To this point, don't use tap water. Buy spring water in a 3 or 5 gallon jug for a bubbler. It'll make all the difference in the world. You could buy the freshest and best malt, barley, hops and yeast, but if you're using shitty water, you're going to get a shitty brew.
First off, the writer of that piece is an idiot. Go read http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html for some real instruction. ~Those kits are malt extract (despite what he says in the first sentence), they just tend to be stale. ~When removing the grain bag after steeping for added flavor, one should NEVER squeeze it to 'extract the goodies.' That is a good way to dump a bunch of harsh tannins into the wort. If you're really that worried about removing every ounce of flavor, have another pot of hot water to put the grain bag in, and let it sit in there a bit. A kind of poor mans sparge if you will. ~When adding the malt extract, the heat should be turned off, not turned up. Malt extract, especially liquid malt extract, has a tendency to scorch on the bottom of the pan (or sides depending on the size of the heat source), which can effect flavor. ~200 grams of maltodextrin is way too much (4 ounces at max); a brewer would be better off priming with dark dry malt extract for even more body. Yes, yeast and ingredients are important, but the process is just as crucial. Fermenting at a bad temperature will create all types of off-flavors and problems, a bad brewing will fail to impart enough sugar for the yeast to ferment.
The most common complaint I hear about homebrew is the clarity and/or presence of sediment in the bottle. Both of these problems can be alleviated with secondary fermentation. Many beginning homebrewers bottle their beer right after the fermentation is complete, but it's better to allow a secondary fermentation. After the initial fermentation has quieted down (you can easily tell this visually, but check the SG also), transfer the beer to a secondary fermentation vessel (I use glass carboys). There is no need to add anything else for secondary fermentation, although this a good point to dry hop your beer if you intend to do so. There will be enough yeast in the beer to continue fermentation, and often you'll see it kick back up a little bit before finally petering out. The best part is you leave behind lots of sediment (trub), which improves the clarity and the flavor - if you let the beer sit on the sediment, unpleasant flavors can develop. And this site is a superb starting point. http://www.beertown.org/
I have really mixed feelings on racking to secondary fermentation chambers. Sure, there might be some extra clarity (assuming the beer isn't chilled prior to bottling kegging). Sure, there might be a little less bitterness from a lesser amount of dregs in the bottle/keg (autolysis flavors from the beer being left on the yeast cake is way overrated if the primary is kept under 68 degrees fahrenheit [multiple months]). But is the risk of oxidizing and infecting the beer worth it? I have never had a beer been spoiled by bottling straight from the primary, but I have had it spoiled through transfer to a secondary. All that said and done, I still transfer to a secondary. For a beginner I would recommend getting a few batches done and perfecting the process rather than worry about superfluous steps. No point in racking if the same tasting beer can't be made twice.
So, I read Everyday Drinking by Kinglsey Amis (with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, no less) over the last weekend and I thought I'd share his directions for making a martini: Take a wine glass and fill it halfway with water. Put it in the freezer (where your bottle of gin should already be). Once frozen, pour your desired gin-vermouth mixture on top with whatever cocktail onions/olives/etc you like. It solves the problem of your drink warming up in your hands as you drink it, which, as Amis explains, seriously degrades the drink.
To add to that, my friends and I are in the process of designing a few brews of our own, and we've been happy with everything we've ordered from here: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/ Focus: I am Brown Ale's biggest fan. If it's on tap, Newcastle is my go-to beer choice in any bar. I'm also very fond of Brooklyn Brewery's Brown Ale, and Wolaver's, although this last one is on the sweet side and doesn't lend itself to being drunk with food. I want to expand my brown ale horizons, and I need suggestions. Thoughts?
OK, here's a question for everyone. Who here has tried the Tucker Death Mix (1/5 Everclear, 1qt. Gatorade, 2 cans Red Bull)? Is it really the liquid murder it's raved to be? Just a general lowdown. Being a minor, I certainly wouldn't try it anytime soon. I'm really just curious.
I have about a quarter liter of Everclear in my desk drawer that's begging to be used in a Death Mix, the only problem is that the word Everclear is enough to send most sane people running for the hills. I've made mini Death Mixes with a liter of Gatorade, 1/2 a Red Bull and a couple shots of Everclear and those were both delicious and potent, but have not yet had the opportunity to make a full serving of it. Maybe that's what I'll do for the weekend.
I've hosted a party with Death Mix made with these proportions: for every 500 ml Everclear, 1 can Red Bull, 1 qt Gatorade. We filled a few of those huge orange Gatorade jugs they have on the sidelines of sports with that. All drinking games were played with that for awhile until we ran out and switched the rest of a keg that someone had brought over. The aftermath: My best friend and I got into a fist fight after I interrupted a conversation he was having my punching him in the head. We resolved it later that night after beating the shit out of each other for about twenty minutes. Two other fist fights and ten+ person brawl. Several extremely shocking and out of character hookups. As in they hated each other. Wouldn't even speak to each other before. Still don't. Massive drug use by many people who never used drugs before. An empty keg thrown off an overpass down the street. Then empty Everclear bottles. Then the empty Gatorade jugs. An entire wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookshelf dismantled and the books shredded for confetti. A group of people being unable to exit a room (the door sticks you just need to push it had), so each person removed a screen from one of the many windows to exit individually. Someone ran through the screen door to the porch in the urge to get inside. Off the top of my head that's most of the destruction, but I'm sure there was more. I love Death Mix and strongly support its use. It's a great way to get fucked up for cheap; grain alcohol is like ten bucks a handle. edit: Just remembered another perfect example of Death Mix destruction. I went to a Yankees day game with a couple of friends for a buddies birthday. We drank Death Mix on the train and subway, then had a couple beers at the game. Subway and train home was more Death Mix. Then a Beer BQ with more Death Mix throughout the night. I blackout. Next thing I know I'm being walked to my back door by my friends at about 2:30 am because I can barely stand let alone walk. About five feet from the door one of my friends let's go of me for a second to unlock the door for me. I take one step, trip over a bike and fall face first onto my patio. I wake up in the hospital with 35 stitches in my lip and three of my front teeth chipped. Go me.
These aren't "death mix" antics. This is grain alcohol antics. Every Freshman goes through the weekend long grain alcohol phase. It starts when some dipshit announces that they heard that Everclear is super cheap and gets you super fucked up. Cue black out disasters. I'd say just skip the grain alcohol phase unless you have a really good moonshine connection.
Wow... sounds great. I don't know why people think this kind of shit is fun. It wasn't that long ago when I loved to get obliterated (I still do to a certain extent, though I definitely prefer the controlled drunk beer gives me), but even then a bunch of immature drinkers acting like complete fucking tools and destroying shit did not equal a "fun party". Kubla Kahn is right, skip the whole "let's chug grain alcohol until we can't see straight" phase. You won't remember shit and people will be pissed at you. When you grow the fuck up you'll realize that isn't a good fucking thing.
This being my first semester in college, thats the truth, haha. I definitely have had 'that night' and hopefully I'll never have it again. Who am I kidding? I'll have it again, but I know people who drink half a bottle of 100 proof Smirnoff every time they go to a party and I wonder how that is any fun. I'm with you, I've discovered the controlled, almost perfect, beer drunk. On the other hand I've also experienced the head pounding beer hangover.
I'm kind of glad that i've moved beyond the drink until you're stupid phase of life. I've started discovering much more subtle tastes within the different alcohols and how different alcohols work with certain foods. Whereas I used to go to a bar or party and drink as much as possible of the cheapest beer or liquor as possible, now I prefer to sit down at a bar and order a beer, a nice scotch and a small glass of water. I'll sip the scotch and use the water to either open the scotch or just cleanse the palate for the beer chaser afterwards. It was suggested to me on the old board to not necessarily add the water directly to the scotch, but to take a sip right after the neat scotch and it does wonderful things. Kind of depends on the scotch. Since the scotch is so expensive, my prefered brands seeming to run from $8-$12 for a small glass, the beer helps stretch the scotch longer. I can't afford to just drink scotch all night out, so just mixing a couple glasses of scotch amongst a handful of good beers is a perfect night of drinking without making me broke. Since I've developed this taste for scotch whisky over the last year and have landed on my preferred region, I've decided to go back to exploring other types of whiskey and have come back full circle to Canadian Whiskey being my favorite for mixed drinks. I've been yelled at for this before with people saying it's too nice of a whiskey to mix with, but I love using Crown Royal with ginger ale. Once one of my current bottles run low, I'm planning on getting one of the reserve or special bottles of Crown. I haven't had, but I'm sure it's nice. Any other suggestions for some interesting whisky/ey? I'm familiar with all the standard Jack, Jim, etc. etc. etc. Something you won't see everyday and need to seek out. Something different. I'm pretty set on my scotch preferences, I'm looking for something new outside that.
I'm looking for your favorite jello shot recipe. I'll be making about a hundred or so for new years eve. So far I'll be making red bull/vodka (any jello flavor recommendations for this one?), and Caribou Lou (151/Malibu/Pineapple).
I only made Jell-O shots once, and it was as an "[astronaut], you're making the Jell-O" sort of deal becase no one else had any idea how. I summoned up all of my training in pharmaceutical compounding and chemistry experiments, and did the following: 1. Boil water as per directions 2. Add gelatin powder as per directions 3. Instead of adding a second volume of water, add in that volume of liquor* 4. Stir and chill It turned out pretty good. I think someone said it was a bit strong, but considering I despise the taste of vodka and you could barely notice the taste unless you held it in your mouth for several seconds, well, fuck him. * If you're going to be using a red bull/vodka mix, I suggest you go strong, because it's going to be cut in half from the rest of the Jell-O. Also, the acid in the red bull might cause the Jell-O to not set properly. This calls for some testing.
I made these for halloween, using this recipe more or less and they came out pretty good, if you have some time and are looking to do something different: http://www.grouprecipes.com/39209/orange-slice-jello-shots.html
There was a link someone posted on the old board for a thread of a site that had done a ton of experiments with jello shots and different flavors. The site was a sort of DIY lab test site. They had home made ballistic gel that they were trying to nail into a piece of wood in one of them. Does anyone remeber what Im talking about? I can't find it anymore.
http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-wall.html See also: http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-shot.html They were trying to discover the highest alcohol content jell-o shot you could make before the alcohol content kept the gelatin from setting. Poke around - there's also an experiment where they set jell-o shots on fire. Good stuff.
Rescue team embarks on a journey to the south pole to drill for whiskey Surprisingly, this isn't an Onion article.