I think I ruined cheap beer

[hoosierdoc]

Very good while evening grilling in the summertime...... Blue Moon is also another favorite.

Blue Moon with an orange slice. MMMm....

 

[KellyinAvon]

Uplands Bad Elmer's Porter, you know you're drinking a beer.
Flat 12 Pogue's Porter, Sun King Wee Mac, Sam Adams Winter Lager are all great beers.

Overseas: Carlsberg, Becks Bier (the real German Becks), Bitberger Pils (bitte ein Bit!)

 

[sepe]

Blue Moon with an orange slice. MMMm....

Eww, Hoegaarden with a lemon slice. I have drank a LOT of Blue Moon with a slice of orange and it isn't bad but it isn't as good as Hoegaarden.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Sepe, never heard of that. Is it readily available in Indy?

 

[sepe]

Should be quite a few places that have it on tap in Indy. Kahn's has a 6 pack for $9.99. You most likely won't find it at Walmart but the better liquor stores should carry it.

 

[X piller X]

I'm just about 23, When i first turned 21 I could not stand the taste of beer long enough to down 1 bottle before gagging. I slowly started drinking bud light lime, then progressed to coors light (which i occasionally enjoy still when im being cheap).

After experimenting and buying a different case of beer everytime i was out, I found that I most enjoy Heineken. Some Sam Adams is decent, but the boston lager just isnt for me.

My favorite local is by far sun king pale ale. I guess the heineken developed my tastes more toward the darker, more bitter beer.

Not saying I've got the experience to say there the best by far, but I know they are affordable, and easy obtainable


As far as worst beer. I always think back to senior year of highschool, keystone beer pong. bleh. But to 1 up keystone. Tecate. That leaves the worst taste in your mouth that persists for hours.

 

[Scutter01]

I'm just about 23, When i first turned 21 I could not stand the taste of beer long enough to down 1 bottle before gagging. I slowly started drinking bud light lime, then progressed to coors light (which i occasionally enjoy still when im being cheap).

After experimenting and buying a different case of beer everytime i was out, I found that I most enjoy Heineken. Some Sam Adams is decent, but the boston lager just isnt for me.

My favorite local is by far sun king pale ale. I guess the heineken developed my tastes more toward the darker, more bitter beer.

Not saying I've got the experience to say there the best by far, but I know they are affordable, and easy obtainable


As far as worst beer. I always think back to senior year of highschool, keystone beer pong. bleh. But to 1 up keystone. Tecate. That leaves the worst taste in your mouth that persists for hours.

Every beer you mentioned (except for Sun King, which is awesome) is hideous. I'm very judgey that way. I had the same problem you did. Living in Detroit, though, I had easy access to Canadian beer. This was before beer laws inthe US were relaxed and so the only decent beer you could get was Molson or Labatt. Still couldn't drink it. When they came out with Molson Ice and Labatt Ice, suddenly it had flavor and I realized why I couldn't drink any of the American beers. And then the craft beers were a thing. Ooohhhhh the craft beers. Yum a dum dum.

Instead of buying whole cases to find ones you like, go to a bar or club that has dozens on tap (like Ale Emporium in Castleton, for example) or find a liquor store that sells Pick-Sixes (even Kroger does this). You can mix and match different beers and build your own six pack. Take a road trip to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. They're in the process of renovating their already-huge craft beer section to make it even larger. It is 100% worth the trip, I promise.

 

[danmdevries]

Make your own. Problem solved.

Good, inexpensive beer. $20-30 for 5 gallons on average (and not significantly more if you have equipment for 10g $25-35 for 10g like i do)

5 gallons of beer is about two cases/48 bottles.

Can't drink natty light for that price.

 

[X piller X]

Every beer you mentioned (except for Sun King, which is awesome) is hideous. I'm very judgey that way. I had the same problem you did. Living in Detroit, though, I had easy access to Canadian beer. This was before beer laws inthe US were relaxed and so the only decent beer you could get was Molson or Labatt. Still couldn't drink it. When they came out with Molson Ice and Labatt Ice, suddenly it had flavor and I realized why I couldn't drink any of the American beers. And then the craft beers were a thing. Ooohhhhh the craft beers. Yum a dum dum.

Instead of buying whole cases to find ones you like, go to a bar or club that has dozens on tap (like Ale Emporium in Castleton, for example) or find a liquor store that sells Pick-Sixes (even Kroger does this). You can mix and match different beers and build your own six pack. Take a road trip to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. They're in the process of renovating their already-huge craft beer section to make it even larger. It is 100% worth the trip, I promise.

I'm just not a fan of the fruity flavored beer. I've tried some variety here and there. When scotties was still open I'd go in and try a different beer on the tap on the weekends. Same when I go out. Still trying and learning, just havent found much that pleases me. Except sun king and Heineken of course.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Make your own. Problem solved.

Good, inexpensive beer. $20-30 for 5 gallons on average (and not significantly more if you have equipment for 10g $25-35 for 10g like i do)

5 gallons of beer is about two cases/48 bottles.

Can't drink natty light for that price.

how much time would you say it takes to brew and bottle 5 gallons? Curious on the time commitment.

 

[sepe]

I brewed from extract (still tasted better than most micro/craft/macro brews I've tasted) and it took about 2 hours from start to finish for the actual brewing process and clean up. After that it was just the waiting game. Racking the brew, after about a week, took around 30 minutes. Bottling took about an hour. There was some more clean up after that but not more than 30-45 minutes. Extract with steeping grains, you're adding an hour or so but also adding a lot more flavor and color. All grain about 4-5 hours.

 

[danmdevries]

how much time would you say it takes to brew and bottle 5 gallons? Curious on the time commitment.

Depends on how far you want to get into brewing. Short answer: 3 hours on brew day and 2 hours on bottling day. No time required in between.

If you want to just make good IPAs, (I say this because the non hop-forward brews take a bit more work and time, whereas the hophead brews are all about the hops) you're going to need about a 3 hour block of time on brew day. That's cleaning and boiling and cooling and dumping in the fermenter and the cleanup afterward.

Then it sits for at least a month.

On bottling day you're going to need another two hours or so to clean and sanitize your bottles, drop some sugar in the fermenter, fill and cap the bottles, and clean up afterwards.

Then it sits for at least a month.

Extract brews are super simple. There's even some small batch kits you can buy to make 1-2-3 gallon batches which will reduce the time committment.

Equipment you'll need: pot to boil in of at least 2-2.5 gallons. Bag of ice to cool it off in the sink after boil. Fermenting vessel - food grade bucket or carboy along with stopper/lid and air lock. Bottling wand, racking cane, and tubing for filling bottles. Bottle capping tool. Sanitizing - I use a dilute iodine solution just leftovers from work diluted with distilled water in a spray bottle.

If you want to go more in depth, you can. But if it's just something you want to try, check craigslist for the equipment or if you buy new, you'll be in it for under $100.

I do all grain brewing, allows for greater control and wider variety. This has brought my brew day to a minimum 4 hours. But, I've shaved time off the back end. Instead of bottling, I rack the beer out of the fermentor straight into a 5 gallon soda keg, place keg into chest freezer with external temp control, put 30psi of CO2 to the keg for a week or two and once carbonated to preference, switch pressure lines to a 8psi line and just pull the tap handle to drink. Also have a bottling wand that I can connect to the keg and bottle when needed. So on the back half, I've cut a 2 hour day down to about 30 minutes by skipping the bottling portion. I've added an hour or two to brew day, but overall not much difference in time commitment, with the production of better beers.

Mind you, you can do other things while brewing (wouldn't recommend if you're stovetop brewing, but if you've got a large vessel and outdoor boil, can leave unattended) I'll often brew when mowing the lawn. I fill my mash tun and light the burner, get on the tractor and mow the perimeter/trim areas. Then I check the temp and once at target, add grain and cut the flame. I've got an hour to do whatever, so I go back to mowing and get about half the lawn done, come back and drain the mash. Toss the wort in the boil kettle and light. Under low flame, takes about an hour to get boiling so I finish mowing. If I'm not mowing I'll crank the heat and it's boiling in 15-20 min. The boil is 60-90 min of somewhat close observation when starting out. Once you know how a recipe boils in your equipment on your water, it's safe to walk away for a bit. So in my 4-5 hour brew day I get the lawn mowed and usually sweep the garage while I'm out there.

 

[X piller X]

Depends on how far you want to get into brewing. Short answer: 3 hours on brew day and 2 hours on bottling day. No time required in between.

If you want to just make good IPAs, (I say this because the non hop-forward brews take a bit more work and time, whereas the hophead brews are all about the hops) you're going to need about a 3 hour block of time on brew day. That's cleaning and boiling and cooling and dumping in the fermenter and the cleanup afterward.

Then it sits for at least a month.

On bottling day you're going to need another two hours or so to clean and sanitize your bottles, drop some sugar in the fermenter, fill and cap the bottles, and clean up afterwards.

Then it sits for at least a month.

Extract brews are super simple. There's even some small batch kits you can buy to make 1-2-3 gallon batches which will reduce the time committment.

Equipment you'll need: pot to boil in of at least 2-2.5 gallons. Bag of ice to cool it off in the sink after boil. Fermenting vessel - food grade bucket or carboy along with stopper/lid and air lock. Bottling wand, racking cane, and tubing for filling bottles. Bottle capping tool. Sanitizing - I use a dilute iodine solution just leftovers from work diluted with distilled water in a spray bottle.

If you want to go more in depth, you can. But if it's just something you want to try, check craigslist for the equipment or if you buy new, you'll be in it for under $100.

I do all grain brewing, allows for greater control and wider variety. This has brought my brew day to a minimum 4 hours. But, I've shaved time off the back end. Instead of bottling, I rack the beer out of the fermentor straight into a 5 gallon soda keg, place keg into chest freezer with external temp control, put 30psi of CO2 to the keg for a week or two and once carbonated to preference, switch pressure lines to a 8psi line and just pull the tap handle to drink. Also have a bottling wand that I can connect to the keg and bottle when needed. So on the back half, I've cut a 2 hour day down to about 30 minutes by skipping the bottling portion. I've added an hour or two to brew day, but overall not much difference in time commitment, with the production of better beers.

Mind you, you can do other things while brewing (wouldn't recommend if you're stovetop brewing, but if you've got a large vessel and outdoor boil, can leave unattended) I'll often brew when mowing the lawn. I fill my mash tun and light the burner, get on the tractor and mow the perimeter/trim areas. Then I check the temp and once at target, add grain and cut the flame. I've got an hour to do whatever, so I go back to mowing and get about half the lawn done, come back and drain the mash. Toss the wort in the boil kettle and light. Under low flame, takes about an hour to get boiling so I finish mowing. If I'm not mowing I'll crank the heat and it's boiling in 15-20 min. The boil is 60-90 min of somewhat close observation when starting out. Once you know how a recipe boils in your equipment on your water, it's safe to walk away for a bit. So in my 4-5 hour brew day I get the lawn mowed and usually sweep the garage while I'm out there.

can you teach me to make hooch in my tub too?

just kidding, but that seems like a lot of room for error that i would be scared to try

 

[Scutter01]

FYI the aforementioned Jungle Jim's also has a very large home brewing section with everything you need to brew your own.

 

[PaulJF]

I very rarely drink these days, especially beer. But, when I do, it's a New Castle Ale.

 

[danmdevries]

can you teach me to make hooch in my tub too?

just kidding, but that seems like a lot of room for error that i would be scared to try

IME, brewing has a huge margin of error. Worst case, you make an awful tasting beer and dump it out. Not gonna hurt you.

With distilling, worst case - you die.

 

[JettaKnight]

just kidding, but that seems like a lot of room for error that i would be scared to try

That's the fun!

There's part art and part engineering in homebrewing. Also, when anyone say it cost $XX dollars for 5 gallons they almost always don't add in capital investments. Brewing equipment isn't cheap and for me, I'm always upgrading.

As for time - I typically do two batches in a five hour period, but I did spend the better part of a day doing a double decoction weizenbock.