no judgement here.  of course if you posted that in the trump thread, there would be judgement.

beer drinkers are always decent people. the beer maketh no judgement.

Bissel Brothers got their shit together.

not sure great idea but I voted some small small brewery's beer a half star and the owner (or brewer I think) wanted to befriend me....i commented skunk.. so i added him. maybe he is investigating?

I questioned whether a beer was intentionally soured a while back. The brewery actually responded. I still don't think it was the sour flavor they were after, but they responded and tried to explain.  Some people just seem to want to engage and want feedback?

CDA brewed - dryhop commence.

^Cascadian dark?

yep 

I have a Kentucky common that should be going into bottles in the next week or so.  Have had a lot of other stuff going on lately. Haven't gotten to brew or drink. 

I always have a soft spot for Cascadian brews.

You can pretty easily add beers not already on the app.

Entered a home brew competition. Wish me luck.

What you enter?

A stout.

Stouts are good. Hard to make a bad stout.

g'd luck.

Stouts seem to turn out best in the home brewing. If we win, a local brewery will put it into production for a while and I'll send you one!

I'd love to try it... the border agents might have something to say about shipping beer, regardless of how delicious it is.

How heavy is the vanilla, if any?

Mark it perfume samples?

Border agents! Aw. No vanilla.

Good. happy to hear no vanilla is added.

good luck tintt...

I totally botched a stout - couldn't really figure out why...funky yeast stuff going on...bubblegummy from a British ale strain - maybe was  a ferment temp issue, I dumped it.

I just got my water report for the local municipal water.  It explains why all my batches using that water have been pretty bad.  

Now I just need more ingredients and more equipment! It's a never ending thing. 

I have too many other expensive hobbies, can't justify getting into craft brew.  I did get some hop plants as a house-warming gift las fall. Perhaps one day I'll have enough to try something.

One of my fav local brew-pubs put out a pumpkin stout that I would say tasted very much like old buble-gum. I think I gave it a 2 star rating... because the can glowed in the dark. Terrible beer thou.

NS - it isn't very expensive. To make cider I spent:

$5 - 1 gallon glass jug

$5 - 1 gallon of fresh pressed cider

$1 - airlock

$5 - sanitizer

$1 - yeast

that is literally all you need. Made a batch of wild cider and didn't even need the yeast - just used unpasturized cider and let the wild yeast do their thing. Came out tart and crisp.

But, that's cider.

you could get all the equipment and brew an extract batch for $100-$150...if you get hooked you will spend $$ lots of it.

The thing is... the house we bought last year already has a small build-in bar (screaming 70's style too!).  It's just asking for a tap and co2.

The judging for the contest we entered was yesterday. Didn't win but got a lot of positive feedback. The pros said there was a slight metallic taste and recommended Belgian sugar to eliminate that. Going to try again because it has promise.

^very nice.

Don't go adding candi sugar quite yet.

What do you clean your surfaces with?  Any dish soaps involved? 

yea - candi sugar isn't going to help.

From how to brew:

"Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort but can also be caused by the hydrolysis of lipids in poorly stored malts. Iron and aluminum can cause metallic flavors leaching into the wort during the boil. "

as john said, I would look at cleansers - use stainless steel for all metals in contact with beer if you can.  The poorly stored malts is way less likely in the statement above.  My guess is that you have a kettle, spoon, strainer, something in your process that is leaching in.

Dish soaps often contain lipids.  So, if lipids are contributing it can come from there.  Metals other than stainless can contribute, as chigurh said.

Additionally, it could just be a judge with an odd palate.  If you went heavy on your black patent, or other dark roasted malts, they might have gotten an overly roasty flavor they observed as metallic.  

interesting. No, we don't use any dish soap. We do have a plastic spoon and use an aluminum pot for boiling and a plastic cooler with a copper coil for cooling. We used a wild grown hop harvested from an old farmstead, so not a controlled agricultural product, we just took a chance.

I bet it is your aluminum pot...If you have the $$ to upgrade to stainless it will make world of difference.  I used aluminum for a long time and had similar issues, the pots get pitted out - oxidization is also a factor.  I also think there is an issue with having two dissimilar metals in contact (aluminum and copper) even for a short period of time which is causing some galvanic corrosion...

http://howtobrew.com/book/appendices/appendix-b/galvanic-corrosion

Thanks, that makes sense. 

If money is tight, you can get reasonably cheap SS pots off Ebay.  Check out Concord pots.  Might have an e at the end.  Not sure. 

I've not used them, but I see them referenced for budget pots quite a bit.  

should be able to find used pots on craigslist.  I wouldn't buy anything else off CL as you'll want to know for sure that it's super clean before using.

I was wrong, the pot is stainless. Brewed another batch. Trial and error style.

Big beer festival heading my way this friday.

I suspect many check-ins will be made.

More than usual? Don't hurt yourself.

^pleeeeeease... seasoned vet right here.

I'll be fine, I just need to pace myself at the barley wine kiosks.

Check in unique brew no. 700 this weekend... and it was a dud. Damn raspberry wheat. Poor planning on my part.

i don't give my crown up easily.

My beer advent revealed a grapefruit IPA this morning... I am not looking forward to this evening's brew.  Grapefruit is literally the worst thing.

That grapefruit beer was terrible.

I think I might have an account on untappd but I'm not looking that up. Instead I'll share what I just picked up at my friend's brewery.

Russian Imperial Stout, aged one year. 95 IBU, 10%. I make sure to enjoy it while I can because the memory is usually gone morning. Cheers!

I'm drinking whiskey with real (quebec) maple syrup this afternoon.