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Pariah3j wrote:Brewed me a batch of homemade stout this weekend. Now to wait the 6-10 weeks to drink it

Anyone else here on the forums a home brewer ? Any favored recipes ?

Your title got my attention. I see that you live near Nobi Public House.
A few months ago I had dinner there and ordered a Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout.
It looked very interesting so I tried it and really enjoyed it. You may want to try a bottle to compare to your own.
I have never seen it in Spec's, but never looked too hard. It is worth trying.
The same brewery has a ginger beer which I didn't care for much.

I used to work in a winery, so I have made plenty of wine,
I have never been much of a beer drinker, so I never tried to make my own.
I think the economics of home brewing are similar to reloading ammo.
You don't spend less money, you just get to shoot or drink more for the same price.

WildBill wrote:

Pariah3j wrote:Brewed me a batch of homemade stout this weekend. Now to wait the 6-10 weeks to drink it

Anyone else here on the forums a home brewer ? Any favored recipes ?

Your title got my attention. I see that you live near Nobi Public House.
A few months ago I had dinner there and ordered a Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout.
It looked very interesting so I tried it and really enjoyed it. You may want to try a bottle to compare to your own.
I have never seen it in Spec's, but never looked too hard. It is worth trying.
The same brewery has a ginger beer which I didn't care for much.

I used to work in a winery, so I have made plenty of wine,
I have never been much of a beer drinker, so I never tried to make my own.
I think the economics of home brewing are similar to reloading ammo.
You don't spend less money, you just get to shoot or drink more for the same price.

Its funny that you mention Samuel Smiths Organic Chocolate Stout- its what inspired me to do the double choc stout... Btw Specs on Bay Area does have it, its in the cooler.

Your correct about it being like reloading ammo - it just enables more drinking. The other side effect is most home brew has a better taste then commercial beer.

@Caribe I'll have to try some - I like cigars but I've never really known/learned which ones were worth/decent.

Well, I'm not a beer brewer, but I'm Italian, and I do have a nice batch of homemade Limoncello in the works right now. Two more days, and it's good to go!

Update: So the Double Choc Stout came out amazing. It ended up needing about 4 weeks in the bottles to get great(it was already good at about 2 weeks, but its just been getting better with age). I'm down to my last 5, trying to save them and try 1 each week to see how long it needs to go before it's truly ready.

I've got another batch of Double Choc fermenting now (along with an IPA and Irish Red).

Pariah3j wrote:

allisji wrote:
I think they were with the Mashtranauts club.

ETA: The TBR stuff comes in a growler. I know they sell it at the HEB on HW96 and the one on 646. I've never tried it, but they have events at the brewery that I've always wanted to attend. It's hard to do those type things with kids at home.

Thanks - I'll have to look into the Mashtranauts Club.

I'll have to keep an eye out for the TBR stuff, I typically don't look at the growlers very often.

RoyGBiv wrote:

aCoffeejunky wrote:I've come across some really good Porters and Stouts at the gas station down the road from my house...shocker.

My favorite place to browse for beer is at a Valero station in Colleyville. "Great Minds..."

The stop and robs with walk in coolers are starting to stock a better selection then just Bud and Silver bullet, but they still don't have a huge selection(at least none of the ones around my house). If you haven't been there and there is one nearby, Spec's has just about anything you can want, and if they don't alot of times they will order it for you.

If you are lucky enough to have a Total Wines near you they carry a huge selection of craft beers as well

I've been brewing for....... Geez...... 11 or 12 years now. It's a great hobby.
Little unsolicited advice. If you can, start kegging. It's so much easier than bottling. Some people enjoy bottling. I wasn't one of them.
Number one most important thing is fermentation temperature control. Can't stress this enough.

Also, be sure you pitch enough yeast. Don't want to stress those little buggers. (Unless you're making a Belgian beer. Then a little under pitched is ok. Sometimes even tastes a little better.) Learn how to make a starter for when you need it.

timdsmith72 wrote:I've been brewing for....... Geez...... 11 or 12 years now. It's a great hobby.
Little unsolicited advice. If you can, start kegging. It's so much easier than bottling. Some people enjoy bottling. I wasn't one of them.
Number one most important thing is fermentation temperature control. Can't stress this enough.

Also, be sure you pitch enough yeast. Don't want to stress those little buggers. (Unless you're making a Belgian beer. Then a little under pitched is ok. Sometimes even tastes a little better.) Learn how to make a starter for when you need it.

Appreciate the advice - I've never minded bottling myself, I almost enjoy bottling now that we found the EZ-Cap bottles

I do want to get into kegging, but I decieded to put the money I was saving up for a kegerator into new brewing equipment(been using the starter equipment for 4 or 5 years now). So I'm hoping my financial adviser(wife) will allow us to get one maybe for Christmas, but if not it's not a huge loss.

Got temp control down, for a long time I just used a nice dark/cool closet, but recently found a cheap wine fridge that I was able to convert/make into a temp controlled fermentation vessel.

Most of my beers I've brewed were extract recipes(just upgraded to all grain - have 2 batches under my belt at this point) and they all used ale yeasts so the packs of yeast were enough. I am learning/researching/etc the yeast side of things alot more these days, looking to get into reharvesting my yeast, but I'm not quite there yet knowledge/confidence wise. Plus after just purchasing all of the other equipment it, getting stuff for properly harvesting/re-pitching the yeast, may be a tough sale's pitch to my financial adviser. Slowly but surely I'm getting there though

Another place to smoke great cigars and enjoy an adult beverage: The Smoke Ring, either one.

Abraham wrote:Another place to smoke great cigars and enjoy an adult beverage: The Smoke Ring, either one.

I'm going to have to check them out... the one in Webster is practically in walking distance of my place. Except that its Texas and in the summer so no walking except to/from the car

Vol Texan wrote:Well, I'm not a beer brewer, but I'm Italian, and I do have a nice batch of homemade Limoncello in the works right now. Two more days, and it's good to go!

Limoncello.....yum! Some of my favorite stuff! I was in Milan this past Fall....it seemed after every meal (after the check was paid) the server would bring out the bottle....if it was empty they'd brining another one....and another one....

Pariah3j wrote:

Abraham wrote:Another place to smoke great cigars and enjoy an adult beverage: The Smoke Ring, either one.

I'm going to have to check them out... the one in Webster is practically in walking distance of my place. Except that its Texas and in the summer so no walking except to/from the car

I was wondering how it was going. It sounds like you have had good success. I did go to Spec's a bought a four pack of the Smith's Double Stout. It was as good as I remembered.

Pariah3j wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2016 11:48 am Update: So the Double Choc Stout came out amazing. It ended up needing about 4 weeks in the bottles to get great(it was already good at about 2 weeks, but its just been getting better with age). I'm down to my last 5, trying to save them and try 1 each week to see how long it needs to go before it's truly ready.

I've got another batch of Double Choc fermenting now (along with an IPA and Irish Red).

I realize this is an old thread, but someone was asking me about making chocolate stout.
Can you tell me what kind of chocolate flavoring did you use and how much? Thanks!

I am not a brewer but I tried a beer in Colorado a couple of years ago at a restaurant. The waiter recommended it with an elk steak. It’s Nitro Milk Stout. I now have it brought in a case at a time because it also goes great with a beef or venison steak as well as a little chocolate