Before getting bitten by the homebrew bug, my in-the-apartment creativity was centered around cooking and general culinary arts. From vegetarian/vegan cooking experiments to ice cream making, I enjoyed focusing my efforts on the wide spectrum of cooking areas and techniques. Recently, looking to change things up a bit, I thought I’d combine these two passions … Continue reading
After 12 months in the barrel and over 8 months of conditioning in the keg, the saison from the 2014-2015 Austin ZEALOTS Barrel Project is tasting wonderful. Sour, light, and crisp, this past years’ barreled saison came out surprisingly well. A continuation of the barreling series, this post is the follow-up of mostly my personal … Continue reading
Readers of the Apartment Homebrewer blog may have noticed a few changes over the past year, namely the reduced frequency of posts and a couple of hints at a winter project. While I was away from blogging (and currently slowly getting back into it), I was still very busy writing about homebrewing. Keeping this project … Continue reading
Almost three months since brew day, the California Common is nearly gone. Having saved the San Francisco lager yeast from the SMaSH Blonde I served at the Zealots summer picnic, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make a California Common for the fall season. While sadly I’m almost out of this fantastic … Continue reading
After 3 weeks of fermentation and 1 month of lagering, the Session Helles is wonderful and incredibly refreshing. Intended to grow lager yeast for future batches, this small batch re-brew of a session-style Munich Helles came out great. A review and recipe below. Cheers, and happy brewing! Review Pouring into a teacup, the Session Helles … Continue reading
After 2 weeks of fermentation, 5 days of dry hopping, and 2 months of keg conditioning, the Farmhouse IPA is tasting great. Beginning in late spring with the onset of hot Texas weather, I was inspired to make a hop-forward saison-like beer for the summertime. Detailed in the brew day post, anticipating ultra-high attenuation of … Continue reading
Six weeks since brew day, the Craft A Brew Brown Ale has finished fermentation, bottle-conditioned, and is now ready to drink. After racking from the primary, I yielded 9 bottles and some tasty hydrometer samples. Overall, I’m quite pleased with this one-gallon brown ale extract kit, and from this, hope to play with one-gallon batches … Continue reading
Having washed the yeast from the primary fermentation of the Barrel Project Sour Saison in April, I was keen to make another saison-like beer for the summertime. Along with being on a hop-kick, I was inspired to make a hoppy farmhouse ale of sorts. Anticipating the ultra-high attenuation of Wyeast French Saison, I designed a … Continue reading
While brewing on the 2014 summer solstice, I cracked open last years big brew, the 2013 summer solstice blonde barleywine. SMaSH-y in recipe, the idea was to design a beer to taste the malt and fermentation characteristics from Maris Otter and Wyeast 1098 British Ale when brewed at a high gravity. The resulting brew was … Continue reading
A few weeks ago, Craft A Brew generously set me one of their one-gallon starter kits [**]. For those unfamiliar, Craft A Brew makes homebrewing starter kits and extract-based recipe kits, ranging from 1-3 gallon batches, providing new homebrewers with all of the equipment and ingredients necessary to start their first batch of homebrew. With several … Continue reading
The Apartment Homebrewer 