Ladies of Craft Beer

Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

Featured photograph courtesy of (ironically) a 1949 Miller High Life Advertisement

Things are looking up in the world of home brewing- laws are changing, craft beer is booming, and there are limitless possibilities in the realm of equipment and know-how. Resources are at your fingertips, and the results are delicious.

Do you know a homebrewer or someone who is itching to start? Do you know someone who has expressed an interest in brewing, no matter how small?

If so- you’ve come to the right spot to figure out a great holiday gift for your favorite homebrewing pal. From beginner to intermediate to the semi-professional, we’ve got ideas for educational resources, equipment and even software that will help keep those bottle caps popping!

Educational:

• Good friend and advocate of Ladies of Craft Beer Billy Broas has recently launched an online resource aptly called The HomeBrew Academy. Billy’s service currently includes write-ups, videos, a glossary and instructions on the process of becoming a homebrewer. As the site builds, he will add more advanced instructions and supplemental videos on interesting topics with special guests such as “Brewing Sour Beers” with Mike Tonsmeire of the Mad Fermentationist. The best thing about this complete and comprehensive online resource? It’s only $30. Word on the street is that the HomeBrew Academy will close tonight at 10PM Eastern Time so get in while you still can! (The HomeBrew Academy will open again for enrollment in 3 to 5 months.) Sign your homebrewer up here.
• There are TONS of homebrew based books available on the market today, but here are a few suggestions of our favorites: The Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anybody Can Brew by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer, Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass by Randy Mosher, and Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles by Ray Daniels. For more great books, just search “homebrew” on Amazon.com.

For the Beginner:

• Looking for a small kit to get someone who wants to try homebrewing before going all the way? Try the 1 gallon kits from Brooklyn Brewshop and from The Brewer’s Market. Both sites also sell larger beginner kits in 5 gallon batch sizes. I, for one, got the men in my family each a one gallon kit from the Brooklyn Brewshop- a convenient package that not only includes the specialty equipment needed for brewing but the ingredients for one of six different flavors of beer- Gingerbread Ale, Chestnut Brown Ale, Honey Sage Seasonal, Everyday IPA, A Well Made Tripel and Chocolate Maple Porter. Kits range from $40-$150 and ingredient mixes (to continue brewing) range from $15-$50.

For the Intermediate:

• Some of the most handy tools for the homebrewer are calculators for recipes, gravity, IBUs, priming sugar, etc. BeerSmith is a comprehensive software package that combines these calculators in a user friendly, easy to use way. BeerSmith also has a great printer interface where brewers can print out their (just made) recipes in a step-by-step format that is easy to read and works well with the brewing process. This software can even make equipment recommendations based on what you already have and help you schedule your brew dates. BeerSmith is available for a free 21 day trial and the full version of the software only costs $21.95.

For the Semi-Pro:

• This Cornelius kegging system from Midwest Brewing Supplies is a great starter kit for the homebrewer who wants to get into easier storage methods for their beer. Kegging is the process of inserting beer into one vessel for storage while simultaneously inserting carbon dioxide (carbonation) into the beer (this normally happens in the bottling process by adding priming sugar to the beer). Kits can range from this size (about $175) to multi-tap systems in the $300-$500 range.

Gifts for Everyone:

• Speaking of Midwest Brewing Supplies, those guys are your one stop shop source for beer, wine, cheese, coffee, soda, liquer, mead, cider and sake supplies. They also have these great lists of popular homebrewing gifts in the $1-$25 price range, $26-$50 price range, $51-$100 price range, and beyond. Check out their site for more details.
• If you want to get a homebrew centric gift but really aren’t sure what the equipment is and don’t want to get your homebrewer the wrong thing, check out this awesome (and searchable!) database by Brewer’s Roundtable for a listing of homebrew supply stores in your area. Most shops sell gift certificates or gift cards in different amounts- this way your homebrewer can buy what they need on their own terms.

• There are lots of great beer-centric magazines available nowadays, but the favorite of homebrewers here at Ladies of Craft Beer is Brew Your Own. Full of informational articles on brewing issues, procedures, equipment, and recipes for new beers as well as clone recipes for your favorite commercial brews, this gift is the gift that keeps on giving year-round. Brew Your Own is currently running a special of 8 issues (1 year) for $28 including the first issue as a free trial. This means that if for some reason, after the first issue, you aren’t satisfied, you cancel your subscription and pay nothing. I’ve been getting Brew Your Own for almost a year now, and I still wait by my mailbox for the next issue! Click here to subscribe.

• Last, but of course, not least, remember that your Ladies of Craft Beer have calendars and tee-shirts available at our merch store. Our official tees (see picture above) are a relaxed fit tee perfect for brew days. Our calendar can be used to schedule out days for brewing or to remind you when to bottle (or even your favorite upcoming beer events!) We also have men’s tees, more women’s tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies, and baby and pet apparel available on our Spreadshirt shop. Check it out here.

Whew! With so many choices available, (and this isn’t even the half of it!) how can you pick just one? Hopefully this guide has helped you out, but if you have any questions or need help finding something, feel free to contact me below.

Cheers, and have a happy, healthy and safe holiday!

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Related Posts:

• Women in Beer Series – Audra Marotta
• Homebrews & Craft Beer — The Gifts That Keep on Giving
• Philly Beer Tour #1
• Women in Beer Series – Melissa Ward
• Women in Beer Series – Mariah Calagione

Originally posted 2010-12-13 12:49:23.

Posted By: Michelle

The goddess at work...

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

I have been brewing for just over two years. I was all excited when I got the idea to start making my own beer. I make a lot of my own food-stuff and am proud to be able to feed myself with very few processed items. I also live in the country and must be ready to be self-contained at any given moment, be it weather related limitations or laziness or lack of transportation or whatever.

Over time, I though about it and decided to take my love of beer to the next level. I mean, the other things I make at home are better than the store, so why not beer? But, then I got really scared! I started looking at books and web sites and home brew magazines. I started reading all about the gravity and the measuring and the science and the complexities of yeast and the equipment. I got pretty frightened and intimidated; so much so that I nearly gave up. Nearly….

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Then I got a pretty decent home brew kit for Christmas from my husband. The kit had everything I needed to get started, even the ingredients and first recipe. To the credit of my local home brew store, this was no “Mr. Beer” set up; this was glass carboys and shiny tubes and fermentation locks and explicit directions. All I needed to take the plunge and make that first beer.

Onward I marched. I made my first batch a few weeks later. To this day, I am not sure what sort of beer it was. Just a regular beer, I suppose. Anyway, that first batch went pretty well overall and was most palatable. But, I did have to call the home brew store a couple of times for a quick consultation. The red bottom of the wine thief fell off into the carboy during fermentation. Crisis!!! AHHHH! If only for a 24 hour help line!! I was so worried after all I had read about contamination that I was sure this was the end of the batch and the only thing I would feed is my septic tank.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Then, the temperatures started to fall in the basement where I had planned to ferment. Again, I was on the phone with my home brew store. Did I kill the yeast? Will my beer survive? Oh, help, beer Goddesses! What was I to do now that the beer was not following the recipe on print? I continued on and muddled through that first batch.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

I never really knew what that phrase meant until, oh, about 18 months into brewing. I have brewed nearly two dozen batches so far and, knock on wood and pray to all that is beer related, I have not thrown a batch yet. I understand that, though we start out with the best of intentions and meaning to stay true to the directions, there are times when it does not matter. I have learned to relax a bit.

I have also met and talked to lots of other home brewers. They, too, have had their mishaps and mess ups and not-true-to-form experiences. Their beer, most of the time, has been just fine. Just like the diverse nature of humans, the home brew community brews in diverse ways. This includes a lack of good record keeping, or no notes at all, varied fermentation temperatures, hops that were just on hand and not those recommended, sugar additions and grain modifications. And guess what? The beer LIVED! Much of the time, the brew was drinkable and acceptable. Perhaps not award worthy, or spectacular, or marketable on a grand scale, but just fine for the home brew crowd and even better for the “average” Joe who knows no better.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Boiling a brew!

It took me over a year of strict adherence to the directions to be brave enough to experiment. I was not interested in throwing away the time, money or effort in a bad batch of beer. I wanted to make sure whatever creation I came up with was not only drinkable, but noteworthy and perhaps a topic of discussion at home brew club night. I began to experiment, even if only slightly. So far, so good!

To date, I have brewed with herbal tea, real fresh fruit, various spices, dried fruit, and lavender. I have added these items to the boil, first, and second fermentation. Additionally, my fermentation temperatures have been all over the map, with up to 10 degree variations. I have boiled perhaps a bit too long, or perhaps a bit too hot, and have taken anywhere from minutes to hours to cool the precious wort. I have kicked my spouse completely out of the process, unless I need some requested help or muscle. That way, I figure that if a batch goes bad I will leave no room for blame on anyone but me.

Mind you, I never, ever, never, ever, never skimp on sanitation and cleaning and have a routine I stick to religiously. But, I have learned to relax a little when it comes to the recipe, directions or outline of the beer itself. I have not yet acquired the equipment or wherewithal to transition to all grain and I continue to be a partial mash brewer. I still use hop pellets and yeast packets, which leaves me plenty of room yet to grow and learn and expand.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

There are times I get a bit of flack from my home brew brethren because I still use the packets and pellets, but they, too, are forgiving and realize they can be my mentors and guides into the next phase of my brewing life. I brew in my kitchen and ferment in the basement, most of the time. There are occasions when the basement gets a bit too cold and I turn the office into the fermentation room with it’s own heater. It sure helps that there are no kids at my house and the cat does not mind too much when one room becomes closed off.

Overall, I am having a blast and am told that I make good beer. I also have really enjoyed the new community I am a part of. I find a lot of support and much to learn. I find my fellow brewers more than willing to lend an ear or guidance and, hopefully soon, I will observe and learn more about all grain brewing first hand.

I also find that women approach brewing differently than men, which in and of itself, only adds to the diversity of the hobby. My brew set up has not grown, but my bravery and knowledge and support community has. Fortunately, too, my beer continues to disappear and nothing but positive comments follow.

I still think of myself as a new brewer and have nothing by high regard for those who have blazed the trail of knowledge and experimentation and creativity before me. I strive to be a welcome addition to the field as I continue to learn and experiment in my own right.

Hooray for those who dare brew and kudos to the others who take the time to help the rest of us along.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Words I understand and can now live by.

Cheers!

Related Posts:

• A Beer Drinking Woman in a Beer Man’s World
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 5)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 4)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 3)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 2)

Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

If you are ready to start homebrewing but need a quick and informative guide to help you get going, go get the Brew Your Own Beginner’s Guide to Homebrewing. This special edition BYO not only gives an overview of what brewing is as a whole, but includes sections about each of the following:

• Brewing a No-Boil Malt Extract Beer
• Bottling and Kegging
• Brewing an Extract with Grains Beer
• Boiling and Cooling
• Brewing a Partial Mash Beer
• Fermentation
• Brewing an All-Grain Beer

Really, what this means, is the magazine is a concise guide through each step of the brewing process for each type of brew you can do- from the beginner Extract only beer to the more advanced All-Grain style of brewing.  Each section gives you just enough information to know the basics of each style and stage of brewing, without getting super wordy or confusing. Pictures accompany the guide, including pictures of necessary equipment and step by step instructions.

Bonus?!

The Beginner’s Guide to Winemaking is included on the flip side of this special edition magazine! Just flip the magazine over and start reading about how to make wine- Wine Kit Selection, Science Section, Grape Wine information, Country Wine, and Bottling and Aging.

Believe it or not, a lot of the equipment for making wine is similar, if not the same, as equipment used for brewing beer. Why not try making some wine while you’re at it? Just as with The Beginner’s Guide to Homebrewing, this special edition of WineMaking magazine is a complete and concise guide for anybody who wants to begin the winemaking process.

~~~~~

The Beginner’s Guide to Homebrewing is not Brew Your Own’s only special edition issue. This post is the first in a series of four about each of Brew Your Own’s Special Edition Issues, including 25 Great Homebrew Projects, The Hop Lover’s Guide, and 250 Classic Clone Recipes. Since Brew Your Own is a sponsor of Ladies of Craft Beer, and for full disclosure, I received complimentary copies of each of these issues.

You can also purchase a subscription to Brew Your Own here. By clicking on this link, not only are you subscribing to (in my opinion) the number one homebrewing magazine, but you are also supporting Ladies of Craft Beer! Thanks, and Happy Homebrewing!

Cheers!

Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

This weekend, Patrick Donagher, owner of Rattle ‘N Hum Bar in New York City, held an event called Get Real NY Craft Beer and Food Festival. Sporting around 150 casks and 10 artisanal food vendors, the event was not to be missed. Here are some of the highlights of the event:

The official tasting glasses of Get Real NY filled with Cigar City Brewing‘s Peach IPA and Red Oak IPA.

Lee Williams, Chris Spradley and I sporting our super awesome Press passes.

Patrick’s one happy lad with all those casks around him.

Roz, Patrick’s lady of craft beer, was helping out at the entrance table.

Deep conversation with John Kleinchester about the homebrew selection. Thats right, folks, there were a few select homebrewers on hand who were able to pour their homebrew at this festival. How cool is that? Mary Izett, who is a certified beer judge, New York City columnist for Ale Street News, and co-founder of the New York City Degustation Advisory Team (appreciation of beer through food pairings, I had to look it up too!), was on hand to pour her smoked belgian brew. What an amazing lady of craft beer!

This is my favorite picture of the day, and a great action shot of volunteers and homebrewers working out the proper pressure for a cask pour.

One of my favorite breweries, Nebraska Brewing Company, had some brews on hand, including their brand new Wick for Brains pumpkin beer. The list of participating breweries was long and vast, leading to a great array of rare brews.

Dr. Bill Sysak (Stone Brewing World Bistro and Garden‘s Front Of House Beverage Supervisor and Master Pairings Guru) helped out by sampling all of the delicious food available and putting up little signs that gave beer suggestions for pairings.

Shrimp Cocktail from Andaz.

The 5 boroughs- salsa style- from The Brooklyn Salsa Company.

Mustards made with Sixpoint Craft Ales beer from My Friend’s Mustard.

Lucy’s Whey has two locations- one in Chelsea Market and one in East Hampton. Apparently, most of the cheese is made by women!

Keavy Landreth is the owner of Kumquat Cupcakery.

Cupcakes included red velvet, chocolate with sea-salt caramel sauce, lemon lavender, and pumpkin.

Roni-Sue‘s Beer popcorn is made with a sauce of reduced Brooklyn Brewery IPA and Black Chocolate Stout.

Fine & Raw Chocolate provided Sea Salt and Raspberry flavored chocolate as well as truffle and “chunky” truffle- a truffle like chocolate that comes in candy bar form.

Specialty breads went REALLY fast (go figure)- although I did get to try an amazing raisin walnut bread that was deliciously gooey.

Amy’s Cookies was my favorite food vendor of the day. They sported a fall selection of frosted butter cookies, Viennese cookies rolled in sugar and cinnamon, gingerbread people and handmade Oreo-type cookies that were To. Die. For.

Two gents from Beermenus.com, an online listing of the tap/bottle menu at bars throughout the country.

Celebrating the release of the newest addition to their “Once Upon a Time…” series (historical beers), the KK, were Dan, Martha and Jim of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project.

Erik and Megan Saur from Sun King Brewing made the trek out all the way from Indiana to celebrate the New York craft beer scene.

Me with a fellow lady of craft beer, Lauren Moxey.

Alex Hall, aka the Gotham Imbiber, has been a cask advocate for many years. He busted his bum making sure everything was groovy with all the casks throughout the day.

Is anything better than date with your man and 150 cask ales?

Bonus pictures: The cast of Pretty Things celebrating their historical beer in proper garb at Swift, where we headed after the cask festival.

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Posted By: VGimpel

As a craft beer geek, and an equally large wine geek before that, I’ve always spent an inordinate chunk of my disposable income on great beverages. After purchasing a home and getting married, budgeting became an issue, and racking up two hundred dollars worth of beer at Total Wine on a Friday afternoon in preparation for the weekend suddenly became less feasible. We tried cutting our consumption of really good beers down by starting the evenings off with one good beer each, and then moving on to the trusty PBR or Yuengling afterwards. A nice attempt, but frankly the hangovers that the cheaper macro beers caused was the deal breaker. I decided that there had to be a better way.

I had undertaken some serious researching on where to find some interesting beers for a friend’s beer tasting, and I uncovered a diamond in the Florida rough. Our local home brew store, BX Beer Depot had recently opened a tiki bar in the back and tapped a couple of kegs of craft beer a week, for great prices! My husband and I stopped in to see what it was all about on rainy Friday; I had an Avery Maharaja and he had a Stone Sublimely Self Righteous, both just $5. I’m pretty sure there were angels singing somewhere in the background too!

As we sat and sipped our delicious nectars in the drizzly Florida evening, it occurred to me that we were sitting in the back of a home brew store; surely they could help us devise a way to make our favourite beers at home! At home in Australia, Coopers Brewery sells home brew kits in the supermarket. Every man and his dog home brews where I grew up, so why not us?!

We had a chat with the proprietor, Sally, who informed us they just happened to be having a home brew class the following weekend! So we signed up, learned a bunch and have been brewing ever since. My husband bought me a home brew kit for our anniversary two weeks later, and I bought him a keezer (a converted chest freezer with draft taps).We named our pico brewery Shvitzing Matilda; he’s Jewish, I’m Australian and our setup is definitely smaller than a nano brewery!

Home brewing is by far the most rewarding hobby I’ve ever taken up, and I can definitely say that we are saving money by home brewing, well, in theory anyway; the getting inspired by all the amazing beer out there, also means I feel more inspired to try it all! Ahhh! Catch-22?

Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

Ok- so, this is actually getting posted a bit out of sequence, but I did sample and review these 5 samples from Mikkeller Yeast Series on Day #17 of my homebrew adventure.

I think what Mikkel Borg Bjergsø is doing for the beer community is unparalleled right now in educational value. Having these “Single Hop“, “Yeast” and even the Black Hole “Barrel” series have been essential to my education as a beer drinker and will give me a leg up for home brewing.

Here are my reviews of five of the yeast series beers, brewed with the same base single malt, single hop beer.

Yeasties!

1. American-Style:

Nose: Slight pepper

Taste: Dirty grapefruity citrus and a bitter after taste show that this yeast compliments the hop and definitely allows more of the hop flavor through.

2. Lager

Nose:

Blogger’s Note: Honestly- I had nothing here on the nose. It was a void to me.

Taste: More of a lean towards a malty flavor than the American-Style, this beer has a sweet start and a roasted finish. It is refreshing and not overpowering.

3. Hefeweizen

Nose: Sweet corn, slight mesquite

Taste: In one word, it is Summer- light just like a witbier with the tang of natural orange cleaner.

4. Brettanomyces

Nose: Cherry Twizzlers, Red licorice shoe-strings

Taste: “FUNK-AY” This beer is a very drinkable sour with fruity tones. I called it fermented cranberry apple goodness, as well as my favorite of the bunch.

5. Belgian-Ale

Nose: Banana undertones, spice

Taste: Sweet and spicy deliciously ride on a wave of thick banana funk, proving that yeast really can make a all the difference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honestly, the difference between all of these brews was astonishing to me. I assumed there would be slight differences, as I know that each style has different characteristics. But the blatant, screaming differences created a shock and awe campaign upon my tongue- rendering my palate sated but tired.

If you are new to the brewing (or even tasting) scene, I strongly suggest that you invest in this journey as I did. The rewards are well worth it (as are the bragging rights!)