DIY Beer Labels: Christmas and Holiday Beer Labels

Homemade Mead - DIY Honey Wine

Well, no photos on this one, but the procedures for making mead are so easy, I don't think you'll need any!

I first had mead at a little Ethiopian restaurant here in Austin, and later discovered how easy it was to make.

Disclaimer: My own mead, of which I have two batches currently fermenting, have not finished yet, so I can't attest to the quality.  Still, you can't go wrong with mead, so give it a try!


Here's what you'll need:

• left over wine bottle or other fermentor
• 1 cup honey
• 3 cups water
• yeast
• airlock and cap or wine bottle cork

You can adjust the honey/water ratio to make larger batches; just keep it at 1:3.  Heat the water in a pot/kettle, and slowly pour in the honey, taking care to stir.  Allow the mixture to heat to 160 degrees F.

Keep it at 160 for 15 minutes.  Then, pour it into a container and cold crash it to about 65-70 degrees.

Once it's cool, add your Yeast/yeast starter.  Pour the mix into your fermentor and cap it with the air lock.

Let the mead sit at 70-75 degrees, which is slightly above beer fermentation temperatures.  I just kept mine in a dark place in the house.  It started fermenting within an hour.

After a couple weeks, rack the mead into a secondary.  You many want to repeat this again after a full month.  Let the mead sit anywhere from two to six months.  Then, enjoy!

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 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.

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.