LayMeister
Well-Known Member
This morning my wife asked if I wanted to make some fruit beer using the 4 quart basket of cherries she purchased yesterday at the market. It sounded like a good chance to make some fruit flavored wheat beer that would be ready by mid summer. So I took her up on the offer.
Background - I moved back to Ontario from Florida about 4 years ago and have spent more time making wine than brewing beer (2 rows of grapes in the backyard and 200 bottles in the wine rack). I started brewing about 10 years ago and at the peak brewed almost every weekend, but have only made about 4 batches in the last 4 years. The last being a cranberry ale, using a hopped kit (in desperation) last fall.
I hadn't noticed any brew supply places around town, but thought I should be able to scare up some pale malt extract, wheat malt extract and hops within an hours drive. I was wrong. All I could find were some hopped kits and a number of brew-on-premises sites. Forget about a selection of hops (a worldwide hops shortage!) and a selection of grains for a partial mash. What was I to do? I guess I was spoiled in Orlando where I could drop by Hearts and get whatever I needed on the spot. If I called ahead they would even smack the Wyeast pack for me so I wouldn't have to rush.
I did find a place in Fergus, about 45 minutes away, that would sell me 25kg bags of malt, if I could get there by 2:30. (It is a holiday weekend here). So off I went. I ended up buying a bags of pilsner, carapils, maris otter and light wheat. (I figured with high gas prices I should stock-up.) Came to about 220 bones for 100kg. I remember when I could get a bag of 2 row for $20! Interesting that they didn't have any Canadian malt. I guess everyone has switched to Corn for Ethanol. I plan to make a few specialty malts by roasting the maris otter and carapils using some instructions I have from a home brewer in Australia.
Next I needed to find hops. I stopped by a Brew-On-Premises place in Waterloo that had sold me hops about 3 years ago. No luck this time. They told me they were reserving all their hops for their high-margin customers. I was starting to think that those cherries were about to become jam instead of beer.
Luckily I found about 8 ounces of Cascades in the freezer that seemed to be well preserved in several layers of sealed Mylar bags. Otherwise I'll need to wait for $5/once hops to come by mail-order in Canada or pay a large brokerage fee if they come from the US. (A found a wide variety of hop plants at a nearby Nursery and plan to pick up a dozen plants on the weekend).
Now I need to crush the grain. (Should have thought about this when I was buying the grain). In the past used a friends Phil's Mill or would just have Hearts crush it. Instead I went to rummage through the surplus section at Princess Auto (like Harbor Freight in the US combined with a surplus store). Managed to find 2 aluminum rollers that look just like the ones in Phil's Mill only bigger. I will finish the crusher in the morning (found some good info on this site) and should be able to start brewing by noon.
My old mash setup was a RIMS (recirculating infusion mash system) that I had put together with 2 brew buddies in Orlando. Tomorrow I'll be using a Coleman cooler instead. Good to get back to basics! I'll report back on how I make out.
One last thing - Yeast. No Wyeast here. I did manage to find a generic package of ale yeast though. I guess I'll have to start washing and culturing yeast again as well
Cheers,
Paul
PS If anyone lives nearby and knows of a good hop supplier or wants to get together for a bulk purchase, please let me know.
Background - I moved back to Ontario from Florida about 4 years ago and have spent more time making wine than brewing beer (2 rows of grapes in the backyard and 200 bottles in the wine rack). I started brewing about 10 years ago and at the peak brewed almost every weekend, but have only made about 4 batches in the last 4 years. The last being a cranberry ale, using a hopped kit (in desperation) last fall.
I hadn't noticed any brew supply places around town, but thought I should be able to scare up some pale malt extract, wheat malt extract and hops within an hours drive. I was wrong. All I could find were some hopped kits and a number of brew-on-premises sites. Forget about a selection of hops (a worldwide hops shortage!) and a selection of grains for a partial mash. What was I to do? I guess I was spoiled in Orlando where I could drop by Hearts and get whatever I needed on the spot. If I called ahead they would even smack the Wyeast pack for me so I wouldn't have to rush.
I did find a place in Fergus, about 45 minutes away, that would sell me 25kg bags of malt, if I could get there by 2:30. (It is a holiday weekend here). So off I went. I ended up buying a bags of pilsner, carapils, maris otter and light wheat. (I figured with high gas prices I should stock-up.) Came to about 220 bones for 100kg. I remember when I could get a bag of 2 row for $20! Interesting that they didn't have any Canadian malt. I guess everyone has switched to Corn for Ethanol. I plan to make a few specialty malts by roasting the maris otter and carapils using some instructions I have from a home brewer in Australia.
Next I needed to find hops. I stopped by a Brew-On-Premises place in Waterloo that had sold me hops about 3 years ago. No luck this time. They told me they were reserving all their hops for their high-margin customers. I was starting to think that those cherries were about to become jam instead of beer.
Luckily I found about 8 ounces of Cascades in the freezer that seemed to be well preserved in several layers of sealed Mylar bags. Otherwise I'll need to wait for $5/once hops to come by mail-order in Canada or pay a large brokerage fee if they come from the US. (A found a wide variety of hop plants at a nearby Nursery and plan to pick up a dozen plants on the weekend).
Now I need to crush the grain. (Should have thought about this when I was buying the grain). In the past used a friends Phil's Mill or would just have Hearts crush it. Instead I went to rummage through the surplus section at Princess Auto (like Harbor Freight in the US combined with a surplus store). Managed to find 2 aluminum rollers that look just like the ones in Phil's Mill only bigger. I will finish the crusher in the morning (found some good info on this site) and should be able to start brewing by noon.
My old mash setup was a RIMS (recirculating infusion mash system) that I had put together with 2 brew buddies in Orlando. Tomorrow I'll be using a Coleman cooler instead. Good to get back to basics! I'll report back on how I make out.
One last thing - Yeast. No Wyeast here. I did manage to find a generic package of ale yeast though. I guess I'll have to start washing and culturing yeast again as well
Cheers,
Paul
PS If anyone lives nearby and knows of a good hop supplier or wants to get together for a bulk purchase, please let me know.