Colorado Kitchen Brew

I was wandering through the liquor store the other day and noticed just how inexpensive 30-Packs (a.k.a. Suitcases) of really cheap beers are. Especially if they're on sale. I've seen some suitcases for as low as $13 before tax. That's roughly 43 cents per beer. Call me insane, but I became curious. Could I go to my local homebrew store and buy the ingredients to brew my own beer of similar strength for the same price, or less? Saving cash is part of this blog's ongoing theme , so I had to find out. To meet my challenge, I decided to think light (not Lite). No big Belgians or Barleywines here. A refreshing, mildly hopped and easy to brew Blonde Ale should do the trick. The prices below are what my local homebrew store charges, rather than the absolute lowest prices I can find. Usually to get discounts, you have to buy in bulk. Since there are no grains that I use an entire sack of in a year, or hops that I need a pound or more of, I didn't pursue that route. ...

I've read more than a few times online that SMaSH (Single Malt, Single Hop) beers are boring. They're more of an experiment that helps the brewer get to know certain grains and hops than they are great beers. How could a beer made with a single grain and hop possibly be interesting? More ingredients equals more excitement, right? I'm pleased to report that less really can be more. My SMaSH Kölsch proves it (not that I'm biased or anything). Bready malt, light floral bitterness and a touch of white wine sum things up nicely. This beer isn't in your face. Instead, it's delicate and therefore leaves imperfections no place to hide. Clarity is excellent. I promise that the haze in the picture is sweat on the glass due to the recent spate of rainy weather. A soapy white cap has good staying power and leaves some lace behind. The nose is dominated by cut flowers and pale fruits, plus a hint of fresh cut grass. That theme flows nicely into the flavor. Fresh b...

Wheatwines are a style that I've just started looking into. I've only a had a couple of them and that was enough to pique my interest. For my brew, I've decided to to take what's essentially a Hefeweizen on steroids grain-bill, toss in some CaraWheat malt for a touch of sweetness and then hop it to American Barleywine levels with American hops. A clean Ale yeast, plus the high bitterness will make sure no one mistakes this creation for a Weizenbock. Since my canning pot setup doesn't allow for huge amounts of grain, I've taken the partial-mash approach and added Malt Extract to push up the Original Gravity. Although it feels a little odd brewing a big beer in August, something this strong needs at least 3-4 months to mature. I'll be back around Thanksgiving with a final report. Here's the five gallon brew: Grains: 8 lbs Rahr White Wheat 4 lbs Rahr Pale Ale 8 oz Weyermann CaraWheat Hops: 1 oz Galena (13.4% a.a.): 60 min 1 oz Falconer...

Near as I can figure, Sours are to the 2010s what American IPAs were to the 1990s. They're the hot style in the US beer world and every serious beer drinker I know covets them. I'm personally not obsessed with Sours, but that doesn't mean I'm not anxious to brew one. My favorite Sour beer style is Flanders Red . More specifically, I'm a huge Duchesse de Bourgogne fan. I love the tart Red Wine quality it brings to the glass. While I'm not going to attempt to clone it, I am aiming for a beer that's similar. In keeping with my 2013 goal of doing more with less, my recipe is pretty straightforward, while still checking off all the style guideline boxes. In addition, I'll be adding an ounce of oak cubes to the secondary for a little extra something. The oak cubes will be soaked in Oloroso Sherry first to simulate the effect of the Casks that are used for one of my favorite Single Malt Scotches . Having done a fair bit of research on Sours, I...

My Session Saison is ready. Having recently moved to the mountains, I've come to learn one thing about brewing beer here. Even in the middle of summer, the evening temps drop into the 40s and 50s. This is great news for keeping the house comfortable. Open the windows at night, let the temp in the house drop, close the windows in the morning and have a nice cool house all day. This isn't the best scenario for a Saison, unfortunately. Most of the "city folk" I know brew Saisons during the Summer months because the yeast actually likes high fermentation temps. As in 80 degrees or more. I could wrap my fermentors in blankets in the warmest part of the house and never reach those temps. Of course, I could buy extra equipment to warm my fermentors, but that goes against the grain of what I'm trying to do here: brew great beer with cheap gear . With all that background out of the way, it's time to see how my Saison did. First off, the clarity of the beer...

My Bavarian Pseudo-Pils is ready to go. It turned out even better than I expected. So much so that my fiancé and I horded it and only shared a couple of bottles with friends (from whom I have no tasting notes). First off, the beer didn't come out as Alt-like as my Prohibition Bock did. It's extremely clean and has none of the fruity aromas often associated with ale yeasts. Instead, the nose is dominated by lemon and pepper hops, plus some cracker-like aromas from the Pils malt. Even though the grain-bill consisted exclusively of German Pils malt and only two hop varieties were used, this beer is actually pretty complex. Things start out with light sweetness and a bit of dry grain. The bitterness comes on quick with a lemon and pepper bite that's just about right for this style of Pils. The beer finishes with a lingering bitterness. The medium-light body could stand just a touch more fizz. Time to ramp up the priming a sugar a bit. The pour is a little hazy and won...

The beer below is for the Wit I'm brewing for my friend's Birthday Party. This one is more traditional than my last beer , in that it uses Unmalted Wheat and Bitter Orange Peel. The switch to Belgian Pale Ale malt is out of necessity. My local homebrew store was out of Belgian Pils, which seems to be an unfortunate recurring theme there of late. This is the last brew out the door for the party and should be ready just in time. Although I'm not exactly a Blue Moon fan (there are other Wits I'd rather drink), I'm hopeful that this beer will appeal to the crowd that is. Here's the five gallon recipe: Grains: 4 lbs Castle Pale Ale 4 lbs Rahr Unmalted Wheat 8 oz Flaked Oats Hops: 0.5 oz Saaz (7.6% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Saaz (7.6% a.a.): 10 min Extras: 1 oz Crushed Coriander Seed: 15 min 1 oz Dried Bitter Orange Peel: 15 min 1 oz Dried Sweet Orange Peel: 15 min Total Boil Time: 90 min Yeast: Safbrew T-58 Mash Schedule: Protein Rest: 122F ...