dukeofmuffins
New Member
I know these vary a bit in topic but I didn't want to flood the forum with my newbishness.
1) Are there any must-read books for a potential new homebrewer? Aside from scouring forums and picking up a few issues of Brew magazine, I bought a copy of Homebrewing for Dummies. It definitely answered a lot of my questions, but I know there's a plethora of guides out there, and I can't help but think the community has something they regard as the essential book.
2) Is there a reason to start with bottling vs kegging? In my situation, kegs would be consumed rapidly and could be more easily utilized for large military functions, where there is always a bar/tap system on hand. I am aware that kegs can be a bit more of an investment, but I'm under the impression that quality bottles and bottling gear can cost a few pennies too. I'm also comfortable handling CO2/bulk gas and the associated piping/plumbing. Just wonder if anyone has a beginner kegging horror story that might dissuade me from just jumping to that route.
3) Lastly and most importantly, is anyone familiar with the Shiner Smokehaus beer? I made a promise to my boss that should I be successful in my initial brewing endeavors that I would look into cloning this beer. I know it wasn't the be-all-end-all of smoked beers, but he loved it for whatever reason and was pretty burnt when they stopped production a few years back. The info I can find describe it as a "Munich Helles-style lager made with Texas mesquite wood-smoked pale malts." Being as a I will probably work with extract kits for a while (until I'm comfortable) I was hoping there might be a kit that could be modified with the addition of the mesquite flavoring. I doubt Shiner did much more than add something akin to Liquid Smoke, though I'm sure I could do slightly better. The lagering process would give me an excuse to fashion some gear later on as well. If anyone has any thoughts on this particular effort I'd appreciate it, even if it's a longer term goal. I've got 6 months in the desert coming up, and I'll have plenty of time to dream about and plan my first attempts when I get back!
1) Are there any must-read books for a potential new homebrewer? Aside from scouring forums and picking up a few issues of Brew magazine, I bought a copy of Homebrewing for Dummies. It definitely answered a lot of my questions, but I know there's a plethora of guides out there, and I can't help but think the community has something they regard as the essential book.
2) Is there a reason to start with bottling vs kegging? In my situation, kegs would be consumed rapidly and could be more easily utilized for large military functions, where there is always a bar/tap system on hand. I am aware that kegs can be a bit more of an investment, but I'm under the impression that quality bottles and bottling gear can cost a few pennies too. I'm also comfortable handling CO2/bulk gas and the associated piping/plumbing. Just wonder if anyone has a beginner kegging horror story that might dissuade me from just jumping to that route.
3) Lastly and most importantly, is anyone familiar with the Shiner Smokehaus beer? I made a promise to my boss that should I be successful in my initial brewing endeavors that I would look into cloning this beer. I know it wasn't the be-all-end-all of smoked beers, but he loved it for whatever reason and was pretty burnt when they stopped production a few years back. The info I can find describe it as a "Munich Helles-style lager made with Texas mesquite wood-smoked pale malts." Being as a I will probably work with extract kits for a while (until I'm comfortable) I was hoping there might be a kit that could be modified with the addition of the mesquite flavoring. I doubt Shiner did much more than add something akin to Liquid Smoke, though I'm sure I could do slightly better. The lagering process would give me an excuse to fashion some gear later on as well. If anyone has any thoughts on this particular effort I'd appreciate it, even if it's a longer term goal. I've got 6 months in the desert coming up, and I'll have plenty of time to dream about and plan my first attempts when I get back!