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NewTexian

NewTexian

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Hi folks.

I'm Ron, from Round Rock, TX. I'm a foodie, an amateur cook, and a big time pizza making fan. I'm interested in learning about brewing.

One of the folks on the pizza making forum I go to suggested I come on over here to learn from y'all the way I've learned from them.

So... here I am. Looking forward to perusing the forum and finding out more about brewing.

As far as beer types I'm into, I enjoy a lighter lager style (I call them beach beers) - Corona, Dos Equis, Landshark, Kona Longboard etc. I also enjoy wheat beers, especially cloudy heffeweizens. So, those are the types I would like to eventually learn to make. Not into bitter or overly hoppy beers.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to sit at the feet of passionate experts like yourselves.
 
NONONONONO! Run away now while there's still time! If you give brewing a chance then the next thing you know you have carboys and stuff all over the house, you're collecting parts for your brewing system or a new fermenter or kegerator, you can't think of anything other than your next brew day and then you find you're a total beer snob and can't drink things like Corona anymore. Quit while you're ahead! :mug:
 
ChshreCat said:
NONONONONO! Run away now while there's still time! If you give brewing a chance then the next thing you know you have carboys and stuff all over the house, you're collecting parts for your brewing system of a new fermenter or kegerator, you can't think of anything other than your next brew day and then you find you're a total beer snob and can't drink things like Corona anymore. Quit while you're ahead! :mug:
Click to expand...

Funny... that's EXACTLY how I am about pizza making. I even have one of these: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4753.0.html All the cool pizza people have 'em. ;)

I'm a pizza snob and looking forward to becoming a brew snob. I want to be one of the cool brewheads. :)
 
well why does one need a mobile pizza oven may i ask? a mobile brewery? because that can't automatically be done at ANY residence in an industrialized nation nor at the beach.

just wait... the brewery could if you allow it, cost more than 3 cars and 2 motorcycles!
 
brewingkitty said:
well why does one need a mobile pizza oven may i ask?
Click to expand...

No one needs one. It's a want. Not a need. I want (and have) one of those because it does nearly as good of a job on making a delicious pizza as a big, expensive wood fired oven does.
 
You can make great beer for a minimal investment in some basic equipment. Especially the hefe / weissebier types. Get yourself the basic starter kit, make a few extract brews and see if its for you. To make the standard light lagers, you need extra equipment, like a spare fridge or freezer you can convert for brewing. So start with the ale, and you may find its a good hobby. But beware... its quickly addicting and just like the other's have said, you could find yourself up to your neck in equipment. Just a thought, with your pizza obsession, the beer obsession might pair well together.
 
kammee said:
Just a thought, with your pizza obsession, the beer obsession might pair well together.
Click to expand...

My very thoughts.

I'm thinking someday in the future, maybe 5 or 10 years down the road, a possible nearlypolitan pizza and microbrew pub.

We do have a second fridge/freezer out in the garage. Of course, at this time, the fridge's **full** of Bud Light (thanks to ordering too much of it for our wedding last month - it's cheap and popular with our families). Since I can't stand Bud Light, I'm slowly making a dent in the surplus by incorporating it into my pizza dough in batches... not to mention, giving it away to people as they drive by ;)
 
Indeed...Pizza+beer= full and buzzed...good discription of my first two years of marriage...
 
OK, so you are doomed to brew, pull that weber thingamajammy off that burner and get brewing with it! good luck in this latest hobby, If there are any questions you cannot find answers to, just ask away! speaking from experience regarding brewing... you shoulda taken the blue pill!
 
I'd suggest starting with an extract based kit. They're nearly fool proof and that way you can learn a bit about the general process. I had no idea WTF a steeping grain was until I used a kit I got from a homebrew shop online, but it only took me an hour or so to complete and I think I'm on my way to having a good beer bottled in a week or so.

Also, you don't have to worry as much about getting discouraged from a failed brew on your first shot since the kits are pretty reliable.

Just my two cents FWIW.
 
For light beers, to start (until you have lagering capability), I suggest American Wit, Blonde Ales, Kolsch, Cream Ale...

There are plenty of light Ale styles that don't require a ton of time at cold temps. They won't be as light as a Corona, but still pretty good cold.

Once you get a fermentation chamber with a temp controller built, you can start trying to emulate those thin, watery beers you enjoy now (or by then you will have evolved past that style and into something completely different!)
 
My only experience with cream ales is Genesee Cream Ale that my dad used to drink... and the memories of it do not leave tasty thoughts. Not my thing... but of course, I'm open to the idea that Genesee brewery may not have exactly created the epitome of the style.
 
cream ales are good. here's a quick and dirty one.

7# 2-row
.75# honey malt
.25# biscuit
1oz cluster @ 60min
1056 american ale

og. 1.044
fg. 1.011
srm. 6.1
ibu. 27

155F 60 mins.
 
ronzorelli said:
That's greek to me at this point... sorry...
Click to expand...

It's an AG recipe. You'll want to start with an Extract recipe.

There are an awful lot of them online, even on this site if you look. or I recommend getting a good homebrewing book, like The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, or Palmer's www.howtobrew.com, or even homebrewing for dummies (it's better than you think)

Howtobrew.com has the first edition online for free, so you can take a look at it and actually learn all you need to start and then some.

Essentially to start you will:

Heat some water
Turn off flame and add extract and stir well
Heat to boiling
Add hops
Boil for 45 minutes
Add a bit more hops (maybe) and some irish moss if you care to (helps clarify)
Add some water to cool a bit, then pour into a bucket or carboy and top off with more water as much as needed to get your proper volume. mix well.
Sprinkle yeast on top when the temp is down to 65 F and place airlock.

Of course, anything that touches the wort after boiling will need to be sanitized, and for that I recommend Starsan. You can also use Iodophor, but I personally prefer Starsan for ease of use and lack of discoloration of equipment!

Once the fermentation is done in about 2-3 weeks, you can bottle or keg.
 
I know this is stating it simply but if you can cook then you can brew. So we know you can cook . . . . :D

You're not very far from Austin so I'd suggest you pay a visit to Forrest and the good folks at Austin Homebrew Supply and check things out. Who knows, they might have a beginner class you can take. Heck, he's even got a kit for those Mexican brews you like.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

By the way, I stumbled across that pizza forum recently and am gonna have to show that to SWMBO.
 
whutever said:
I know this is stating it simply but if you can cook then you can brew. So we know you can cook . . . . :D
Click to expand...
Cooking is definitely a passion of mine. Just wondering if I have the finances to get into this as a passion as well.

whutever said:
You're not very far from Austin so I'd suggest you pay a visit to Forrest and the good folks at Austin Homebrew Supply and check things out. Who knows, they might have a beginner class you can take. Heck, he's even got a kit for those Mexican brews you like.
Click to expand...
Actually went there today. Nice set up. I just went to browse and check stuff out, not to talk to anyone. I'd pester the daylights out of them if I ended up opening my mouth. I noticed they even had cheese making supplies... which I will be putting in my memory banks. Made a few batches of cheese over the past couple months.


whutever said:
By the way, I stumbled across that pizza forum recently and am gonna have to show that to SWMBO.
Click to expand...

SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed? I have one of those too... which is why I'm not investing in this yet. The boss has to approve the purchase.
 
What pizza making forum do you go to? I've been getting into making pizza lately and would love to get better.
 
Paul,

The site is www.pizzamaking.com (www.pizzamaking.com/forum/). It's full of folks, like this forum is, who are passionate about what they do. And you WILL get better by reading and doing what they do.

I've been dabbling in it for 5 years off and on now and my pizza kung fu is about at a brown belt skill level right now. Much better than it was when I started, but still have a lot to learn.

I'm "Ronzo" on that forum.
 
ronzorelli said:
SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed? I have one of those too... which is why I'm not investing in this yet. The boss has to approve the purchase.
Click to expand...

That's it and yes they do. But, she tolerates this "hobby" (read obsession) and as long as I make her a couple of batches of wine per year she's happy.
 
whutever said:
That's it and yes they do. But, she tolerates this "hobby" (read obsession) and as long as I make her a couple of batches of wine per year she's happy.
Click to expand...

That will be my 'smooth move' to try and seal the deal... although... we have a wine rack and a wine fridge full of the stuff...

We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon a couple weeks ago and we found a winery on top of Kilauea that had some fantastic stuff. We shipped a whole case back... so now we have even MORE wine... sheesh... I might need to throw in a "wine cellar" closet to try and seal the deal.
 
Ron, I too was curious about brewing. I had known a guy who presented himself as a home brewer and yet in the 4 years I knew him he never brewed.
This last winter shooting pool in his garage I began teasing him about all the carboys and fermenters and brew pots. Expensive decorations etc.
Well we brewed a truly horrible batch of beer two weeks later. I was hooked even though it was undrinkable. (think Milk barn in heavy rain smell)
Since we have done a knock off the Bell's Two Hearted Ale and it is great. Next brew date is coming up. I have nearly all my own equipment now and will be doing a batch on my own in July.

Link is to a blog with a pic of he wort chiller I soldered up this past weekend and the keg I am converting into a brew pot (have to scroll down to an earlier post.) Still lots to learn and do. http://www.strandedinstrangeness.com/
 
I am going to tell you the 3 rules of homebrewing that took me years to learn.
PLEASE OH PLEASE tell me the 3 (or 4 or 10) rules for making a good pizza at home, mine are never as good as a pizzeria. Cheese is never right, and the dough is hit and miss.

OK
RULE #1, SANITIZATION
Make sure everything that touches any ingredient of your brew is sanitized, If you are boiling, you are good until after the boil, then make sure everything is sanitized, Star San, Idophor, household bleach are all good sanitizers.

RULE #2, PATIENCE

If you did everything correctly and your beer doesn't taste quite right, try it again in a couple weeks. EVEN IF your beer is awesome TRY to put a 6 pack or a dozen away for a couple extra months and taste again.

RULE #3, TEMPERATURE

You will likely be making beers with an ale yeast unless you can get your hands on a cheap freezer that you can convert to a fermentation chamber (actually being in Texas, you might wan to do this anyway) and you can use an ale yeast to make a faux lager, it will be close but not as clean as your lagers.
Regardless of what yeast you use, , yeast have a temp range and you will always have your cleanest tasting results brewing at the lowest end of your range. It took me years to learn this, I knew about the range but always brewed at room temps which were usually at the top end of the scale. If you are brewing a darker or hoppier ale, you can get away with this.
There are many DIY fermentation chambers online and this site is a great resource for them.

Personally, I plan to brew my lagers in the winter, where I can let nature take care of the low temps and I can control a small room from getting too cold with a heater, you will likely not have this option. I have done one in a fridge and I won't have the taste test done for another 2 weeks.

Good luck!
 
Also, I too support the suggestion of using an extract recipe, however you COULD use a canned kit for your first brew, definitely less involved and definitely not as good but a great way to try some basic brewing skills. I believe Brewhouse is available in Texas as well, these are kits with no sugar to add pre made wort, just add water and yeast. Simple and very quick.
 
Thanks, bill. I'll keep all that in mind.
billc68 said:
PLEASE OH PLEASE tell me the 3 (or 4 or 10) rules for making a good pizza at home, mine are never as good as a pizzeria. Cheese is never right, and the dough is hit and miss.
Click to expand...

My pizza preference is a sort of mix between NY Style (being that I grew up in upstate NY), and Neapolitan. I call my style of pie Nearlypolitan.

With pizza, some things you have to keep in mind are:

You can't get flavor in the dough without fermentation. You want a little sourdough hint to your dough, and it's very difficult to get that unless you let it ferment. I let my dough ferment for about 8-12 hours at room temp, then I let it ferment in the fridge (an extra storage fridge is helpful for this if you have one, so the door is not constantly getting opened and letting cool air out) for at least 12 more hours. I usually let the ferment go for at least 48 hours - usually no more than 72 hours. The longer you plan on letting it ferment, the less yeast you need to add... or you'll be better off using it to start your next batch of brew.

You need salt in your dough. ALWAYS put salt your dough. No matter how perfectly it ferments, it'll taste flat and bland without some salt in it.

Adding a little sugar to the dough mix will help with flavor by kick starting the yeast, and it will also help with the browning in heat.

Speaking of heat... you need HIGH heat. Higher than your typical kitchen oven will give you... unless you modify it (I'm surprised by the mods some folks come up with for their home oven to get 600+ degrees out of it). This is why I love my "Little Black Egg". I always say, once you go (little) Black (egg), you won't go back. My LBE gets 700 on the stone and cooks a pie in less than 6 minutes.

Always measure by weight, not volume.

And... (just like in brewing, I'm sure) keep learning. Ask questions. There are folks on the pizza making forum that are professional pizza guys and gals. Some of their knowledge blows me away... soak it up, and don't be afraid of making mistakes. They help you get better.
 
bill... a few more things...

I don't use part-skim, low moisture mozzarella. I use whole milk mozzarella, but not "fresh". PSLMM doesn't have the full flavor that WMM does, and "fresh" mozz is too watery for me. And you DON'T NEED super expensive WMM to get good flavor. Believe it or not, Walmart has a pretty good WMM. I use it a lot as old reliable. It runs about $2.60-$2.80/lb here in the Austin area.

I don't use prepared pizza sauce. I use crushed tomatoes, or whole tomatoes and crush them by hand, I never use a blender of any type. They add too much air and oxidize the tomatoes, changing the flavor. Drain a little water out of it so you don't have soggy dough. And... don't cook the tomatoes (before putting them on the pie). Just add your seasoning (keep it simple) to the tomatoes, don't add oil, and leave it alone.
 
just found out my wife (I love the SWMBO acronym!) has been considering getting me a starter brew kit for my birthday next week.

She may or may not do it... but at least I know the boss is not opposed to the idea.
 
Man, you got yourself another hobby!!! and now the downward spiral into the rabbit hole. welcome to the madness, grab a beer and a slice of pizza, and hang on!:rockin:
 
ronzorelli said:
just found out my wife (I love the SWMBO acronym!) has been considering getting me a starter brew kit for my birthday next week.

She may or may not do it... but at least I know the boss is not opposed to the idea.
Click to expand...

My SWMBO (different class, not wife... yet... fiance) got me started in brewing by getting me a gift card for our local homebrew store on my birthday. This is how you tell the keepers. :D
 
mine's a keeper because she puts up with me, but that's definitely cool she is ok with the idea of brewing.

I'm not a huge beer drinker, but I definitely enjoy a good one. I might move into cider making too. Love me some hard cider.
 
My wife got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas, so I'll be diving in pretty soon.

And my beer tastes have changed quite a bit since I joined the forum, so I'm really looking forward to getting into porters and darker ales/lagers.
 
I started with the Mr Beer system and I managed to make some pretty decent beer. I know some on here like to knock the Mr Beer system, but it was a great way for me to be introduced to brewing.
 
ronzorelli said:
My wife got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas, so I'll be diving in pretty soon.
Click to expand...

Welcome back to your own thread, Ronzo! :)

You've probably seen it already, but the beginner forum on this site has a sticky about Mr. Beer.

ronzorelli said:
And my beer tastes have changed quite a bit since I joined the forum, so I'm really looking forward to getting into porters and darker ales/lagers.
Click to expand...

Awesome! Like others have said, it's easier to start with ales (and porter is a kind of ale) than lagers.

Almost two years passed from the time I first started reading The Complete Joy of Homebrewing until I actually brewed my first batch, but I seem to be jumping in head first now! It's a fun hobby.

You've got me interested in pizza now. I'm going to join that other forum.

Cheers!
 
Welcome! I think you'll find brewing very similar to cooking. At least I have. In fact, I've become a better cook because of my brewing.

I'm sure it's nothing compared to yours, but here's my latest batch of pizzas.

IMG00148.jpg


This is the pan I use in a very hot oven

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitche...Lodge_Logic_Cast_Iron_Pizza_Pan___P14P3?Args=

Also, used this recipe supplied by chefmike.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f172/simple-pepperoni-211548/

Making some calzones tomorrow. Wish me luck. :mug:
 
ronzorelli said:
My wife got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas, so I'll be diving in pretty soon.

And my beer tastes have changed quite a bit since I joined the forum, so I'm really looking forward to getting into porters and darker ales/lagers.
Click to expand...

Well... it's been awhile since I visited this thread.

Since posting that, I moved into Mini-mash kits in June of '11. At the beginning of this year, I moved into all grain.

I've got 12 brews under my belt. Planning lucky # 13.

Newbie Pale Ale (Mr. Beer)
RedBlooded Ale (Mini-Mash)
High Plains Hefeweizen
Cur Dog Porter (whiskey porter)
Autumn Amber Rye
Lost Pines Pale
337 Hard Cider
Robinwood Maibock (all grain going forward)
Dark Lightnin' Barleywine
Big Hair Blonde
(Unnamed) Pecan Texian Pale Ale
Oil Slick Spiced Rum Stout

Lucky # 13 is going to be a Cream Ale, reminiscent of the king of Cream Ales, and my very first exposure to beer... Genesee Cream Ale.


Even though I don't post a lot, I lurk a lot and LEARN a lot from you guys (and gals). Thanks for having this site available, and thanks to all of you for being willing to share.
 

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