Oh yeah, the value proposition for homebrew is clear:

• Simple equipment pays for itself in just one batch - every other batch is a fraction of the cost.
• Moving to all-grain saves you more on operating costs, though you need a mash tun. Should be about 5-10 batches to recover that cost.

The thing that's the hurdle for most is that they think either that homebrew makes crap beer or that it's hard. Both of those things are patently false -- it's pretty easy to make a beer that stacks up favourably against commercial microbrews.

I mean, to make a serious imperial IPA sitting in the 7-9% alcohol range with 100+ IBUs and serious hop flavours and aromas -- ie the top-end of the cost scale on account of the high alcohol and hops, which all cost to put in -- would run you something in the order of $1.00 - $1.75 per 650 mL tallboy bottle using an all-grain setup. Using extract and specialty grains, that would be something like $1.50 to $2.50 each bottle.

A more modest beer like a non-hoptastic brown ale with a simple yeast would end up running you something in the order of a buck for each tallboy.

I'm planning to crack open my Hops on Pops IPA tonight, and I'll put up a photo and tasting notes. It'll still be a bit young, but it's going to have a crazy-broad hop profile... I'm actually a little worried that it'll be unfocused and "all over the place" because of the breadth. The specs:

Colour: about 9 SRM (medium brown)
IBUs: ~65
ABV: 7.5%
It should be quite dry, with aromas/flavours of citrus (cascade, simcoe), pine (zeus, simcoe, cascade), floral notes (cascade, williamette), fruit (simcoe, williamette), spice (williamette), earth (simcoe, northern brewer, williamette). Quite a profile -- who knows how it'll come together in the bottle.

Very excited!

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Well, it tastes young and still hasn't fully cleared or carbonated, but the breadth of hops is just awesome. Not just the typical citrus/pine sledgehammer... nice, balanced beer. Copper colour is as I'd hoped.

The floral and fruit aromas dominate, surprisingly, and the malt is dry but quite clearly stands up. As this mellows, it's going to get good with another couple months in the bottle.

Attached Images

IPA.jpg (22.2 KB, 8 views)

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Looks yummy. I wish Dobber would upgrade to the smellavision...

__________________
O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux

Just bottled off the centennial blonde ale from this post. Final gravity was a dry-ass 1.002, which brings it to a nice round 4% alcohol. Should be a nice thirst quencher with the centennial hops.

Bought myself a simple mash tun for Christmas... just white plastic bucket with a false bottom and a hose coming out. Brewed my first pure all-grain recipe, which is intended to be a clone of Deschutes' Mirror Pond.

13 lbs 2-row Pale
12 oz Crystal 70-80
8 oz carapils
Mashed at 152F.

Hops are all cascade:
1 oz @ 60
2 oz @ 30
2 oz @ 5
3 oz dry on transfer to secondary.

Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale yeast, which is apparently the closest thing to Deschutes' house strain.

OG came in at 1.042, which seems suspiciously low since I was aiming for 1.055. Come to think of it, my last batch came in low... about 10 points low, which is the same ballpark here. Hmmm... the last few beers ended up hitting their alcohol, which means the difference is probably sound. Go fig.

Very excited to give this one a whirl -- Mirror Pond is one of my favourite easy-drinking ales.

Oh yeah, also go this for Christmas. Let's just say I have a big "to do" list now!

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Do you recommend that book HPG?

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O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux

Honesty, the book is a bit of a mixed bag. It ha a fantastic "foreward" section that gives great background on how to clone. I'd have liked to see that section beefed up and expanded upon.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to popular beers, but is light on the styles that have become more popular over the last few years with the rise of the craft brew scene. It's a good reference, but I'm pretty sure Mr Google can churn out cloned brews just about as well as this book could.

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I just bottled Lil Ripper tonight. It smelled pretty good. High hopes! http://hopville.com/recipe/1667328

I planned to get 30x 750ml out of it, but there was so much shit in the bottom of the fermenter that I was only able to get 27. Still a good haul. Just in time too as I only have 8 of the last batch left. I will brew Horse's Hoof (http://hopville.com/recipe/1668818) this weekend, which will further increase beer supply, but I must say that it is hard to keep pace with myself over the Xmas/Summer break. I'm a thirsty man!

I struggled not choosing to brew an IPA. If I were to but 10 different beers, 8 of them would likely be IPAs. Partially b/c those are the beers that I love drinking and partially b/c I want to hone my craft on a particular style rather than brewing all over the map.

IPAs are expensive due to the crazy amount of hops I have been putting in them so it was a nice surprise when I got Horse's Hoof to the till. It's probably gonna be 25-30% cheaper than the IPAs I've been brewing. Also replacing some extract with actual grain has reduced cost as well.

Anyways, brewday this weekend. I'm going with the same setup as last time. Mash in the bag, in the cooler. Do my best to boil on the stove. TBH, the thought of boiling on the stove again is bumming me out. In trying to boil, I've been getting a weak simmer rather than a nice rolling boil. Maybe tomorrow I check out the local shops for a good outdoor burner? A late gift from Santa?

I'll report back.

What is your kettle/boil setup FHG?

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O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux

Oh yeah.... I was going to brew with honey the last time I posted about this beer. My mate had a problem with the hives and another queen emerged. Anyways... its thrown his hives into a potentially civil war situation and the bees have not been as productive as he expected. As you can tell from the Hopville link, I've decided to replace the honey with Maris Otter grain. Its sitting in the corner right now... smells awesome.

Cant wait until brew day!

__________________
O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux

I've got a big ol' flimsy 30 litre pot that I use as a brew kettle. Absolutely nothing fancy about it, but it works. I use it on my ceramic cooktop stove, spanning two burners (more heat than one!) when I'm looking to raise the temperature quickly and on one burner to hold a boil. Given that I live in a very rainy city, outdoor just isn't practical.

Looking forward to hearing about your brew! Just a matter of time until you go fully all-grain (I just did)... knocks $5-10 off each brew.

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I think I may have figured out something.... The sulphate levels of my water are quite low. 13ml/L. I haven't been getting the hop punch that I have been looking for. This will be my next experiment.... Calcium Sulphate. Just need to figure out how much to add. Science is hard...

__________________
O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux