I’ve been on a session-style kick lately. Recently, I brewed a 4% ABV session IPA and a 3% ABV session Oatmeal Stout. With each beer, I pushed the ABV lower, so naturally, I was curious to see how low in ABV I could go while making a beer that was flavorful. Essentially, I wanted to … Continue reading
Spring seems to have sprung in Texas, and homebrewing was quite dynamic this past week. First, an update: the Apartment Homebrewer is now on Twitter. Followers of this blog will also enjoy the spontaneous happenings of brew day, additional updates, related news, etc. If you’re on Twitter, please follow me at the handle @apthomebrewer On … Continue reading
It’s 2014, and it would seem the Mayan Apocalypse didn’t happen, or at least, it’s slow to start. Either way, the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Ale is tasting great. Malty and very smooth, this strong ale/winter warmer style was brewed on the night of the 2012 winter solstice, detailed here. This beer was first reviewed after … Continue reading
Siphon tubing can be unwieldy even at the best of times. Often, my siphon tubing doesn’t quite stay on the racking crane (for some reason or another). The more experienced homebrewer knows this can be a real pain. An imperfect tubing seal causes air to flow into the siphoning beer, adding unwanted oxygen, or terminating … Continue reading
After a hard graduate school exam on Monday (sob…), I am getting back to brewing operations. Last night, I (finally) kegged a session-strength oatmeal stout, coming in at 2.9% ABV. I am anxious to see how this one comes out. Hydrometer tube sample showed a promising start. I might bring this one to the Zealots … Continue reading
The simple answer is the total volume of water used in the entire brewing process with respect to the finished volume of beer produced. How is it calculated? If you keep track of your water usage, it’s pretty easy to calculate. During the brewing process, water is not only used for the beer itself, but … Continue reading
Last spring, I submitted a few entries to the 2013 Texas Bluebonnet Brew-off, the largest “single-site” homebrew competition. I did well for my standards, as a number of my beers were “pushed” to the second round. Excitingly enough, my apricot wheat beer, an American-style wheat beer brewed with loads of tasty apricots, won a 3rd … Continue reading
This is Part 2 of the small batch clone of Fuller’s London Porter! In Part 1, I did some research and recipe design. In summary, the Fuller’s London Porter is a fairly simple recipe. Its key ingredients are a significant portion of brown malt, along with Fuller signature yeast. For part 2, I review both … Continue reading
One of my favorite English-style beers on the market is Fuller’s London Porter. Smooth, rich, and chocolate-ity, it’s also one of the only commercial beers I have ever tried to clone. Here is my attempt to clone this fantastic beer, and hope my fellow bloggers can learn from this first iteration. In part 1, I … Continue reading
No matter what time of year, one of my favorite ales to brew is American Pale Ale. There are lots of great commercial examples of APA, and many great recipes for APA on the web. Despite this, I thought I’d share my house APA recipe. It took many iterations to get this recipe just right … Continue reading
The Apartment Homebrewer 