap along with 2014 Madame Rose and one called Two More Weeks (another sour). Long night to say the least.

Next day up to Half Acre, tacos and then Bad Apple. Pouring Surly Pentagram (fantastic), Maine Brewing Co. MO, Galactic Double Daisy Cutter and Perennial SUMP (coffee stout). Over to Fountainhead, more Bourbon County on tap (had to pass). Down to Lone Wolf, pouring 2014 Dark Lord (apparently word did not get out too much about this). Back up to Paddy Long's (too good to pass up) and then to DryHop Brewers (meh). Next day we stopped for some Pequod's before hitting the road. Awesome trip, just wish we had more time to hit up more places.

The haul.
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Aw, neat. Surly Blakkr comes in cans? I've only had Floyds' in bombers.

Is there actually a difference between the Floyds/Surly/Real Ale variants?
 

fijim

Banned
Aw, neat. Surly Blakkr comes in cans? I've only had Floyds' in bombers.

Is there actually a difference between the Floyds/Surly/Real Ale variants?

Yeah and there is the Real Ale version which comes in 12oz cans too.

They are each brewed at their respective facilities, but using the same recipe. I have heard some people say there is some differences in taste between the three.
 

t-ramp

Member
I'm kind of bummed I didn't pick up Surly's Blakkr when I saw it, since it was gone when I reconsidered and was the first Surly we got here in Iowa.
 
This shit is crazy:

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Finally tracked this down and enjoying now:

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Been a good beer week.

Besides for Oberon what are some really good wheat/summer beers?
 
A local store somehow had a 4 pack of Ten Fidy sitting on the shelf that was canned in September, 2012. So it's been essentially aging on the shelf for 18 months. So of course I snagged it.

Also got stuff from Evil Twin for the first time. Molotov Cocktail was okay. A little too boozy tasting for an IPA. Not bad, but not amazing. I was satisfied, but wont buy it again.

Tonight I am enjoying Evil Twin's I Love You With My Stout. Yeah, really great stuff. Nice and heavy like I like it.


Although, lately I keep getting the Stone mixed 12 pack. The price is too good for the amount of great beer within.
 

t-ramp

Member
A local store somehow had a 4 pack of Ten Fidy sitting on the shelf that was canned in September, 2012. So it's been essentially aging on the shelf for 18 months. So of course I snagged it.

Also got stuff from Evil Twin for the first time. Molotov Cocktail was okay. A little too boozy tasting for an IPA. Not bad, but not amazing. I was satisfied, but wont buy it again.

Tonight I am enjoying Evil Twin's I Love You With My Stout. Yeah, really great stuff. Nice and heavy like I like it.


Although, lately I keep getting the Stone mixed 12 pack. The price is too good for the amount of great beer within.
Yeah, it's really good. I might have another of my 4-pack later, after this Hop in the Dark. Which I don't think really lives up to Sublimely Self-Righteous, which blew me away when I first tried it a few months ago.
 
Yeah, it's really good. I might have another of my 4-pack later, after this Hop in the Dark. Which I don't think really lives up to Sublimely Self-Righteous, which blew me away when I first tried it a few months ago.

First time I had Sublimely Self Righteous, I liked it, but didn't love it. But every time I get that Stone mixed pack, that is the one I gravitate to first. That one was definitely a slow burn love for me.
 
Ughhhhhhhhh. Was at a bottle shop looking for the new Almanac sours but they weren't in stock yet so I decided to finally try Fantome Saison since I heard Dany fixed the problem with the smokiness/infections and I've never tried it before. Turns out it was an older batch and I lost the fucking lottery. Bottle started gushing like crazy and tastes like that abysmal Stone saison with smoked malt. I can almost ignore the terrible smokiness and taste a wonderful saison underneath but I don't think I'll be able to finish a glass of this shit. I know it's part of the risk of getting Fantome but this made a shitty day even shittier for the wonderful price of 16 dollars.
 
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