Making "Pot Luck" beer tonight

[SuperDuck]

I'm making the first batch of beer at the new house tonight. This past weekend we cleaned out the basement and unpacked all of the boxes that were stacked up. Now I have all of my brew gear in one spot!

I want to brew an epic imperial stout as my next batch, but figured that I should use up all of the miscellaneous leftovers from a few kits and other batches.

I therefore present to you "Grab Bag Beer 2008":

16 oz. Crystal Malt 40L
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
6 lbs. Amber LME
1 oz. Styrian Golding hops - 60 min
1 oz. Liberty hops - 1 min
American Dry Ale dry yeast

I don't fancy dry yeast, but I have it here from some kit and I might as well use it.

I'm not sure what it will be like - some sort amberish middle of the road beer. Not too dark, not too hoppy.

We'll see in a few weeks!

[iamlowsound]

Sounds interesting. Make sure you write down all the ingredients and portions, just in case it turns into the best beer ever made. Also, send me some.

lowsound

[SuperDuck]

I'm taking detailed notes. If it's the best beer ever made, I will certainly send you some.

If it's the worst beer ever made, I'll still send you some after telling you it's the best beer ever made and have a good laugh.

[iamlowsound]

Sounds good to me.

lowsound

[neurotictim]

Several years ago, I was at a party at my boss' house, and we all got tanked on his micro-brews. In a fit of drunken inspiration, we were making new types of beer with essentially anything we could find in the fridge...

(very drunk at this point)

Needless to say, ketchup and mustard do NOT make good beer...



Good luck man.

[SuperDuck]

Ah, what a comedy of errors. I forgot that before moving I had thrown out my airlock and plastic hoses, as they were old and kind of gross. I, of course, assumed that I would have the foresight to buy replacements before I brewed my next batch. How wrong I was.

I therefore present to you the poor man's airlock:

[iamlowsound]

That looks like a nice amber brewing up there.

lowsound

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

I therefore present to you the poor man's airlock:

Love it.
Desperation invoking innovation!

[FL Knifemaker]

Sounds good to me!! I've never made beer that needed to be thrown away

[MJ5150]

How long until it is drinkable? Does it emit any kind of odor when it is brewing? I remember driving by the old Olympia Brewery as a kid and smelling the beer brewing. I liked the smell of whatever it was brewing in there.

-Mike

[SuperDuck]

Drinkability time varies from recipe to recipe, but probably a month to six weeks for this one. I have a friend who has one batch that has been sitting for a year - he's just about to crack it open. You can have some ready in two to three weeks.

There are several different distinct smells that happen throughout the process. Steeping the specialty grains is the first one, followed by the distinct smell of adding the malted barely. The burst of aroma that occurs when you add the hops is particularly nice. The expended yeast at the bottom of the carboy after you've bottled it all is not so nice. On brew day though, you definitely stink up the house. Especially in the winter with all the windows closed!

[MJ5150]

Thanks for the info Michael. Sounds like fun.

-Mike

[baba]

Nice airlock!

That recipe looks good to me. Not really in a certain style exactly, but who cares. Enjoy!

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

I'm not sure what it will be like - some sort amberish middle of the road beer. Not too dark, not too hoppy.

We'll see in a few weeks!

Cool, sounds like fun. I dig the airlock too.

We did a batch once called Roadkill Ale. We encountered a tractor around Yakima delivering a load during harvest season and stopped and grabbed little clusters of hops as they blew out of the trailer. We did it as kind of a joke, but the hops turned out to be top shelf. The farmer stopped at one point and laughingly invited us back to his place to take as many leftovers out of the field as we could carry -- for free. We made some wicked amber ales out of them, one of our best ever actually.

[JT_bassman]

mmmmmmmmm!!!! micro brews!!!!

[The Golden Boy]

Beer.

Beer means Eddie Money.

[DudeistMonk]

Ah, what a comedy of errors. I forgot that before moving I had thrown out my airlock and plastic hoses, as they were old and kind of gross. I, of course, assumed that I would have the foresight to buy replacements before I brewed my next batch. How wrong I was.

Who cares in the blowoff hose is all cruddy...it never touches anything... My roomate is always like "eww the blowoff hose is a mess, go clean it while I sterilize this..." and then I laugh at him and he cleans it....although the airlock that's a problem...pretty good McGuivering there though, I just hope the straws are wide enough to not get clogged up.

On brew day though, you definitely stink up the house. Especially in the winter with all the windows closed!

Yeah but it smells awesome....ummm malt.

[StyleOverShow]

Back in college I lived in a dorm that was the former "President's" house and it had a root cellar which proved to be good lab for our hop experiments. There were nine of us and we all participated in many brew attempts fiddling with recipes and ingredients, and ultimately, some filtering to yield some pretty tasty home brews. Some were horrible, too much yeast and others were bitter or too oaty tasting. It took us a while to settle on the right mix.

[spade2you]

That seems like a pretty interesting mix of ingredients. I've been wrapping my mind all morning to how I think it might taste.

Currently, I have an old ale that was part of my local brewing club's 90 gallon big brew. I used London ESB yeast and it has been fermenting solidly for over a week (SG=1.079). Hopefully it's done by the end of the week so I can put it in my secondary for a few days and start another batch. It will probably take several months of bottle conditioning.

[JT_bassman]

Does TB have a home brewers club?? If not there should be.