Home Brew Discussion

[MDB111™]

I've only had one chili beer. It was Vixen by Sam Adams. It was terrible. The chili is mild tasting but it's there and after it goes down, it feels like a hot pepper in your stomach. I love chili peppers, just not in my beer.

 

[AuCN]

I've only had one chili beer. It was Vixen by Sam Adams. It was terrible. The chili is mild tasting but it's there and after it goes down, it feels like a hot pepper in your stomach. I love chili peppers, just not in my beer.

Yep. Fair enough. People either love or hate my chili beer (although I would like to think more love it than not! :beerbang: ) But I try new ones that I have not had before whenever I see them and I dont really like any that are out there. That is why I wanted to make my own. I love spicy and I think this one is perfect. They are certainly not everyone's bag though.

 

[Heidenlarm]

I meant chili as in peppers, not the hearty soup. I put 6 sliced in half, steamed serrano peppers into the secondary with a lighter beer that I make using a low temperature ale yeast. The base beer is more flavorful than typical American lagers, but really light to allow the flavors of the peppers to come through. The first batch was perfect in heat. My band drank a ton of it during practice once and I swear we were all hallucinating. It was crazy. The second batch was said to be too spicy by a lot of people. I got bronze in a beer competition with it (in a yellow beer category, not just chili beers), but got docked a lot for it being too spicy. My most recent batch that just tapped out only had a slight tingle of heat. Not near enough for me. Im not much for creating beers over and over, but this is the best chili beer I have ever had and people love it, so I keep making it.

Why does the spell check want to put "u"s in everything! I am not British!

Aha I figured as much. I'm glad it's popular and you enjoy it. I'd give it a go, but it doesn't seem like something up my alley.

 

[Heidenlarm]

Awesome man. Would really like to hear it in a studio recording. Let me know when I can get my hands on it. I play in a melodic metal band. My wife is the lead singer. She has a lot of classical experience singing, but is really starting to get into the screaming now. Unfortunately, all of our recordings are prior to her getting comfortable screaming. Our recordings are pretty crap too since we tried to have a friend do the mastering and it is terrible. Need to have them redone. We havent done much recently since I travel so much for work. We have a tone of songs in different stages of recording. We tend to just put out songs as they finish instead of an album.

I'll be sure to post when it's up. We recorded way back in January-March and didn't start the mixing until May. It's still being mixed, but I think It's fairly close to being done. It's just been a long time between mixes for a lot of reasons. The guy who is mixing is a bit busy, but a lot of it has to do with us taking quite a long time getting notes back to the fellow. I'm a little worried about going the friend route on the mastering as well. It's been discussed, but I'm leaning more toward having someone else do it. We've been offered to have it mixed by a fairly well known person (in the metal scene at least) and I'd think that'd be the best avenue currently.

We're the same way with putting out songs rather than an album. For a lot of people around here that know us it won't be anything new, but there's still quite a lot of people out there that the album will seem fresh to. We've been working on this for eight years so it's been a long time and it's due to a lot of things. Just keep chipping away!

 

[Heidenlarm]

Ordered this the other day: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_601&products_id=2148

I couldn't find a good recipe online so I'm going to give this a shot. I hope it's somewhat close to the real thing. The pumpkin beer turned out fairly well I think. Accidentally adding too much finishing hops seemed to turn out to be a good mistake too. It wasn't overly hoppy, but it was actually fairly pronounced for a pumpkin beer, which I thought helped keep all the spices in check. I'd probably cut down on the cinnamon and clove next time and up the vanilla a tad.

 

[Heidenlarm]

Thinking about trying this: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/12444/alum-creek-monster-lake-erie-monster-clone

It's a clone of this: http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/uploads/Beer/WEB Profile Lake Erie Monster 2012.pdf

I think I should up those .5 oz hop additions to a full ounce. Beersmith then calculates that it'll be at 78.8 ibus which is close to the 80 that the real thing is. Also I think I read somewhere that wyeast 1028 would work the best, so substitute in in place of the 1099. Sound about right?

 

[MDB111™]

I've only had one chili beer. It was Vixen by Sam Adams. It was terrible. The chili is mild tasting but it's there and after it goes down, it feels like a hot pepper in your stomach. I love chili peppers, just not in my beer.

Make that 2 chili beers. Shock top has an "end of the world" beer out now. it has dark chocolate malt and chili in it. It wasn't that bad! And it wasn't just their shitty Blue Moon Belgiun white with chocolate and chili thrown in there. I'd drink it again.

 

[MDB111™]

Thinking about trying this: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/12444/alum-creek-monster-lake-erie-monster-clone

It's a clone of this: http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/uploads/Beer/WEB Profile Lake Erie Monster 2012.pdf

I think I should up those .5 oz hop additions to a full ounce. Beersmith then calculates that it'll be at 78.8 ibus which is close to the 80 that the real thing is. Also I think I read somewhere that wyeast 1028 would work the best, so substitute in in place of the 1099. Sound about right?

never tried a homebrew clone. good luck and let us know how it turned out

 

[Heidenlarm]

never tried a homebrew clone. good luck and let us know how it turned out

The last two beers I've brewed have been clones. The oatmeal stout I'm going to brew is a clone of: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/194/2704 Absolutely stunning beer. Unfortunately since it's not really a hip microbrew it tends to sit on the shelf and get old, I've had some pretty bad batches of it.

Cheers! Will be posting when it's ready.

 

[Jester]

Heidenlarm, thanks for starting a constructive forum appropriate thread.

 

[Heidenlarm]

Heidenlarm, thanks for starting a constructive forum appropriate thread.

Cheers :beerbang:

 

[MDB111™]

speaking of Stouts. Left Handed has a milk stout that is the best stout I've ever had hands down. I've only had a few oatmeal stouts and they were delicious. I'd love to try Guiness from Europe. I've heard if you love it here, you'd kill for it over there. Personally, Left Handed has them beat.

 

[Heidenlarm]

speaking of Stouts. Left Handed has a milk stout that is the best stout I've ever had hands down. I've only had a few oatmeal stouts and they were delicious. I'd love to try Guiness from Europe. I've heard if you love it here, you'd kill for it over there. Personally, Left Handed has them beat.

They just released, not too long ago, some kind of thing along the lines of a nitro bottle. It's not a nitro bottle, but it gives it that draft feel. I hear it's supposed to be fantastic. I've only had the Milk Stout bottled and it was prior to this new thing.

I've had Guinness in England, though not Ireland. I don't think it's very much different to tell the truth. Still a pretty average stout. The foreign extra stout, which wasn't available in the US for a really long time until a couple of years ago, is a lot better.

 

[MDB111™]

They just released, not too long ago, some kind of thing along the lines of a nitro bottle. It's not a nitro bottle, but it gives it that draft feel. I hear it's supposed to be fantastic. I've only had the Milk Stout bottled and it was prior to this new thing.

I've had Guinness in England, though not Ireland. I don't think it's very much different to tell the truth. Still a pretty average stout. The foreign extra stout, which wasn't available in the US for a really long time until a couple of years ago, is a lot better.

I had the nitro bottle a few years ago. It does make a difference. It's just a little plastic ball that somehow installs the nitro by hitting oxygen or something like that. It does make for a better drink though. I think they even have nitro kegs at some of the more uppity beer rooms in DC and Arlington.

Go get some Left handed milk stout. It's perfect in the winter. I gotta say it's my number one in the winter.


Have you tried any Dogfish? They released Positive Contact a few months ago. Not sure if it's still available but if you get a bottle consider yourself lucky. It came with 6 750ml bottles a new Deltron 3030 4 track LP and a bunch of famous chefs recipes. It was worth the 69 bucks

 

[Heidenlarm]

I had the nitro bottle a few years ago. It does make a difference. It's just a little plastic ball that somehow installs the nitro by hitting oxygen or something like that. It does make for a better drink though. I think they even have nitro kegs at some of the more uppity beer rooms in DC and Arlington.

Go get some Left handed milk stout. It's perfect in the winter. I gotta say it's my number one in the winter.


Have you tried any Dogfish? They released Positive Contact a few months ago. Not sure if it's still available but if you get a bottle consider yourself lucky. It came with 6 750ml bottles a new Deltron 3030 4 track LP and a bunch of famous chefs recipes. It was worth the 69 bucks

Nah I'm talking about the Lefthand Milk Stout nitro: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/99bottles/2012/02/left_hand_brewing_co_is.html It's not like the normal Guinness nitro and similar nitro bottles. It was just released fairly recently. I've had plenty of the regular nitro beers.

I've had a lot of Dogfish. I think a couple of their beers are really good, but most are quite average. I've never had Positive Contact though.

 

[AuCN]

Left Hand's Nitro Milk Stout is AWESOME! I get it on nitro tap out here at quite a few places. The non-nitro is good, but the mouthfeel of the nitro makes it super smooth. I love that stuff. I am thinking of getting a nitro tap and using one of my 4 homebrew taps for a keg of it.

 

[AuCN]

Nah I'm talking about the Lefthand Milk Stout nitro: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/99bottles/2012/02/left_hand_brewing_co_is.html It's not like the normal Guinness nitro and similar nitro bottles. It was just released fairly recently. I've had plenty of the regular nitro beers.

I've had a lot of Dogfish. I think a couple of their beers are really good, but most are quite average. I've never had Positive Contact though.

I agree with your comments on dogfish. I like their owner and their creativity, but I am not super impressed like so many people are. Their line at the Great American Beerfest is insanely long. I never wait in it. Too many other good beers and breweries out there. It has become the trendy brewery.

 

[Heidenlarm]

I agree with your comments on dogfish. I like their owner and their creativity, but I am not super impressed like so many people are. Their line at the Great American Beerfest is insanely long. I never wait in it. Too many other good beers and breweries out there. It has become the trendy brewery.

Aye. I love experimenting and I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with that and I applaud him for trying new things, but with that said the bottom line is that the beer has to be good. I don't care about how the bottle is packaged, I don't care how many exotic ingredients you have in the beer, what the ABV is, if the beer isn't good then that's it. I think a lot of breweries try and out-weird the next, be the next big thing, and are focused way too much on marketing in a way. As far as it being trendy, that's how I look at the majority of the US craft scene, a giant popularity contest. That's why when I mentioned the McAuslan stout I said it sits on the shelf, because no buys it because it doesn't have that name attached to it. It's unfortunate it because it's a fucking fantastic beer.

 

[AuCN]

Aye. I love experimenting and I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with that and I applaud him for trying new things, but with that said the bottom line is that the beer has to be good. I don't care about how the bottle is packaged, I don't care how many exotic ingredients you have in the beer, what the ABV is, if the beer isn't good then that's it. I think a lot of breweries try and out-weird the next, be the next big thing, and are focused way too much on marketing in a way. As far as it being trendy, that's how I look at the majority of the US craft scene, a giant popularity contest. That's why when I mentioned the McAuslan stout I said it sits on the shelf, because no buys it because it doesn't have that name attached to it. It's unfortunate it because it's a fucking fantastic beer.

Yep. I hear ya. On the flipside though, its like bands being considered sell-outs once people actually recognize how good they are and they start making some money. There are some great beers that people decide they dont like anymore because everyone else found out it was good and it became trendy. Such a fine line! My wife and I make it a point to buy a 6er or a bomber of something we have never had every time we go to the liquor store.

I have never heard (or even seen! I think...) the McAuslan stout. I will keep an eye out for it. I enjoy stouts.

 

[MDB111™]

yeah, I'll keep my eye out too for the McAuslan. and I'm in search of Nitro Milk Stout as we speak. Gotta try that. As far as Dogfish goes though. I've tried the

Postive Contact
60 Min. IPA
90 Min IPA
Midas TOuch
Sah' Tea
Punk'n Ale

and I'm sure a few others. They were all worth it to say I'd tried it. The 60 min. IPA is a great 8.99 a sixer go-to though. The rest, I agree. They are all simply odd beers to try because of the gimmick story that comes with them and nothing else. I won't be buying them on a reglular basis with the exception of the 60 min IPA