DIY Beer Labels: Christmas and Holiday Beer Labels

DIY Keezer Build - HomeBrew Project

So I've decided -- after years of tedious bottling -- that I would venture into kegging.  This will be my log for the build: a 15cuft Chest Freezer "Keezer" that will initially host 2 taps/kegs, with room for 8 total taps/kegs to grow into.

I researched into several builds and decided upon the wooden collar, although with a twist that I've not yet seen on other blogs/sites.

To start, I found a used Fridgedere 14.8 cubic foot chest freezer for $120.  I then bought two 12x2 oak boards for the insulation collar.

Over the Thanksgiving break I'll begin the collar and post some pics.  It may take a while, but I'll use this blog post as the Keezer Build Thread.

More later....

Beer Glasses for Different Beer Styles

When I have guests or family come to visit, and we get to tasting some homebrew or other craft beers, my guests are often surprised I keep such a wide variety of glassware in a separate cabinet -- and even more surprised when I use different glasses for each style of beer.

While using different shaped wine glasses -- for white and red wines -- is widely accepted, few people are aware that beer should be served in differing glassware as well.

Why?  The shape of the glass and contours of the cup actual accentuate different parts of the beer; some to push the smell upwards to your nose, and others to keep the smell to a minimum.  But it's not just for smell.  Some glasses, for instance sniffers, often are used so that the heat from the drinker's hand slightly warms the brew, as its being held (to bring out other flavors).

So, with some help from http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glass, I've decided to list the typical glassware associated with several styles of beer. 

Pint Glass.

We'll start with the most common American beer drinking glass: the Pint Glass.  A few different styles of pint glasses can be found, like Becker, Nonic, or a Tumbler, but they all have similar characteristics.  

Pint glasses are cylindrical, with a slight taper (often toward the top) and a wide-mouth. Pint glasses come in two standard sizes, the 16-ounce Tumbler (U.S.)  and the 20-ounce Imperial Nonic.  A Becker is the German equivalent, tapering at the top.

These are the most common beer glass found in restaurants and in the home.

They accommodate a wide variety of beers:

• American Lager
• American Amber / Red Ale
•  Black Ale
• Blonde Ale
• Brown Ale
• Pale Ale
• Pale Wheat Ale
• Porter
• Stout
• Black & Tan
• Foreign / Export Stout
• Irish Dry Stout
• Oatmeal Stout
• Witbier

Flute Glass.

Next up is the Flute Glass.  While used normally for Champagne, the Flute Glass has a long narrow body to help ensure that carbonation doesn't dissipate too quickly -- and to showoff lively carbonation and color.

Benefits: Enhances and showcases carbonation. Releases volatiles quickly for a more intense upfront aroma.



Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Wild Ale
• Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
• Bock
• Czech Pilsener
• Dortmunder
• Eisbock
• Pilsener
• Lambic
• Lambic 
• Maibock / Helles Bock
• Munich Dunkel Lager
• Munich Helles Lager
• Schwarzbier
• Vienna Lager
• Weizenbock

Mug.

Heavy, sturdy, large and with handle, mugs come in many sizes and shapes. A Seidel is a German mug, while a Stein is the stone equivalent that traditionally features a lid (which dates back to the Black Plague to prevent flies from dropping in).

Benefits: Easy to drink out of. Holds plenty of volume.



Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Amber
• Black Ale
• Blonde Ale
• Brown Ale
• Pale Ale
• Porter
• Stout
• Strong Ale
• Baltic Porter
• Black & Tan
• Bock
• California Common / Steam Beer
• English Bitter
• Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
• Pilsener
• Irish Dry Stout
• Milk / Sweet Stout
• Oatmeal Stout
• Scottish Ale
• Smoked Beer
• Vienna Lager

Pilsner Glass.

Typically a tall, slender and tapered 12-ounce glass that captures the sparkling effervesces and colors of a Pils while maintaining its head. A Pokal is a European Pilsner glass with a stem.

Benefits: Showcases color, clarity and carbonation. Promotes head retention. Enhances volatiles.

Use with these Beer Styles:

• Bock
• California Common / Steam Beer
• Czech Pilsener
• Doppelbock
• Dortmunder / Export Lager
• German Pilsener
• Japanese Rice Lager
• Low Alcohol Beer
• Maibock / Helles Bock
• Munich Dunkel Lager
• Munich Helles Lager
• Schwarzbier
• Vienna Lager

Snifter.

Used traditionally for brandy and cognac, these stemmed, wide-bowled, and tapered mouthed glasses are perfect for capturing the aromas of strong ales. Volumes range, but they all provide room to swirl and agitate volatiles.

Benefits: Captures and enhances volatiles.




Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Barleywine
• American Double / Imperial IPA
• American Double / Imperial Stout
• Strong Ale
• Braggot
• Eisbock
• English Barleywine
• Flanders Oud Bruin
• Flanders Red Ale
• Foreign / Export Stout
• Gueuze
• Lambic - Fruit
• Old Ale
• Quadrupel (Quad)
• Russian Imperial Stout
• Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
• Tripel
• Wheatwine

Tulip Glass.

These were on sale at the Dollar Store locally, so I picked up a few.  My wife makes Ice Cream Sundays in them, much to my chagrin.  A stemmed glass, with the top half tulip-shaped, to form a lip.  The Tulip Glass contains an angled rim in order to capture the head of the beer.  The bottom body is bulbous, almost like a Snifter.

Benefits: Captures and enhances volatiles, while it induces and supports large foamy heads.

Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Double / Imperial IPA
• American Wild Ale
• Belgian Dark Ale
• Belgian IPA
• Belgian Pale Ale
• Belgian Strong Dark Ale
• Belgian Strong Pale Ale
• Bière de Garde
• Flanders Oud Bruin
• Flanders Red Ale
• Gueuze
• Lambic - Fruit
• Quadrupel (Quad)
• Saison / Farmhouse Ale
• Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy

Weizen Glass.

Weizen Glasses -- made for Wheat Beers -- have thin walls and length to showcase the beer's color and allow for ample headspace. Most are 0.5L, with slight variations in sizes.

Benefits: Specifically produced to take on volume and head, while locking in the banana-like and phenol aromas associated with the style.




Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Dark Wheat Ale
• American Pale Wheat Ale
• Dunkelweizen
• Gose
• Hefeweizen
• Kristalweizen
• Weizenbock

Oversized Wine Glass.

Often, a glass goblet or chalet can be deemed an Oversized Wine Glass, since the former two cups were traditionally made from metal.  Still, the stemmed, rounded glass is perfect for all Belgian Ales and most dark porters and stouts. Its size allows for headspace, while the open bowl creates an amazing nose.




Use with these Beer Styles:

• American Black Ale
• American Double / Imperial IPA
• American Double / Imperial Stout
• American Wild Ale
• Belgian Dark Ale
• Belgian IPA
• Belgian Pale Ale
• Belgian Strong Dark Ale
• Belgian Strong Pale Ale
• Bière de Garde
• Braggot
• Eisbock
• English Barleywine
• Old Ale
• Saison / Farmhouse Ale
• Wheatwine

How to Make Beer Soft Pretzels - Homemade DIY Baking

Soft Pretzels and Beer!  A perfect pairing, going back to Bavaria and probably long before.  But the supermarket 'frozen' pretzels from the store taste terrible.  To go with a nice homebrew you need fresh, homemade pretzels: and that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to make.

First, the ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2 tbs butter
• 1.5 cups flour (all purpose white)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs sugar
• yeast (1 packet or a 1/4 tbs)
• 5 tsp baking soda
• 4 more cups water

Here are the ingredients, all placed out on the counter.

Step 1: Add the yeast to a cup of warm water, and stir.  Let it sit while you gather and prepare the other ingredients.

Place your butter (2tbs) in a bowl and microwave it.  Let it melt.

Add the butter, 1 cup flour, salt, and sugar into a bowl and mix.  Slowly add the last .5 cups of flour (that's point-5, not 5) and keep mixing until you have a nice dough.

Cover and let sit for 20 minutes or longer.

You'll notice the dough has nearly doubled in size.  Flour a flat surface and dump out the dough.

Knead and fold in the dough, giving it a nice consistency.  See the photos below:

After about 5 minutes, flatten the dough and roll it out a little.

Divide the dough into strips.  Each strip will eventually become a pretzel  so as you can see here, I'll have 5 pretzels.  If you like soft pretzels thicker (or thinner pretzels), you can adjust accordingly.

Roll and twist with your hands, making the dough into long strands.  Some people braid the dough, for a fancy soft pretzel.  As you're about to see, I'm not that fancy, and can hardly shape the dough into a pretzel shape (that it still tastes the same, and looks a little more rustic).

Shape the dough into pretzels.  The official description of how to do this is to hold the ends, twist together, and then make two loops.  

Once you have the "shapes" or soft pretzels ready, you'll need to get the soda bath going.  Add 5 tsp of baking soda to 4 cups of water.  Bring the 4 cups of water to a small boil.  Take care not to use an aluminum pot, as the baking soda can react and cause a large spillover.

Using a spatula or bent spoon, dip each pretzel into the bath of water for about 20 seconds.

Lift out and place on a greased or oiled baking tray.

Do this with each pretzel.  The baking soda is what gives the soft pretzel it
s brown coloring and the crusty flavor.

Once on the pan/tray, add salt.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.  Put the tray in the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes (adjust this as needed, depending on the thickness of your pretzels.  You'll see them browning over time.

Enjoy with hot sauce or a cold beer!

Beer Labels - DIY

So, being bored on a rainy Saturday (pre-baby) and being married to a Graphic Designer who has access to a host of design programs, I set out to make a few beer labels for my brewing.

Below is what I came up with.  I used the same template for most of them, and yes, they are fictional breweries.

Cooking with Homebrew Beer and Beer Pairings

So as I plan my topics in the coming weeks, I notice a lot of subjects deal with not only homebrew, but also food.  Be it soft pretzels  sourdough bread, salsa, or chocolate, you can create sensational pairings with your beer (and even involve your homebrew into some of the recipes).

I've found two books to be quite helpful in moving beyond the mere 'add beer in place of some water' routine.

I've listed them below for your perusing.

Diacetyl Rests, and whether you should do one?

Diacetyl is one of the common enemies of the homebrewer.  A normal byproduct of beer during the fermentation stage, Diacetyl imparts a buttery or butterscotch flavor at higher concentrations, and can overpower an otherwise good beer.

In a previous post, we talked about a Cold Crash; bringing the fermentation temperatures down to near freezing to sink the yeast and clear the beer.  Because Diacetyl is reduced at a slower pace at lower temperatures, if you cold crash too soon you may be stuck with Diacetyl off flavors that did not have a chance to be removed.  So before the cold crash, it's important to have a Diacetyl rest.

A Diacetyl rest allows adequate time for the Diacetyl to be reduced during fermentation -- preferably at the end of the fermentation right before the cold crash.  By allowing the temperature of the fermentor to remain higher for a day or two before the cold crash, the  Diacetyl should be reduced.

For ales, a temperature increase to about 65-70 degrees F at the end of fermentation should be fine to reduce the Diacetyl -- which is right at the normal recommended fermentation range anyway.  So you probably need do nothing to accomplish this with ales.

Lagers, however, present a problem, since the normal fermentation temperatures for lagers range from 45-55 degrees F.  An increase to about 65-70 degrees F for two days near or at the end of fermentation will vastly reduce Diacetyl.

How Long do I Cold Crash my Homebrew Beer for?

Cold crashing is a homebrew process by which a brewer chills the entire fermented batch of beer, just prior to kegging or bottling.  The main goal is to clear the beer or any floating yeast, which will fall to the bottom of the fermentor when the temperature drops.

You'll want to cold crash quickly, essentially shocking the yeast and forcing it to drop to the bottom of the fermentor.  Most people, myself included, try to keep the freezer (or whatever you use) just about 32 degrees, obviously to avoid freezing.

So how long do you cold crash the beer for? Well, it depends on you and the beer.  I've heard of as little as two days, and as long as a month.  I believe the general consensus is about a week on average.  This should allow for the beer to clear and give you a crisp clean appearance when you bottle or keg the beer.

Also see: Diacetyl Rests.

Welcome to DIY Homebrew

Hello, and welcome to DIY Homebrew, a local blog featuring a myriad of Do it Yourself projects and hobbies.  Obviously from the title og the blog, the focus will be on Homebrew.  Whether we track my brew day sessions and results, or follow several DIY projects, I'll keep churning out new material.

On occasion, I'll also write on some topics tangentially connected to brewing your own beer, such as baking breads, gardening, fixing up some rustic home designs or repairs, and a few others.  For instance, baking sourdough bread is very closely related to the brewing process.  Or, making fresh homemade soft pretzels is a crowd favorite at any beer tasting or beer pairing event.  I might even include a flour-less molten chocolate parfait I made to pair with a Young's Chocolate Stout.  It was quite good....

So stay tuned for more, and keep the comments coming.