I was getting tired of having to clean my glass jugs through the narrow mouth with a bottle brush, a lot of work for poor results.
On top of that, I’m more and more happy with plastic buckets for my larger, 5 gallon, batches.
I started looking for smaller food grade plastic buckets I could use as fermenters for my small batches, and my local DIY store had plenty at the paint (and beekeeping) department.
Continue reading 1-gallon Plastic Beer Fermenter
I never really cared about adding labels to my beers…until I did and that was awesome!
Creativity is endless and labels really add a personal touch to your beers
At first, I thought about making oval labels, but I quickly realized square/rectangle are more convenient, both to print and cut and in terms of available space
Continue reading Create beer bottle labels
March 2015
So cool!
I just planted two hops rhizomes I ordered online
As surprising as it may sound, these little plants travel by post for about a week and arrive in perfect shape at your place
Continue reading Grow your own hops
My first beer recipe was pretty much improvised: take 3 fermentables, 3 hops and a yeast; all that in approximate amounts found online and brew to see what it gives
This time, I wanted to clone one of my favorite beers, a California Common created by a local brewery, which required a much more precise recipe
Continue reading Creating a small batch beer recipe from scratch
I bought an oxygenation kit, more by curiosity than conviction
It turned out to be actually a really cool little upgrade
You can, of course, get by well by shaking the fermenter for 5 minutes, especially if some empty space remains at the top, but this little device makes the task much easier and probably more efficient
Continue reading Wort aerator
Starting from the recipe I use as an example on How to create small batch beer recipes, I improvised a Belgian strong ale with three different malts: Pilsen, Munich and Wheat
It took quite a lot of improvisation actually, because it’s not always easy to stick to the exact ingredients indicated in a recipe
Still, most recipes and suppliers are using the same typical ingredients and you never miss the target too much
Continue reading My first recipe!
I went for the Bruxelles Blonde for my first batch
A natural choice, given my long passion for Belgian ales
As a total newbie to all-grain beer brewing, I wanted a safe and easy first experience and, thus, chose an all-inclusive mix
Continue reading My first all-grain beer!
