Beer Posts

A recently brewed an American India Pale Ale over the Christmas break. Beer Information I’m a big fan of American IPAs, and it’s usually what I drink when I’m lounging around home and I feel the need for a beer. Here are the target stats for this brew: BJCP Style: India Pale Ale – American IPA OG: 1.064 FG: 1.010 IBU: 65 ABV: 6.5% Color: 8 Batch Size: 5G Boil Duration: 60 mins Mash Temperature: 151F Brew Date: December 24th, 2013 Grain Bill 13lb 10oz – Canadian Pale Ale Malt 10oz – Caramel 40L 6oz – Caramel 15L 6oz – Wheat Malt Hop Bill/Schedule 1oz Simcoe – First wort hopped 0.3oz Centennial – @ 30 mins 0.8oz Citra – @ 15mins 1oz Chinook – @ 10mins 1oz Amarillo – @ 10mins 1oz Amarillo – Dry-hop 1oz Columbus – Dry-hop Water Treatment I recently checked out my town’s (Chilliwack’s) water report […]

I friend of mine recently asked if I was putting all my beer recipes online, and I unfortunately was forced to answer no. When I started brewing I tried to put them all online, but the write-ups just took too long. So I’ve decided to start posting them again, but in a very limited format. That way it doesn’t take me long to post them, and hopefully I can solicit input from others. Beer Information My goal for this beer was to make something easily drinkable for some of my family that generally prefers lagers, and tend not to like really bitter ales. I find most blonde ales a bit boring, so I mashed it at 152F to add a bit of body to it, and also used some left-over hops (in small quantities) from a recent IPA I had. I’m hoping these end-up having a subtle presence (due to […]

I started brewing beers at home a little over a year ago. Having no real experience before starting, I did what most people do in this day and age and tried to read as much as I could on the internet as I could before starting. While many people start with extract brewing, I decided at the time to just dive right in with all-grain brewing. Like most beginners, I made many mistakes when I started. But over time I have slowly improved the areas where I felt most deficient and have generally been making better and better beers (at least in my mind). Like most home brewers, the part of the process I least enjoyed was bottling. Washing and sanitizing bottles can take a lot of time, as does the actual bottling process. If you make a measurement error while priming, you’ll get to look forward to drinking a […]

About a year ago I picked up a new hobby – home brewing. I had quite a few friends who were into the hobby before me, and it just so happened that there was pretty great home-brew supply shop in town. So I thought at the time it would be fun to try my hand at brewing my own beer at home. I quite enjoy the entire brewing process to be honest. For me a picture-perfect Sunday usually involves a few movies on Netflix, a roast chicken in the oven for a late dinner, and brewing an occasional beer over the course of the day. That said my two least favourite aspects of the beer making process involve using my wort chiller (which is a pain in the ass in a small apartment) and the entire bottling process. For now I don’t have any other options besides using a wort […]

Back when I got back from Europe in December, I decided I needed a hobby to help me get through the cold Canadian winter. I eventually decided to take up beer making, since a) I like beer b) some of my friends brew beer and c) most of my friends like to drink beer, especially when it’s free. I’ve probably done close to 10 all-grain beer brews so far, and I wanted to share some of the things I have learned in this adventure. Had I read a post like this before I started, it probably would have saved me lots of pain and grief. But in the nature of giving back to beer drinkers and brewers around the world, here are some of my thoughts about all-grain brewing. Mash Temperature Is Important One of the hard parts about brewing beer is that almost everyone gives you different advice. For […]