Making knives and Brewing Beer

timos-

timos-

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
2,164
Soooo, I like making knives , still like making knives , ok I Love making knives but...There is a new thing I love, brewing beer!

Any of you knife makers into this beer brewing thing too?
 
I used to brew beer....but then I got smart and saved money by buying it. Thank God handmade knives are cheaper than store bought ones....aren't they?
 
I have thought about brewing beer and wine many times. My brother has been making wine for 20 years, and it is really good. I have enough time consuming, money sucking hobbies already!
 
I brew my own beer, I really enjoy coming up with my own recipes and trying them out. It's like designing a knife then getting to use it. :D

I do "all-grain" brewing, as far as costs go it is cheaper (for the grain, etc, not my time) but that isn't why I brew. I just enjoy the process. It takes all day so I usually BBQ or do some indoor projects.

On tap - English Brown Ale, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Colorado IPA and sort of an Anchor Steam styled hybrid ale.


Here's a good one... if you like Chimay Blue you will like this. It will age very well.


Belgian Dark Strong Ale

8.8# Light DME
2# Deep Amber Candi Sugar

1# Special B
1/2# Caramunich
1/2# Crystal 20

@ 90 min 1 oz Sterling Hops
@ 90 min 1.5 oz Saaz Hops
@ 30 min 1/2 oz Saaz Hops

Safbrew S-33 yeast
 
Willie71 said:
I have thought about brewing beer and wine many times. My brother has been making wine for 20 years, and it is really good. I have enough time consuming, money sucking hobbies already!
Click to expand...

+3 for this... i even had the entire kit for brewing my own beer sitting in my basement for 2 years prior to my last move and then sold it all for $50 bucks when i left. stupid hobbies... stupider army! but when i win the lottery, look out!
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
I brew my own beer, I really enjoy coming up with my own recipes and trying them out. It's like designing a knife then getting to use it. :D

I do "all-grain" brewing, as far as costs go it is cheaper (for the grain, etc, not my time) but that isn't why I brew. I just enjoy the process. It takes all day so I usually BBQ or do some indoor projects.

On tap - English Brown Ale, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, Colorado IPA and sort of an Anchor Steam styled hybrid ale.


Here's a good one... if you like Chimay Blue you will like this. It will age very well.


Belgian Dark Strong Ale

8.8# Light DME
2# Deep Amber Candi Sugar

1# Special B
1/2# Caramunich
1/2# Crystal 20

@ 90 min 1 oz Sterling Hops
@ 90 min 1.5 oz Saaz Hops
@ 30 min 1/2 oz Saaz Hops

Safbrew S-33 yeast
Click to expand...

All sound delicious! I have been having a blast with making the recipes and exploring different beer styles. I have a done a couple all grain batches so far but they are still bottle conditioning or sitting in secondary. Cant wait to try them.

Thanks for the recipe too , I was thinking about trying to brew a trappist clone later this year.
 
Hey curious what kinda hops do you use in your coloroado IPA?

We did a double IPA recently with nugget and mosaic hops...the bottles are almost carbed up now, its got that nice grapefruit-ness to it, mmm and at 7% abv wont last too long
 
timos- said:
All sound delicious! I have been having a blast with making the recipes and exploring different beer styles. I have a done a couple all grain batches so far but they are still bottle conditioning or sitting in secondary. Cant wait to try them.

Thanks for the recipe too , I was thinking about trying to brew a trappist clone later this year.
Click to expand...

Thanks! The book "Brew like a Monk" is awesome if you are into Trappist styles.


timos- said:
Hey curious what kinda hops do you use in your coloroado IPA?

We did a double IPA recently with nugget and mosaic hops...the bottles are almost carbed up now, its got that nice grapefruit-ness to it, mmm and at 7% abv wont last too long
Click to expand...

Chinook (a favorite) Amarillo, Simcoe and a bit of Sorachi Ace. I have made a few IPA's and usually use these and maybe Centennial, Cascade, etc. I made some SMaSH beers to try the hops first. The last IPA started off very hoppy and has now aged into almost a pale ale.

Nugget and Mosaic sound excellent! I want to try some Mosaic hops.

This fall I'm going to harvest some local hops and brew, they grow all over the place here and I located some about a mile away. I think they are some sort of Willamette variety or maybe the legendary San Juan Ruby Red.

I make wine too, mostly country wines. Ed Wort's Apfelwein is a great one and you would never think it was home made... I have had some guests get carried away drinking it, lol. It tastes like champagne if you keep your temps right early on and age a few months. It's too easy...


Cool stuff guys! Brewing is a lot of fun...
 
Never brewed any beer but I've made a good deal of "country" wine and cider over the years. It's fun but not much of a money-saver unless you own your own orchard/berry patch etc.
 
We have brewed for 30 years and find it rewarding in so many ways. The porters, stouts and English bitters are my favorites.

An added benefit, you can talk knives while you are enjoying the fruits of your labors.
 
Heres my recipe for this sunday, the grain bill is based off of russian river row2 hill 56

The hops are based off what I have in the freeez

8.5#s Belgian Pilsener
4.5#s Maris Otter
1# Crystal 20

1 oz Liberty hops at 60 minutes of boil
.5 oz mosaic at 20 mins
.5 oz sterling at 15 mins
.5 oz mosaic at 5 mins
.5 oz sterling at flameout

I may add an oz of whole leaf british fuggle hops as dryhop for an earthy type of nose to go with the citrusy kick at the end from mosaic and sterling.
Who knows what it will taste like ? Thats the fun of it i guess :)

Yeast is california ale yeast

Maybe we could all do a beer swap sometime
 
Is this close enough?
whisky.jpg
 
Zaph, those look mighty dangerous! and delicious!

@ Daniel Fairly...I just popped my first carbed up mosaic/nugget double IPA and I have to say its pretty dang good! You gotta try these hops
 
James, if you're at Blade, I'll bring you some to try. I fully plan on bringing a few bottles with me. I'm drinking a whiskey sour from the last bottle in the middle now. I had a 4 gallon container of the whiskey shatter and the one bottle is all that is left. The apple brandy needs to age longer. The rum is immediately drinkable. The rye, oh the rye, is the best thing I've ever drank. I keep making more of it and I like it more every time I make it.

Now, as a hobbyist distiller, I have to give it to beer makers. I've never heard of or tasted a bad homebrew beer. I've tasted some awful rotgut from other distillers. Most people think how it is on Moonshiners is how you actually do it. Kinda like knifemaking, you see a special on discovery channel and think "Oh, I could make an Ulfbert sword, it's easy." The average person has no idea how much work there is, but we do.
 
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