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MacGruber

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OKay everyone, I thought it would be fun to post up your favorite homebrew and why. Limit to one or two. I know it's hard ;)

Pumpkin Ale 5.2%- first pumpkin and better than 90% on the market. Cubed Pumpkin baked in oven with spices and added to mash and last 15 min of boil. The 5 gal keg kicked in three days

Pliny the Elder clone- 8.5%- best IPA I ever made and so close to the original. The hope nose wasn't as strong as the real thing, but I can't get it on the east coast!
 
Pabst Blue Ribbon Clone http://backyardbrewer.blogspot.com/2010/12/brewing-lagers.html that I did a side by side comparison with and couldn't tell the difference. Secondly, my Dog Fish Head Midas Touch clone http://backyardbrewer.blogspot.com/2010/11/midas-touch-clone.html that was close but drier. Still, very tasty. Aside from my normal pales, IPA's and Stouts I would have to say I impressed myself with a brown ale I brewed using my friends homemade almond toffee and cocoa.
mark
www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com
 
I brewed a Berlinerweisse using the "quick sour" meathod in Zymurgy. I usually like big malty beers, but this 3.2% ABV quencher was amazing!
 
OKay everyone, I thought it would be fun to post up your favorite homebrew and why. Limit to one or two. I know it's hard ;)

Pumpkin Ale 5.2%- first pumpkin and better than 90% on the market. Cubed Pumpkin baked in oven with spices and added to mash and last 15 min of boil. The 5 gal keg kicked in three days

Pliny the Elder clone- 8.5%- best IPA I ever made and so close to the original. The hope nose wasn't as strong as the real thing, but I can't get it on the east coast!

This is weird. I'll just say ditto.

My 2 favorite homebrews were Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale that I got the recipe from here. The other is my Pliny clone. Love it.

Once this next batch matures I might have a new favorite though. Raspberry wheat made with 6lbs of raspberries. I had a few last weekend. In about 3-4 weeks it should be FANTASTIC.
 
A Rye IPA that I have been brewing and modifying for several years and a Scotch Ale that has single malt soaked oak chips in the secondary. There might be a new favorite in the fermenter, a Pliny the Elder that the gravity sample tastes amazing-can't wait.
 
Raison D'Saison from Brewing Classic Styles. My wife claims it is as good as, if not better than, Saison DuPont. I don't know if it's that good but it's the first one I've done that I thought was professional caliber.
 
My first year brewing I did a SNPA clone (extract-based) that was absolutely spot on. My wife went to Chico State and a bunch of her college friends came by for her birthday, and for the first day everyone in town I had them all believing I'd bought a keg of SNPA for the occasion -- they were impressed when I revealed it was actually my own brew :D

Other than that, I have a milk stout recipe that I'm really fond of. In '08 it advanced to 2nd round of NHC and won the stout category for the West region of Longshot. I typically brew it about once a year. I've always had an issue with many commercial milk stouts, as they seem to be an irish stout with some lactose added. I went the route of creating big roasty American Stout flavors (minus aroma hops), but with enough sweetness to balance.
 
My Coronado Imperial Red--a hop-malt monster

Eulipion's Honey Saison--brewed w/o rosemary and subbed Cascade for more citrus. I literally CANNOT stop drinking this beer!
 
My all citra apa.. I dont get sick of drinking it.. Took a couple different pale ale clone recipes that I liked and what I liked about them and stuck them together.. :)
 
My BIPA brewed with pale malt, black patent, crystal 80, chinook/amarillo/tettnanger hops, and star anise. I call it "Serious Black Ale" :D
 
I would have to say my favorite home brew that i've done to date was a version of the Darth Vader IPA https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/darth-vader-black-ipa-218904/

I wanted to make it alittle differnet so used 80L crystal and .75# of special roast instead of only a half pound.

I also changed up the hops and used the following schedule:

1 oz Magnum 17% - 60 min.
1 oz Cascade 7.9% - 45 min.
1 oz Fuggles 5.2% - 15 min.
1 oz Cascade 7.9% - 0 min.

Dry hop 1 oz cascade for 7 days.

And used nottingham instead of 05.

Came out amazing. Huge aroma up front, the first sip is amazingly roasty, but then the bitterness and hop flavor comes in. It was a hit, even with people that don't like hoppy beers.
 
My own version of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Bradford Pale Ale) which is Columbus, Perle and Cascade hops and comes out like this:
10 SRM
37 IBU
5.5% ABV
mellow with a somewhat malty body with a nice Cascade hop aroma and flavor, easy drinker
5.5 gal batch (OG: 1.051, FG: 1.010)
9.0 lb 2-row
1.0 lb Vienna
1.0 lb Crystal 60
0.5oz Columbus @ 60
0.5oz Perle @ 25
1.0oz Cascade @ 10
1.0oz Cascade @ flameout
1.0oz Cascade dry hop 7 days
US-05 yeast
21 day primary @ 65F

Second place would be the recent Blue Moon Clone I made which is like Blue Moon only drier and a bit more citrus...excellent summer ale!
 
Rehabilitation Double IPA

60 minute, full volume 4.0 gallon boil
3.0 to 3.2 gallon batch
2.8 to 3.0 gallon bottling volume
60 minute mash @ 148 F with 1 gallon water
4.0 weeks of 62-68 F fermentation and conditioning in primary, including dryhop
2.5 weeks of bottle conditioning
No secondary necessary
No cold crash necessary
115.5 IBUs (it doesn't taste nearly as harsh as it sounds)
1.074 OG
1.014 FG
8.0% ABV
6 SRM

2.00 lbs. Great Western Premium 2-Row Malt
2.00 lbs. Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
1.75 lb. Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract [Late Addition]
8.00 oz. Corn Sugar [Late Addition]
8.00 oz. Rahr Red Wheat Malt
8.00 oz. Weyermann CaraHell

0.75 oz. Columbus leaf 17.1 @ 60 minutes
1.50 oz. Columbus leaf 17.1 @ 10 minutes
1.00 oz. Centennial pellet 10.5 @ 30-60 minute hopstand in < 160 F wort
1.00 oz. Summit pellet 15.8 @ 30-60 minute hopstand in < 160 F wort
0.50 oz. Amarillo pellet 9.2 @ 30-60 minute hopstand in < 160 F wort
0.50 oz. Citra pellet 14.5 @ 30-60 minute hopstand in < 160 F wort
1.00 oz. Summit pellet 15.8 @ 10 day dryhop
0.50 oz. Amarillo pellet 9.2 @ 10 day dryhop
0.50 oz. Citra pellet 14.5 @ 10 day dryhop

Gypsum, Whirlfloc, Yeast Nutrient

1.0 to 1.5 liter White Labs WLP001 yeast starter
 
My favorite brew so far is also my first all grain. It is a Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH.

5 gallon recipe:
10lbs Vienna malt mashed at 152F
1oz NB at 60 min
1oz NB at 20 min
.5oz NB at 15 min
.5oz NB at 10 min
1oz NB at 5 min

Fermented with US-05 at 64F.

It is smooth and complex with lots of hop flavor that compliments the strong flavor of the Vienna malt. Each one is better than the rest and will probably wind up being my house APA.
 
Just tapped a keg of my newest IPA creation. It is incredible. The brewday was a disaster, but the beer turned out beyond amazing. Until this beer, I hadn't ever made a beer I was 100% happy with, that I thought could really compete against the commercials, but I think it's the best beer I've ever tasted, let alone brewed. This will be one of the core beers at Two Kids. It's a good feeling.
 
I would have to say my favorite home brew that i've done to date was a version of the Darth Vader IPA https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/darth-vader-black-ipa-218904/

I wanted to make it alittle differnet so used 80L crystal and .75# of special roast instead of only a half pound.

I also changed up the hops and used the following schedule:

1 oz Magnum 17% - 60 min.
1 oz Cascade 7.9% - 45 min.
1 oz Fuggles 5.2% - 15 min.
1 oz Cascade 7.9% - 0 min.

Dry hop 1 oz cascade for 7 days.

And used nottingham instead of 05.

Came out amazing. Huge aroma up front, the first sip is amazingly roasty, but then the bitterness and hop flavor comes in. It was a hit, even with people that don't like hoppy beers.

Sounds similar to the BIPA I mentioned right above you. Try Chinook sometimes if you feel like experimenting with your recipe. The piney aroma of Chinook on top of those dark malts reminds me of pine tar (stuff you put on a baseball bat for grip). In a good way of course :D

I also used Nottingham for my BIPA. I love that yeast. I love how it really lets all of the malts and hops you put into the beer come out in full force and doesn't get in the way.
 
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