OT: Eye candy for Mac-Man !!

[Senormac]

blup.....blup-blup......blup blup blup-blup.....

 

and Yak pee isn't really considered Beer by most people Ares

 

 

[Ares]

blup.....blup-blup......blup blup blup-blup.....

 

and Yak pee isn't really considered Beer by most people Ares

 

 

 

then why do you Americans drink it?

[Mac Man]

Actually, American beer is starting to take off whereas Canadian beer hasn't changed too much in terms of its offerings. However, I'm willing to concede my remarks are more applicable to the larger breweries v. the small-scale stuff (regional or smaller breweries).

 

Glad to hear fermentation has kicked off SenorMac! How long do you think they'll take to condition?

[Senormac]

blup.....blup-blup......blup blup blup-blup.....

 

and Yak pee isn't really considered Beer by most people Ares

 

 

then why do you Americans drink it?

 

My general rule of thumb is ......

If they have commercials for their beer on TV.....stay away......all you're paying for is THEIR marketing dept salaries.....not brewing and ingredient skills and quality

 

Try looking up some of your fav beers here and see what the beer drinkers are saying about them.

 

Rate Beer search engine

 

And Mac I'd say 2 weeks in carboy......2 -3 weeks in bottles.....then taste time !!

 

 

[Gemma]

I'm starting a batch of IPA next week (though it is all the pre-mixed formula from Coopers).

 

MacMan have you needed to buy any additional equipment for your custom creations? I am thinking of joining our local Homebrew club next year (as I will be done with school) and I was wondering if I should upgrade/change my current setup.

[precodekeith]

Hey Senormac - what kinds of hops did you grow? How many years have you been cultivating them?

 

I had four first year rhizomes this season - Fuggle, Cascade, Centennial, and Golding.

Fuggle = grew only 4', 0 cones.

 

Cascade = grew 11', produced about 2 oz. hops.

 

Centennial & Golding = eaten to the ground by some unknown critter when they were about 2' tall & never grew back.

 

I was happy with the cascade, since I was told that here in Ohio first year plants wouldn't grow anything usable.

 

You are sooo lucky to live in Hop Country!

[JesterSB]

mmmm, beer

 

I might try homebrew some day...no space for it now unfortunately. I will have to persuade macman to send me some. I don't think we live too far from each other...hmmmm.

[Senormac]

Hey Senormac - what kinds of hops did you grow? How many years have you been cultivating them?

 

I had four first year rhizomes this season - Fuggle, Cascade, Centennial, and Golding.

Fuggle = grew only 4', 0 cones.

 

Cascade = grew 11', produced about 2 oz. hops.

 

Centennial & Golding = eaten to the ground by some unknown critter when they were about 2' tall & never grew back.

 

I was happy with the cascade, since I was told that here in Ohio first year plants wouldn't grow anything usable.

 

You are sooo lucky to live in Hop Country!

 

 

I have two rhizomes. One Golding and one Cascade. First year......nothin....they grew about 3 feet. Next year ....Wow !! You could practically watch them grow. They shot up my twine to the roof really fast. This will be the third year coming up.

 

Not only is this Hop country.....but because it is....its also beer country. I think there are more micro-breweries per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Heh heh.......Good fresh beer flows in these parts (thumbs u

[precodekeith]

Wow, my cascade must have done very well then for being a first year plant.

 

You better look out next season, I heard plants in the 3-4 year range REALLY start to crank!

 

You are right, last info I read proclaimed Portland to be the unofficial "beer capital" of the world. Lucky Ducks.

[JesterSB]

My favorite brew is actually from Oregon...Rogue Dead Guy...there is even a bar down the street from me that has it on tap...it's great.

[Mac Man]

1. Most bars per city block in the US = Oswego, NY (my hometown). Boo ya!

 

Gemma,

 

The Cooper's kits are ridiculously easy to tweak. My Holiday Spice English Bitter (which I'm drinking right now ) was made using the basic English Bitter kit. Where I changed it was to simply boil 1L of water and toss in the peels from two oranges along with 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tsp of clove for 20 minutes. It's really mild, but I like it that way. No extra equipment needed!

 

Now, I am going to make one slight change with Berry Wheat this spring. This first batch I tossed in the fruit after defrosting it (it was fresh fruit but frozen for a few months). This time, I'm going to select one berry type (I had three different types) to help better focus the flavor AND I'm going to put all of the fruit in a cheese cloth sack. The intent is to help reduce sediment in the beer.

 

The other thing is that I've tried some 1L plastic bottles that weren't from Cooper's, and I haven't had as consistent carbonation from them as I have from the 750mL Cooper's bottles. Sometimes the beer in the 750mL bottles is a little higher, but I'd rather have that than inconsistent carbonation from bottle to bottle. And I'm still too worried about beer bomb to try glass bottles yet.

 

And yeah...anyone in the area that wants to drink beer and talk comics, I'm game!