Mr. Beer Home Brewery part 2: Fermenting

After the set up and brewing, honestly this was the easiest part.  Simply put, there was no physical labor, just waiting.  I was pleasantly surprised that the closet the brew was living in didn’t smell like a brewery. In fact, very little beer odor was detectable, and I really had to get my nose up [...]

Home brew: Pumpkin beer

My favorite time of the year is Fall. The weather gets cooler, the days shorter, and pumpkins magically appear at the supermarket. That means it’s time to brew some pumpkin beer! I have never brewed a pumpkin beer so this will be a learning experience. I bought a pumpkin ale ingredient kit from Austin Homebrew [...]

The Bender Beer Brewer

What do you get when you cross a super-creative, Futurama-lovin’ hacker with a beer lover? You get a life-size replica of Bender, everyone’s favorite “foul mouthed, cigar smoking, booze drinking, shiny metal [assed], bending robot,” that is also a fermenter for your home brew and talks as well! (Yes, that’s the TARDIS behind Bender. He [...]

Michelob to become a craft beer brand?

Michelob Brewing Co., a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch, said Monday that it would kick off an advertising campaign, offer some seasonal varieties year-round, and bring some other A-B beers under the Michelob nameplate and give them all consistent, new packaging. It looks like Anheuser-Busch is diving headlong into the craft beer market by branding several craft [...]

Home Brew Kit Review

Home Brew: Bottling a home brewed Belgian dubbel

After 7 days in the primary fermenter and 4 days in the secondary (it should have been the other way around but my schedule didn’t allow it), it was time to bottle my Belgian dubbel. The following is a typical bottling day and I’ll explain each step in detail for the uninitiated. I ferment in [...]

Mr. Beer Home Brewery part 1: Setup and Brewing

Mr. Beer Home Brewery promises to be easy and fun, and certainly the kit I received for review lived up to that. First things first, I eagerly unpacked the contents of the large, friendly box containing the Mr. Beer Premium Edition Home Brewery in my kitchen. In the box I found the promised brew keg, [...]

Home Brew: Brewing a Belgian dubbel

Follow me as I brew a dark and malty Belgian dubbel ale. First, there is some confusion about what exactly a dubbel ale is. Dubbel is simply a term used in Belgium for ale. It implies fairly strong ale, say 6.5-9% ABV, but it is not twice as strong as other ales. There are also [...]

Hopsicles? Beer Ice Cream?

Remember making Popsicles as a kid. You would put Kool-aid in an ice cube tray, use toothpicks for handles and freeze. I still do it today for my kids but I found this article from Life in the fast lane.ca They found a restaurant making Hopsicle, thats right popsicles made from beer. They also have [...]

Perfect summer beer – Honey Rose beer recipe

Since summer is in full swing, I decided to try brewing a Belgian wheat beer. Belgian wheats use coriander, orange peel, and a special wheat yeast to create a light, citrus-y, slightly spicy beer that is perfect for warm weather. (Think Blue Moon.) I thought that honey might lend an nice flavor and I decided [...]