The Brew Site
Happy National Beer Day! It was on this day, April 7, in 1933 that the Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect—the legislation that legalized the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% by weight (or 4% by volume), which heralded the end of Prohibition in the United States. This provided the … Continue reading
Last weekend I brewed my first batch of beer for the year, a porter, and I thought it would be interesting to document my brewing process and share the recipe. (Actually I brewed two batches on the same day, but this post focuses on the first.) The beer is Glass … Continue reading
I’ve always had an affinity for Cream Ale, that oddly-named light American ale style with nineteenth century roots. All too often it seems to be nudged out of the way by the more prosaically-named Blonde or Golden Ale in many a brewery’s lineup however. Admittedly, digging into the style reveals there … Continue reading
Last month we hosted the monthly group brew for the homebrew club for which I brewed ten gallons of an American cream ale. Because I use a batch sparging method, I can only brew five gallons at a time, which when you’re brewing identical recipes back to back, offers some interesting … Continue reading
Who remembers American Amber Ales? Not the hopped-up dry Red Ales that have been prevalent the last few years, but the original caramel and malty staple of microbreweries of the ’80s and ’90s? I feel like the Amber Ale is something of an endangered species these days, partially because of the current hops … Continue reading
Do you know the secret to a good fruitcake? It’s using real, non-processed dried fruits instead of the neon-colored, cloyingly candied fruits chunks you find in most commercial varieties. It’s also a matter of having the proper batter-to-fruit ratio. And, wrapping the cake(s) in brandy-soaked cheesecloth to age for at … Continue reading
It’s been a few years since I published my original extract-based pumpkin ale recipe, and since I’ve recently started all-grain brewing, I decided to develop and publish an all-grain version of that recipe. (And as a proper test of it, I brewed this beer the weekend before last and it’s … Continue reading
Actually I’m leaning towards calling this beer “Hood River Harvest” because all of the apples came from Hood River; we went apple picking in September and came back with a ton of both apples and pears. Looking for more uses for the apples (we canned a lot of applesauce) I … Continue reading
This is the recipe for the latest beer I’ve brewed, a light summertime-style wheat ale with candied ginger. It was a bit spontaneous as my goal was originally to brew Randy Mosher’s “Summer Ale, What-If Version” from Radical Brewing (though the recipe first appeared online here), but the Brew Shop … Continue reading
Here’s a recipe for an “Old School Cream Ale”, with a little something extra: toasted oats and a dash of salt. Both were ideas I got from Randy Mosher’s Radical Brewing, which is a superb homebrewing book and one that you must have on your bookshelf if you brew beer. … Continue reading