I drink a lot....is it cheaper to brew?

[Odin's_FJ40]

Can you drink 20 gal of beer in a year? Once they are kegged and stay on gas and in the cold the brews you like will easily stay good for months.



Best.
Friend.
EVAR!



All of these can be replicated "in spirit" at home. Lagers needing mid-50s fermentation temps is about the only part of the brewing process that would be in the "moderate difficulty" realm. Everything else is squarely in the "fairly easy" section.

With all that wisdom I need you as a "brewing friend"

 

[renstyle]

I am just beginning to notice reference to NEIPA (New England ?) and WCIPA (West Coast). What is the difference? Are the other IPAs? And yes I am not a fan of beers with high IBUs, I had to look IBU up).

NEIPA is the juicy stuff that I swear is just slightly fermented orange juice. They are cloudy, fruity and have alot of hop aroma. They also taste somewhat like beer.

WCIPA are the traditional hop bombs, with scads of Pine/Needles/Grapefruit notes. Often dry hopped after the brews are in the fermenter for a few days.

 

[bracconiere]

I am just beginning to notice reference to NEIPA (New England ?) and WCIPA (West Coast). What is the difference? Are the other IPAs? And yes I am not a fan of beers with high IBUs, I had to look IBU up).

as far as i've read NEIPA is a IPA that has hop trub homogenzied, and mixed through it so it's so hoppy it's cloudy with hops? not 100% on that though...

 

[renstyle]

With all that wisdom I need you aa "brewing friend"

When you were listing off your current faves, it reminded me of my own brew list, tho ales not lagers...

English Porter, English Dark Mild, Northern Brown... going to try a Scotch ale soon also.

Then I do a Bohemian/Czech Pilsner to balance out the light side of the force, as it were.

This is the best part about homebrewing, you can literally make anything you like, limited only by your time and to some extent, your finances (but not too much).

 

[renstyle]

as far as i've read NEIPA is a IPA that has hop trub homogenzied, and mixed through it so it's so hoppy it's cloudy with hops? not 100% on that though...

You had me curious, so I looked it up... Per BJCP (provisional style) a NEIPA is defined as:

"An American IPA with intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, and smooth mouthfeel, and often opaque with substantial haze. Less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but always massively hop forward. This emphasis on late hopping, especially dry hopping, with hops with tropical fruit qualities lends the specific ‘juicy’ character for which this style is known."

I too am unsure exactly what keeps them so hazy. I do know they are notorious for going purple when oxidized, prolly why I always see these in cans, not in bottles...

 

[day_trippr]

^lol^ You wouldn't care either way as long as your liver continues to pickle

And - fwiw - for sure this has become the most deranged thread I've seen this year.
But carry on! A week ago I was in an ER for an afternoon so the entertainment value is appreciated more than usual

Cheers! (undiagnosed event. Feeling excellent now though, thanks!)

[edit] That was aimed at our favorite drunk @bracconiere

 

[renstyle]

^lol^ You wouldn't care either way as long as your liver continues to pickle

And - fwiw - for sure this has become the most deranged thread I've seen this year.
But carry on! A week ago I was in an ER for an afternoon so the entertainment value is appreciated more than usual

Cheers! (undiagnosed event. Feeling excellent now though, thanks!)

Good to hear your excellent-ness has returned to full, just in time for the weekend!

 

[day_trippr]

Seriously! Especially with Youngest Son opening his pool for real just in time for an epic wave of heat here!

 

[Odin's_FJ40]

You had me curious, so I looked it up... Per BJCP (provisional style) a NEIPA is defined as:

"An American IPA with intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, and smooth mouthfeel, and often opaque with substantial haze. Less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but always massively hop forward. This emphasis on late hopping, especially dry hopping, with hops with tropical fruit qualities lends the specific ‘juicy’ character for which this style is known."

I too am unsure exactly what keeps them so hazy. I do know they are notorious for going purple when oxidized, prolly why I always see these in cans, not in bottles...

Maybe it's a texture or visual thing when it comes to the "hazy" juice bombs. But God help me I enjoy an ice cold Strongbow or Angry Orchard "Peach/Mango cider when its hot outside.

 

[renstyle]

Maybe it's a texture or visual thing when it comes to the "hazy" juice bombs. But God help me I enjoy an ice cold Strongbow or Angry Orchard "Peach/Mango cider when its hot outside.

Oh it's definitely texture, the fuller mouthfeel of a NEIPA, however it is accomplished, is a trademark of the style. It's part of the reason I'm not much of a fan, cuz when I want HOPS the WCIPAs do the trick.

Lumber Weasel (Woodchuck) has been my go-to cider since college (90s), especially the Pear! A very clean taste, and look.

 

[MaxStout]

For something different and easy to make, try EdWort's Apfelwein. Sort of hard cider on steroids. Apple juice from the store, table sugar and a $1 packet of wine yeast. All you need for gear is a bucket or carboy fermenter, stopper and airlock.

Tasty, and gets you piss drunk in a hurry if you're not careful.

 

[renstyle]

For something different and easy to make, try EdWort's Apfelwein. Sort of hard cider on steroids. Apple juice from the store, table sugar and a $1 packet of wine yeast. All you need for gear is a bucket or carboy fermenter, stopper and airlock.

Tasty, and gets you piss drunk in a hurry if you're not careful.

Best line from the quoted post:

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND START ANOTHER BATCH 2 WEEKS AFTER YOU START THIS ONE.
YOU WILL THANK ME LATER!

it looks damn good!

 

[Odin's_FJ40]

So..it seems WCIPAs would not be for me. What are some NEIPAs that "might" be up my alley/.

 

[Odin's_FJ40]

Best line from the quoted post:

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND START ANOTHER BATCH 2 WEEKS AFTER YOU START THIS ONE.
YOU WILL THANK ME LATER!

it looks damn good!

I am determined to try my hand at "Applejack" this fall. Is this similar?

 

[easttex]

You can make drinkable beer inexpensively but much of it depends on what all equipment you have available already.

You could start with a $20 Harbor Freight stainless pot for a kettle, a brew bucket to ferment in, and package your beer in reused 2 liter plastic soda bottles. Brew light ale extract beers and ferment them with a neutral yeast like US-05 or Omega's Lutra. Save a half a quart of trub from the bottom of the fermenter in a sanitized jar to repitch batch-over-batch. You can santize with bleach if you're meticulous about rinsing it all out afterwards.

Granted, you may not win any awards brewing like this and you won't be brewing light lagers but if it's just some simple beer to drink, you can certainly do it without tons of expensive equipment.

 

[Dgallo]

For those who dislike NEIPAS, if you haven’t had one the top Tier breweries that make the style or know a homebrewer who has mastered it, I highly suggest you do. You’ll certainly understand it then. If you still don’t prefer them I get it but I strongly feel you’ll appreciate why people do enjoy them

 

[MaxStout]

I am determined to try my hand at "Applejack" this fall. Is this similar?

I think applejack is cider that has been freeze-distilled. Apfelwein is just cider fermented with extra sugar.

I've made several batches of Apfelwein. Lately, I've been leaving out the sugar and fermenting straight cider, which still yields ~6% ABV.

 

[renstyle]

I am determined to try my hand at "Applejack" this fall. Is this similar?

Applejack is a fruit brandy, so there is distilling involved post-fermentation.

This is more similar to StrongBow and Angry Orchard.

Bonus when you can just add more dextrose to get higher ABV and not affect the flavor.

 

[renstyle]

For those who dislike NEIPAS, if you haven’t had one the top Tier breweries that make the style or know a homebrewer who has mastered it, I highly suggest you do. You’ll certainly understand it then. If you still don’t prefer them I get it but I strongly feel you’ll appreciate why people do enjoy them

I make a point to try several in a flight whenever I'm able to visit a tasting room (more lately than the last few months).

I do try an give them a fair shot, but they just aren't my thing. While I said they tasted like old orange juice that was more descriptive than insulting, as I'm sure many folks enjoy fermented orange juice (cuz to me it tastes like a NEIPA) LOL.

I've also tried several "American Pale Lagers" in flights as well. While they are a tish better than Macro Lite... it's not a flavor I'm about unless there is a large jar of queen olives around.

Considering the effort it takes to do a NEIPA well (especially with the low-oxygen regiment that is necessary) I'm glad there are good examples out there for folks to try. It's just not for me.

I'll fight you for the last Pliny the Elder tho!

 

[renstyle]

You can make drinkable beer inexpensively but much of it depends on what all equipment you have available already.

You could start with a $20 Harbor Freight stainless pot for a kettle, a brew bucket to ferment in, and package your beer in reused 2 liter plastic soda bottles. Brew light ale extract beers and ferment them with a neutral yeast like US-05 or Omega's Lutra. Save a half a quart of trub from the bottom of the fermenter in a sanitized jar to repitch batch-over-batch. You can santize with bleach if you're meticulous about rinsing it all out afterwards.

Granted, you may not win any awards brewing like this and you won't be brewing light lagers but if it's just some simple beer to drink, you can certainly do it without tons of expensive equipment.

He's on the right track here. With the addition of a cool-box (dorm fridge or similar) to use as a fermentation chamber, you can brew those lagers with the same equipment as above (and lager yeast of course).

 

[Dgallo]

I make a point to try several in a flight whenever I'm able to visit a tasting room (more lately than the last few months).

I do try an give them a fair shot, but they just aren't my thing. While I said they tasted like old orange juice that was more descriptive than insulting, as I'm sure many folks enjoy fermented orange juice (cuz to me it tastes like a NEIPA) LOL.

I've also tried several "American Pale Lagers" in flights as well. While they are a tish better than Macro Lite... it's not a flavor I'm about unless there is a large jar of queen olives around.

Considering the effort it takes to do a NEIPA well (especially with the low-oxygen regiment that is necessary) I'm glad there are good examples out there for folks to try. It's just not for me.

I'll fight you for the last Pliny the Elder tho!

That’s why point though. Try a NEIPA from monkish, electric, or green cheek if you’re out west/Cali. Try one from treehouse, trillium, hill farmstead, vitamin sea, fiden’s, etc if your on the East coast. Those will be far different than what you just find in a flight at any brewery you go to. Everyone brews them because of their demand, that’s how they keep lights on. That’s doesn’t mean everyone has mastered it.

I love lager too. I’m lucky to have Suarez family brewing less than 30 miles from me.

anyway, time for me to stop derailing this thread lol

 

[Qhrumphf]

Back to the point, it getting smashed cheap is the goal, get a job in packaging at a brewery. It's crappy dirty exhausting low paying work. But all the low fills you can grab. And often you can get in the door entry level in packaging (where getting an actual brewing job is far far harder)

 

[bracconiere]

Back to the point, it getting smashed cheap is the goal, get a job in packaging at a brewery. It's crappy dirty exhausting low paying work. But all the low fills you can grab. And often you can get in the door entry level in packaging (where getting an actual brewing job is far far harder)

damn man, what a buzz kill.... @Odin's_FJ40 if you do decide to get into hazy NEIPAs, Yakima Valley Hops has year or two old hops for pretty cheap, i'd imagine for the haze, work just fine....

well this thread is off the rails as they always get when someone talks about saving money making their own. Just remember their just intimidated by drug dealers that would rather that people couldn't even make their own at all!

 

[kmarkstevens]

So....what am I missing with the whole IPA and Juicey Fruit thing? Bad examples or is it all bitter or my grand babies juice boxes ? See I think hops is used to disguise bad beer and a rush to market.

You may also not like the hops that are used. Me, I find most "C" hops (cascade, cluster, chinook, ad nausem) or American hops taste "skunky" or "catty" to me. It has nothing to do with the hoppiness, I simply don't like the hops used as it makes every beer taste skunked.

I really like most English hops, and happily will drink an IPA hopped to the gills with East Kent Goldings. Same with Tettnanger German hops.

The joy of homebrewing is that you can zero in on what you like and then brew it the way you like. Hefeweizen "style" may not accept non- "Nobel" (traditional European) hops to be a Hefeweizen. So, **** that, you're in control. You want a Hefe with your favority English hop and 8% ABV, then you can brew that. It won't be a "traditional" Hefe or within the "style" guidelines, but who cares? The best beer is the beer you like, the way you like to drink it. If that means an 8% hefe drunk straight from the tap at 33F, then god bless, god speed and happy brewing.

And to answer another question you had. I wouldn't necessarily go for clone beers. Why brew a Michelob doppelbock beer? Brew something akin to a Michelob doppelbock beer but better and customized for your taste. Beer kits are not bad when starting out, and you could go for a doppelbock kit instead of the Mic DB clone kit. Hell, I first helped homebrew in 1980, and I still occasionally buy a beer kit (when on a big sale). In the past year, I bought both a Chipotle Chocolate Porter and a Bourbon Barrel Porter beer kit. These are someone's tried and true recipes, that I brewed, enjoyed, and plan to modify to my taste in the future.

 

[bracconiere]

The best beer is the beer you like, the way you like to drink it.

+1


who knows smoked michellob 100's black? "light"? if not a hop head, wait till you play with malts, i LOVE Special B malt!

 

[Odin's_FJ40]

You may also not like the hops that are used. Me, I find most "C" hops (cascade, cluster, chinook, ad nausem) or American hops taste "skunky" or "catty" to me. It has nothing to do with the hoppiness, I simply don't like the hops used as it makes every beer taste skunked.

I really like most English hops, and happily will drink an IPA hopped to the gills with East Kent Goldings. Same with Tettnanger German hops.

The joy of homebrewing is that you can zero in on what you like and then brew it the way you like. Hefeweizen "style" may not accept non- "Nobel" (traditional European) hops to be a Hefeweizen. So, **** that, you're in control. You want a Hefe with your favority English hop and 8% ABV, then you can brew that. It won't be a "traditional" Hefe or within the "style" guidelines, but who cares? The best beer is the beer you like, the way you like to drink it. If that means an 8% hefe drunk straight from the tap at 33F, then god bless, god speed and happy brewing.

And to answer another question you had. I wouldn't necessarily go for clone beers. Why brew a Michelob doppelbock beer? Brew something akin to a Michelob doppelbock beer but better and customized for your taste. Beer kits are not bad when starting out, and you could go for a doppelbock kit instead of the Mic DB clone kit. Hell, I first helped homebrew in 1980, and I still occasionally buy a beer kit (when on a big sale). In the past year, I bought both a Chipotle Chocolate Porter and a Bourbon Barrel Porter beer kit. These are someone's tried and true recipes, that I brewed, enjoyed, and plan to modify to my taste in the future.

Learning to discern "flavor' or "taste" is another topic I will soon address.. Some of the descriptors used when describing beer are a long way from my "man that tastes good"

 

[bracconiere]

"man that tastes good"

if that what you're looking for, and you like "light" beers, just wait till you brew your own Brüt Malty ones!

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

As others have said it can be the special flavor of American hops that has scared you, I don't like them either.
If you want to experience hoppy beers but without the "hard" grapefruity hop taste, try some Brittish bitters, big malty backbone with an assertive hop bitterness and flavour/aroma without anyone overshadowing the other, these beers are all about balance. You sound like a guy who might appreciate the classic brittish style of brewing.

 

[Nate R]

I am intrigued by the brewing hobby but am not convinced that I can drink 5 gallons of 3-4 different beers before it goes bad.

Start with a commercial 5 gallon keg. Just one. Pick a beer you love. I think you will soon discover that either: A) it's too much beer or, more likely, B) you realize it very easy to drink a lot of beer when it is on tap- no pesky bottles/cans to count. If this is case, you will learn real fast just how fast a 5 gal keg can go.

I thought I would start by seeing how long it takes me to drink a couple kegs.

Yes agree! Just one is fine. Maybe two tops.


Thank your friend for the kegerator... a gift AND a curse. For my 2 cents... wait on trying homebrewing. Just get 1 commercial keg. But clean the lines, the faucet, etc. Keep your rig clean. (This is a preview of homebrewing- cleaning, cleaning, cleaning).

When you do start brewing, making a NEIPA will become the holy grail so to speak. Very few homebrewers can do this properly. Instead, focus on easy simple basic beers and hone your craft.

My thoughts

Edit: on the topic of making a NEIPA... in my opinion, and as stated above by dgallo... very few professional breweries can make a true NEIPA. A lot try. So it stands to reason that far fewer homebrewers can as well (mostly because it requires more specialzed equipment/ aka more $$$). But there are some here who no doubt do make good homebrew neipa ((although just like professional breweries, they may think they make a good nepia!))

 

[bkboiler]

Asking if brewing is cheaper than buying commercial beer is like asking if building my own golf course is cheaper than paying to play the one down the street.
Sure, you'll save money eventually if you golf A LOT!
but the cheaper option is actually not to golf at all.
upgrade-itis is a real thing.