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haha... thanks. Yeah, I've spent most of my time looking for european imports. I've kinda been an anti-american beer snob so far but I want to expand my horizons. I've had Pliny the Elder on draft... was actually a bit underwhelmed for some reason. I should check out some of their others...

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Oakland. I'm sure there's some good retail beer stores around here, I just haven't gotten around to investigating it extensively. I like trying "different" things. I recently had my first braggot and cysers at a local meadery/brewery, which I liked. I'm just...

I was looking at the dogfish head website just now: The Brews | Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales and was lamenting the fact that I could not get any of their rare beers since I am here on the West coast (CA). Does anyone have any favorite micro breweries here in the West that specialize in...

My sister knows quite a bit about wine and one time I asked her why corks are used for wine. She said that the cork allows the wine to "breath" or something over the course of several years, so that apparently an actual cork is necessary for proper aging (versus a cap). Apparently, the cork is...

thanks everyone. I have a quick emergency question. Do I aerate the must after pitching the hydrated yeast like with beer? I assume I just shake the fermenter like crazy as I have to other means available right now. My instructions don't say anything about shaking the bucket for aeration.

I was wondering about this too. I'm new at this and I was thinking about getting a small keg and some CO2 and just making a little bit of sparkling with the rest as still in bottles... but it would be nice to at least do a test on a few bottles and see how it comes out.

Thanks for the info! It's coming together in my head now. :)

Yes, I'm looking to make a fairly sweet (but not too sweet), deep fruit flavored mead. Nothing complex hopefully, I just thought I could jazz it up a little with fruit. So it sounds like I should add fruit at secondary. Should I let it basically finish fermentation in primary, transfer to...

Why is it that pasteurization doesn't seem as critical for meads as for beers? For example, when adding fruit to a beer primary you need to heat it or add during the boil. But most people making meads here just seem to freeze the fruit, chop it up and add it. I plan on starting my first...

This looks really good. I have 15 lbs orange blossom honey from a kit... I am going to start my first mead soon. I love cherries so I might give something like this a try.

One thing I was wondering is whether I should blend the bananas and cherries before cooking them on the stove... or should I just chop them up into pieces and cook them? I want to add them to the primary.

I was actually thinking about doing a cherry hefe or else a cherry banana hefe. I just made a bavarian hefe with the weihenstephaner yeast... pretty heavy bananic... but I figure why not go all the way and put bananas in the primary?

Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the Lost Abbey Judgement Day. Good tasting, but totally unsubtle... which typically means I get tired of it fast. I've heard a few people rave about Rochefort 8 and 10. I tried the 8 a few months ago and was a bit underwhelmed for some reason. I'll have to...

Indeed, it has been one of my favorite Belgians ever since I tried it for the first time a few months ago. It has a somewhat "acquired" taste... almost slightly "vegetative"... what I would describe as a faint "cactus" flavor (a much fainter version of what you taste in good tequila). And yes...

Damn! I was born for hefe... but born in the wrong place. Damn all these west coast pale ales and salty stouts and porters. We are a sunny state... we should have hefes...

ooh... mouthwatering...

Here is my ranking so far from best to least favorite: 1. Franziskaner hefe 2. Paulaner hefe 3. Weihenstephan dunkelweiss 4. Franziskaner dunkelweiss (spice is not as complex or aromatic as #3 imo) 5. Weihenstephan hefe The Hopf variety is interesting... my jury is still out on...

After trying and loving the Weihenstephaner Dunkelweiss the other day, I ran down and got their hefe weiss in a 16 oz. bottle. I am on a quest to find the best Bavarian hefeweizen available as import in the bay area (CA). So far I am just at the beginning and have nearly exhausted the German...

EdWort: Thanks. I will probably just bottle. Sounds a little complex for me. Is that something homebrewers of hefes ever do? Is it absolutely necessary to filter and add fresh wort? Also, is it mostly to add carbonation or does it also contribute different flavors?

I have a bavarian hefeweizen (6 lbs. liquid, 1 lbs. dry malt extract) w/ Wyeast 3068 pitched at primary... it's been fermenting in primary for about a week now. I'm going to let it go about two weeks in primary. I have heard that, in order to get the authentic German hefe taste, you need...