The Toadfish Cellars

[Aggie]

Get the brewmaster working on some old-fashioned (and non-alcoholic) Root Beer!

(BTW...  anyone know if Barq's down there is the same as Barq's up here?  It's good here but not the be-all and end-all in root beers).

[Aphos]

Don't know if it is the same, but Barq's is pretty good root beer.  There is a local brand in Tulsa called Webers which is very good.  Their place also makes great hamburgers.

[Kiyoodle the Gambrinous]

This whole thread made me very very thirsty...

Anyway, I've been drinking mainly wine lately... Especially these babies:


Tikves Belan (Macedonian wine)

and some other wines from Eastern Europe (especially Serbian and Montenegrin wines), in particular Chardonnays. (unfortunately it's not easy to find pictures of them and I'm too lazy to take pictures, upload them and post them here...)

[Griffin NoName]

There's a tiny alley in the City of London off one of the Inns of Court which contains a tiny cafe which contains 35 of the most awe inspiring Polish vodka's in the Western World.

[Opsa]

Love Stoli!

As for Chimay, it's all excellent. I tend to like darker brews, but if you like the pales, go for the paler ones.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Just a beer update: I'm planning on bottling the ale this weekend.  I've put it off long enough.

The recipe calls for molasses as the carbonating sugar.  It'll take a while to age and mellow after bottling, but I have high hopes for it once it's done.

[Aggie]

Hey, can any of the non-Canadians get Newfoundland Screech rum?  I got given a bottle (and used to drink it in my student days).  It's pretty good if you can get it for a reasonable price. 

Also tried some good beer - a Lithuanian 'lager' called Svyturys Ekstra.  It's thicker and more flavourful than a typical invert lager.  Good stuff.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Another update: the beer is now bottled.

I think the (previously unknown) malt extract I used had a bit more "kick" than I figured it would: the beer's 7% alcohol; I was aiming for 4 - 4.5%.  Oh well... worse things have happened, right?   

But happily, it fermented completely.  I had been a bit worried, since the yeasties never really seemed that active even after re-pitching, but apparently all is well.

I tasted it, too (several times while trying to get the siphon started - don't worry, I swish my mouth out with whiskey first  ), and it seemed pretty good for warm, flat beer.  The molasses I'm using for carbonation will change the character a bit, though.

It'll probably be about a month before it's carbonated properly, and it should take another month after that for the molasses taste to subside to a decent level.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Beer update: almost two weeks and all's well.

The 1-gallon jug/bottle/Kiyoboam  that I used has not burst itself, even though I was a bit suspect of the cap.

Maybe another two weeks and I'll open a bottle.  I need to start working on a label design...

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Beer update:

The beer is ready!



I tried it last night.  It ended up pretty good, and not as thick as I figured it would be... and the molasses taste isn't readily apparent.  A good summer evening beer, I think.

I may have to make another batch.

[Aggie]

Hmm....  if legend says that Augustine monks used the St. Bernard to carry brandy, could Toadfish Siblings do the same for beer with the Greyhound? 





_{(anything from out west that you want but can't get?)}

[Opsa]

Naw, they'd shake it up too much!

Where can we get some little hovering robots with optional refridgeration units to follow us everywhere?

[Aggie]

(better to go open thread for advice)

Lambi, is there any reason nano-brewing (VERY small batches of say 5L) wouldn't work?  I would like to dabble in beermaking a bit but would rather make many small attempts than a few larger ones.  Any good references (book or net) for the novice?

Will probably also be scrounging equipment - what is ESSENTIAL to properly buy?

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Lambi, is there any reason nano-brewing (VERY small batches of say 5L) wouldn't work?  I would like to dabble in beermaking a bit but would rather make many small attempts than a few larger ones.  Any good references (book or net) for the novice?

I can't think of any reason why that small a batch wouldn't work.  I think the main reason that most people don't brew in that small quantity is because it would be nearly the same amount of effort for a much smaller quantity of beer.

As for books, I suggest "The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by George Papazian (note: they change the title slightly every edition, so it might be "The Super Duper Ultra-Complete Joy of Homebrewing" or similar by now).  That one's pretty well the established standard for books that cover beginner-to-intermediate brewing.

Will probably also be scrounging equipment - what is ESSENTIAL to properly buy?

Hmmm... to start off, it'd be good to list what equipment you'll need:

- brew pot
- airtight fermenter (glass carboy and plastic bucket with snap lid are both common - I use the glass)
- airlock for fermenter (the normal ones you buy at the U-brew store are fairly cheap, but IIRC, there are instructions in Papazian's book on how to make an airlock from plastic tubing and a jar)
- bottles (either crown cap style - not twist-off - or swing-top e.g. Grolsch)
- crown caps and capper (if not using swing-top bottles)
- a means of transferring beer between the brewpot and fermenter
- a means of transferring beer between the fermenter and bottles

Now for what you can scrounge and what you should use the "proper" things for: any pot of adequate size will work for your brewpot.  Mine is a 20 L spaghetti pot I got at the Bay, IIRC; if you're making smaller batches, you can probably get by with what's in a "standard" set of pots and pans.

For the fermenter, a glass carboy is best, but you can scrounge a plastic bucket provided: (1) it's food-grade, (2) it's in good shape (no nicks or scrapes where bacteria can hide, and no residue of whatever was in the bucket previously) (3) it has an airtight lid that you can punch a hole in for your airlock.

For the bottles, it's likely easiest to re-use commerical bottles (after drinking the contents  ).  If you don't have enough, you should be able to buy extra bottles at a u-brew shop; I'd suggest you avoid the plastic bottles if you do.  I used them once and got a pronounced plastic taste.

Assuming that you use crown cap-style bottles (which you'd probably want to do unless you can find a homebrewing relative with a stash of swing-top bottles), you'll need to buy a capper.  You won't be able to kludge anything to substitute.  My hand capper was under $20 (IIRC).

When transferring beer from the brewpot to the fermenter, I just use a funnel in the mouth of the carboy.  If you're using a wide bucket as your fermenter, you may be able to get by without one.  Any food-grade funnel will do, though for a full 20 L batch, a u-brew shop's probably your easiest place to find one that's large enough.

Transferring from the fermenter to the bottle is usually done by siphon. You could probably make do with two pieces of equipment: a food-grade hose of the proper length, and one of those plastic clamps to shut off flow (hopefully you know what I mean).  There are a few pieces of gear that may make the process easier (but more expensive), though:

- a J-tube.  It's a long rigid plastic tube with a fitting on the end to make it easier to siphon right down to the top of the sediment while minimizing the amount of sediment that gets sucked up.

- a bottle wand.  It's a short rigid plastic tube with a valve on the end.  It only opens to let the beer flow when it's pushed into the bottom of a bottle.  Makes bottling less messy.

- a siphon starter.  It's a little doodad with a check valve in it.  You stick into the fermenter and shake it until the siphon starts flowing on its own.

So... there's not a lot that you must buy from a beer supply store.  However, it's probably most practical to get at least the following there:

- fermenter
- funnel (if needed)
- airlock
- crown caps
- capper
- plastic tubing (unless you've got a better source for food-grade tubing)

[Aggie]

As for books, I suggest "The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by George Papazian (note: they change the title slightly every edition, so it might be "The Super Duper Ultra-Complete Joy of Homebrewing" or similar by now).  That one's pretty well the established standard for books that cover beginner-to-intermediate brewing.

Then name of the book hasn't changed, but George apparently goes by Charlie now. 

- a siphon starter.  It's a little doodad with a check valve in it.  You stick into the fermenter and shake it until the siphon starts flowing on its own.

So... there's not a lot that you must buy from a beer supply store.  However, it's probably most practical to get at least the following there:

- fermenter
- funnel (if needed)
- airlock
- crown caps
- capper
- plastic tubing (unless you've got a better source for food-grade tubing)

Can scrounge some doodads from work to round out the list (esp. for the siphon starter, & probably can manage a airlock with a little effort), and am thinking of garage sale-ing for the carboy or appropriately sized glass jug.  I could probably borrow the capper from a buddy for the first couple of batches, then invest in one (or garage sale it).

Bottles are never an issue (and some buddies and I have done u-brew kits using crown caps on twistoff bottles - might have lost a couple to pressure, but it generally works); I drink lots of pry-tops, so the only problem is finding ones that match!  I might even look at getting a champagne corker (more $$, though) and use my Unibroue bottles.  I do like the concept of corked beers, and it'd allow for cellaring up exceptionally good batches.