So far I have brewed 3 versions of the same kind of beer, which is basically a pretty normal IPA.
For the first brew, my cousin David was in town, and we had discussed his brewing and since I have been wanting to brew for years and knew about this place called Defalco's where we could get all the ingredients, we headed over there (after having an awesome lunch at the Hobbit Cafe) and got all the equipment I needed, (an auto-siphon, an airlock and bung for the ozarka bottles I already had, a hydrometer, and I can't remember what else) it was under $100, including ingredients. For the quantity of beer it would make, I'm pretty sure the first batch (including equipment) was dollar for dollar HEB prices. From the second batch on, it's probably 60% of the cost of beer at HEB.
Since I had recently tried St. Arnold's Elissa for the first time and recently had it on tap at the Fisherman's Wharf in Galveston, sitting right in front of the Elissa where it was docked. The beer was named after the Elissa because it had actually I had the Chicken Elissa for dinner too! I had actually I tried Elissa IPA a long time ago, not even knowing it was an IPA, and didn't like it, but they changed their recipe and it's better now) so I thought I would try to brew an Elissa clone. I wanted to understand what it was about the Elissa that I didn't like. I think it was actually the yeast. Sometimes I wonder if they throw in Belgian candi sugar (or used to). The old recipe had a disturbing sweet / mild spice flavor kind of like many Belgian beers do. David already had a beer clone magazine but wanted one that had more recipes, so he let me use the one he was buying to find my clone recipe. We got 5lbs pale malt (extract) and a pound of 2-row pale malt (crushed barley with a little more of an amber color). This is a partial mash recipe, not the all-grain mash they obviously use at the brewery. Hopefully I'll be doing all grain mash soon. Anyways, we got the hops (loose leaf and pellet - mostly Cascades) and the smack-pack yeast activator bag, and headed over to Petrol Station for a little inspiration before going over to Mike's to brew. That was really a great day now that I think about it. My dad even showed up at the brewing and helped out. So anyways, after more than an hour of stirring an intensely boiling pot and adding the hops and then rapidly chilling, putting it in the bottle and pitching the yeast, we let it sit in a cool dark corner. Then for me it was off to New Jersey. We were going to visit my sister and when I got back it was just ready to be pulled off the trub. Mike and I didn't really know what we were doing, but we did a fine job. Then, weeks later it was time for bottling. That was fun, aside from sanitizing, and surprisingly it came out perfectly balanced and carbonated. I didn't let my first batch last too long, so I don't think it was even totally attenuated (sugars converted to carbon dioxide and alcohol) when I finished drinking it. But it sure tasted good.
The second batch was based off the first, but I tried to make it taste a little more like Widmer Brothers "Drifter" Pale Ale. I used a little extra 2-row and extracted the heck out of it. Also the hops schedule was crazy. I think I used double the hops. And only 1/6th was cascades. It came out very full-flavored, and almost amber in color, but was a little rough in flavor. Probably from my abusing the malt, and the crazy mix of hops.
The most recent brew I made was all pale malt extract (no 2 row). I more than made up for the 2-row with extra extract. It started out a pretty high gravity brew, and I think it's probably a 6 percent or so now that it's fully attenuated. It was very sweet and clean soon after I bottled it, but much of the dry hop flavor starting becoming more present after letting it sit for a few more weeks. Here's a photo of the Krausen. Thankfully I had put it in this container or the blowoff would have gone all in the carpet, which would inevitably have let to bug problems. It looks like a lot, but it's mostly yeast and hops. It was less than a pint of liquid at the bottom.
It was crazy! It went kaboom in the night. I don't remember hearing it, but it obviously exploded because hops were splattered all over, and they had obviously hit the walls shelves and boxes at a high speed. I think the loose-leaf hops floating at the top clogged the airlock and pressure built up and it just blew. But it was like a volcano for at least 2 days. intense. I was worried that I had lost much of the dry hops that I had just added, but they had been sitting in it for probably more than 6 hours before they were blown off. It actually came out pretty hoppy.
The next one I want to make is a heavily malty ale. I'm not sure exactly what yet, but I'm thinking something amber colored. I have been a hop-head for a while now, but the description of the quality of the malt in the ales they made at the end of the Lord of the Rings (year 1420 on Middle Earth time) made me want to make an ale of that caliber of maltiness. We'll see if I can pull it off.
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