Paul’s Brewsletter

It has been a busy spring for brewing so far. I have two beers ready to go! The first beer is called Atonement Beer. It is an ale with the added flavor of boysenberries. Alcohol content came to 4.71% by volume for this one. Also ready to go is a beer I call Black Magic (5.85% alcohol by volume). It is a variation of a recipe from the Mr. Beer website. My variation is I substituted molasses for brown sugar. This resulted in a darker color and an unusual taste. It is good, just not the typical beer taste I’ve encountered.

Currently it is Strawberry season in Louisiana, so I’m going to try and make a strawberry beer soon before the street vendors stop selling fresh strawberries. Until next time….

Happy brewing!

Wow, hard to believe it has been ten years homebrewing beer for me already! In that time I’ve…

…brewed beer through approaching hurricanes (that means more if you live in the gulf coast region, believe me)…

…made beer with ginger (not the best idea lol)…

…bottled stout beer in glass root beer bottles (that sure made an interesting impression at parties)…

…made mini kegs (kind of a neat idea but more of a hassle in the end)…

…bottled beer in used 2 liter bottles (laugh all you want, but its a lot less bottles to deal with!)

and of course, I had a great time through it all. My attitude on homebrewing beer is “even when its bad, its still kind of good.” I can’t imagine what the next ten years of homebrewing will bring - I do know that I am having a blast and plan on doing this as long as I’m able to.

Anyway, the Czech the Halls beer made a great New Years brew. I along with several other guilty parties killed off the last of that beer for New Years. Everyone loved it all around. I need to do that one again.

My next brew is going to be a recipe from Mr. Beer called Atonement Beer. I can tell you it is an ale that includes boysenberries. Should be interesting - it probably won’t be ready for the Mardi Gras season, but it should be ready soon after.

Happy brewing!
Paul

Hello and Happy Holidays! I hope you’re having a great time and are getting ready for Christmas - it is fast approaching!

Countdown to Christmas 2007:

I finished off my holiday beer for 2007: Czech the Halls…get it? It is a Czech style pilsner similar to Pilsner Urquell. The alcohol content on this batch came out at 3.89% by volume, which is just fine for me. I typically don’t like to overload on the alcohol content with beer.

Are you still shopping for gifts? I created a page on Paul’s Brewsletter to give you some ideas. Take a look:

http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

You might find that beer related item you’ve been looking for that beer nut in your life…or maybe for yourself!

I’ve also added a Beer search engine on the brewsletter homepage. Check it out!

I haven’t tasted the Czech the Halls yet…will probably do so Christmas Day for my family’s huge get together. Will let you know how it goes!

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Find a wide selection of beer gifts at http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

I’ve been lagering the Red Ale I brewed in October, and I’ll probably unveil that at the New Orleans Concert Band Christmas Concert after party. I just love seeing the looks on people’s faces when I pull out 2 liter bottles (with the original soft drink labels on them, mind you) full of my own beer and start serving my beer from 2 liter bottles. Are they clean? Yes, in fact all the bottles I use for my beer have been sanitized using One-Step Sanitizer. Is this beer competition worthy? Probably not, but I’m brewing beer to make beer I like and beer that my friends like.

I am going to start primary fermentation on my Christmas Beer this weekend. Primary Fermentation just means that I’m mixing the beer extract with water, yeast and the corn sugar to put in the barrel for several days. Once this is done, I will bottle the beer for another week or two until it is carbonated and ready to rock. This beer is a Czech style pilsner. Did you know that the Czechs invented the pilsner style of beer? In fact, the name pilsner comes from a town in the Czech republic called Pilsen. So it’s not just a clever name

Since this is my holiday beer, I’m calling it “Czech the Halls”. Get it?

This probably won’t be the highest alcohol content beer I’ve done, but it’s not always about the alcohol. Besides, you can drink more of them to get the desired effect

Remember to shop for beer gifts for yourself and your friends at http://www.prhsolutions.com/brewsletter/beer-gifts/

I’m going to tell you something a little shocking - beer makes a great gift. Whoa! Did that stun you? Okay, maybe that statement is just a tad obvious. I have recently used beer, specifically homebrewed beer, as a thank you gift for a neighbor and let me tell you, that goes a long way.

My wife and I took a trip out of town over the summer. We asked this particular neighbor of ours to keep an eye on things while we were gone. You’ve probably done something similar time and time again. While you’re away, the neighbor collects the newspapers, mail, etc., that arrives at your house and gives it to you upon your return. Many times as thanks or repayment, you offer the same service to your neighbor when they leave town. After all, that’s what neighbors do, right?

That’s correct, and it should be that way. But how about going an extra step in saying thanks?

For under $50, you can get a kit to make good beer in your home that you can:

a) enjoy yourself
b) share with neighbors as thank you gifts or just gifts in general

This kit comes with simple to follow instructions, and all the ingredients you need except for water and maybe a few extra bottles (used beer bottles or soft drink bottles will do). It doesn’t get much easier than that!

The look in my neighbor’s face when I handed them a six pack of beer that I made for them to enjoy said it all. Do something nice like this for your neighbor and yourself, you’ll both benefit.

Keep this in mind too for the Holiday Season: giving someone a unique gift that you personally made, like homebrew beer, is a really nice touch that shows you went the extra mile and didn’t just get something quick and easy from the store.

Get yourself started at http://prhsolutions.com/thankyoubeer

Today, I write this post not as your friendly musician or home brewer, but as a concerned individual.

The Deutsches Haus, a New Orleans based German social hall and gathering place open since 1928, is in danger of being closed down due to a recent designation of the tract of land on which it sits to a medical center to be built by LSU.

http://www.savethehaus.org/

The Deutsches Haus is a great place to go for German food, beer and music. I’ve been going to the Deutsches Haus for several years now and I always have a lot of fun there. They have great get-togethers every weekend during the month of October, with live Oktoberfest music, plenty of German food and of course the best German beer money can buy: Warsteiner, Paulaner, Beck, etc.

Here’s the website for the Deutsches Haus: http://www.deutscheshaus.org/ I’ve been fortunate enough to play in bands at the Deutsches Haus for different events like their Oktoberfest Parade, Big Band Swing Night and their Quarterly Membership meetings. While they do have a membership system, access to the Deutsches Haus is not limited to members. Their Oktoberfest parties are open to the public for a nominal entrance fee.

In New Orleans, you’re not going to get much more German than the Deutsches Haus. A petition has been created as part of the “Save the Haus” movement, and I invite you to sign it and help the efforts to preserve this important part of New Orleans History.

You can find the petition to Save the Haus here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethehaus

Tags

german
new orleans
oktoberfest
beer
deutsches haus

Greetings - I hope you had a great summer!  I’ve been working on several websites, and I’m now ready to kick the ‘ol brewery back into production.  I’ve ordered supplies to make a beer called “Howling Red Ale”.  I figure it sounds good for this time of year, and I should be able to start enjoying it later this month.

Do you make beer?  If so, how do you bottle or keg your beer?  I’ve tried several methods, from quart sized plastic bottles to 5 liter mini kegs to standard 12 ounce bottles.  My current favorite method depends on what function the beer will be consumed:

2 liter bottles are best for parties attended by 10 or more beer drinkers.  Aside from a 5 gallon keg (which I haven’t used for my homebrew yet), 2 liter bottles provide the easiest way to serve your beer to a large group of people without worrying about dozens and dozens of bottles.

7 ounce to pint sized bottles are great for either smaller groups of people, or if you want to give your beer to friends who may not want a whole lot of beer.  This is good for spreading the beer around more and even putting together beer related gift baskets.

Those are my two current favorite bottling methods.  What are yours?  Drop me a line!  If you want to order the beer ingredients I use, take a look at this website.

Happy brewing!
Paul

Tags
beer
bottling
mr. beer

Last week, I pulled out some of the latest brew for some co-workers.  My office had an after work get together at a local bar.  I’ve mentioned to these people before that I make beer, and they had pretty much the same response as most people that learn I make beer:  “bring us some!!!” One of the fun parts for me about making beer is getting to share it with people.  I loaded up one two liter in an ice chest, piled the ice on it and stuck it in the trunk of my car.

After having some drinks and food in the bar, I had two co-workers back to my car.  It was a little odd, tailgating outside of a bar drinking my beer.  But, I’m from New Orleans - we don’t need a reason to drink, much less a justification for where we drink. They liked the beer - good news is I have some left. I will probably add that to the beer I’m bringing out for the July 3rd concert by the New Orleans Concert Band.

Speaking of that July 3rd beer - I’ll probably be cranking up the ol brewery for some Independance Day beer.  Stay tuned!

So what beer are you drinking these days?  When I’m not drinking my own, I’m stuck on Guinness, Warsteiner, Abita Beer.  How about you?

Just a little fun item I wanted to share…