Homebrewing Journals

Not my favorite beer but it's not bad. I've never been much of a fan of German beers to start with. To me there just isn't much that is special about it. Between that and breaking my air lock and hydrometer in the same batch just put ...

Not bad, but not award-winning. Tastes like a much lighter ale on the front end, but after about 5 seconds or so the darker flavors creep up. IMHO this recipe would be great with some honey or molases or something to load the front end a little more.

This was my first all grain batch and I think it turned out great. I only got 4 gallons so that was a little disappointing even more so because the beer is delicious. Not a particularly strong, hoppy or malty beer but just a nice beer. Great clarity and I ...

For such a dead simple recipe this beer turned out really great. It's not really as hoppy as I normally like in an IPA. It's more like a pale ale. I think the extra week in the primary helped a lot with the clarity.

This recipe yielded a solid red. Nothing fancy or unique about it, just a very good beer.

This turned out really nice this year. The peppermint last year was a little overwhelming at times but this has much better balance. Shared with family, friends and co-workers all with positive comments. This is becoming one of my favorite beers to make.

This was my first real attempt at a fruit beer. I wasn't really going for something sweet and fruity so I'm a little disappointed in how this came out. It's not bad but it's not what I wanted. I was hoping that the more of the ...

It was easy and cheap to make but still tasty. I will likely make this again. I'd like to try some other yeasts. I've heard using an ale yeast will make it come out a little sweeter.

An easy beer to make and pretty tasty. Honey is a little expensive so I probably won't make this very often but I would make it again. Ended up on the lighter side of a brown. If I made it again I might try some darker malts.

This was a simple recipe that produced a strong, aromatic, flavorful beer. The orange peel is undetectable, but I'm not sure that is a bad thing. The honey I used from my hive is a very flavor rich wild flower. Orange blossom honey has hints of citrus, but I ...

Not everything went right when making this beer but it still came out as a solid beer. It's darker than your typical pumpkin. I'll most likely make this again next fall. I might try some different ways to filter out the pumpkin fiber. Maybe longer in the primary ...

The batch is contaminated and destined for the drain as soon as I can bring myself to do so. The local brew store employee was kind enough to sample one of the bottles and thinks that it has a rubbery taste that is most likely from the sanitizer.

Every step ...

This is good, and I'm hoping that a bunch of time in the bottle will help smooth things out. Not necessarily something I'd do again, but I'd like to try something similar.

This was a completely over simplified Kolsch recipe. I didn't do any cold conditioning and used some leftover hops instead of more traditional ones. I don't normally drink a lot of Kolsch beers but still it made a tasty beer.

As a beer that was meant to taste like a Dark and Stormy this was a complete failure. But as a light, refreshing and easy to drink beer for summer I think it worked. The reviews from the family ranged from "not bad" to "good". Overall nothing to get too ...

Our beautiful daughter was finally born on June 28th. That means this beer sat in the bottles and extra 4 weeks. It isn't the most amazing beer I've ever tasted but it will always hold a special place in my heart.