Beer

Warm beer! How ludicrous! You ought to drink it on the *correct* temperature -- which is different for every beer.

However, it's common knowledge that outside Belgium beers are served on a crappy temperature, often way too cold -- which is to desguise the aweful taste. The cold of the beer "freezes" the taste bud.

A regular pils is best at 6°C, special beers are best at "cellar temperature", which is around 10-12°C.

Also important is that the glasses which you drink out are treated with the appropiate products (not regular detergent) on the appropiate way...

 

Please explain. What kind of products should be used? I have a few glasses with a stem. Such as the Chimay glass. But what is the proper way to clean the glass?

 

Home brew suppliers sell detergents and rinses suitable for beer glasses as well as brewing equipment. Detergents in normal dish washing compounds will cause beer to go flat very quickly.

If possible and no proper detergent is available just wash in hot clean water, make sure it is clean as oils and fats are very detrimental also. At worst, rinse rinse rinse.

If you try home brewing you will soon learn about cleanliness and sterilisation. It is not hard, just read the rules and do it. Your brew will grow what ever is in it so keep every thing spotless.

 

I like a beer with a little body - some weight to it.
I also like a slightly roasted hoppy flavor but don't care for a beer that is unbalanced by too much hops.
(I don't care for most Sam Adams for this reason)

This beer "looks" like something I'd like to try and the coconut, as long as it isn't overpowering sounds interesting.

 

I agree with you completely, apart from the bit about 'outside Belgium', obviously! Most beer, and certainly ale, in the UK (in any reputable establishment, of course - there are some town centre 'bars' with no idea, or care, about serving beer properly, but then most of the beer served is the kind you wouldn't want to taste anyway, and most people drinking it don't know or care either!) is also served at 'cellar temperature'.

We UK-ians may not see eye-to-eye with many Belgians on some issues, but serving beer properly is one where we do agree (those of us who know or care anything about beer, anyway!).

 

All grain is the best way to alter and change your brew but it is also the hardest to do correctly and will take a lot of minding. Now with that said I'll disclose that I have never done all grain brewing, haven't fully educated myself yet and don't have the extra equipment it requires. I'd say the best way to start is extract brewing. You don't need to do anything with the malt but you have to steep all your grains and add the hops.The most basic kit I would suggest you start with would be a glass carboy, fermentation bucket w/ a spigot, fermentation lock (it will look like either and "S" on it's side or a two part system where a "bell" for lack of a proper term sits over the stem that goes to the carboy/bucket), a stainless steel boiling pot, auto siphon, and bung/stopper for your carboy (will have a hole in the middle), bottle capper and caps, sanitizer and a decent instant read thermometer (I shy away from the glass ones as they have a tendency to become many pieces). This kit should probably cost $100-$150 depending upon the place you buy your equipment. There are a plethora of other things you can buy to aid you in the process but aren't needed explicitly for the act. Now bottles you can get one of two ways, you can either buy a few cases of them from your brew shop or you can use my personal favorite of buying beer then drinking it. Now with that in mind you can't use the ones that twist off, you can only use bottles that require a bottle opener. Do a little research and see where the nearest brew shops are and go talk to the people running it see if they have any experience. The one I go to the owner is very knowledgeable and will take your call pretty much whenever if you run into any problems. Pretty much all the brew shops I've been to will sell premade kits with instructions and all the ingredients you'll need, I'd suggest you do one of these until you are somewhat familiar with the process before you continue on to bigger and better.

One last thing to add, cleanliness is key, I always clean and sanitize before and after I brew, if your equipment isn't clean it can impart flavors you don't want or desire in your beer. I hope this somewhat rambling guide helps a bit, if you have any questions just ask and I'll try and answer them if I can.

 

Awesome information. Thanks for sharing!

 

Belgian Ales are among the finest in the world.Some are really high in
alc. however.They are not for novice.Duval is wonderfull.
As are many a Trappist Ale.However they do not taste watered down
like many American Pilsners.
I no longer drink Beer.I was a Beer nut for about 3 decade.I alternated between either Beer or wine since the 80s.I may drink a couple beer a
month now.More like a couple bottle of Red Wine per week.

 

I wouldn't disagree with that - only the UK 'real ale' sector has greater variety and equivalent quality. Before anybody says 'Germany', although their quality tends to be pretty good, the variety tends to be quite limted - the historical obsession with 'purity' seems to have limited them to beers of a certain style. I've had some very good Belgian beers, although UK ones tend to be more to my own personal tastes - there is greater variety of character to them, particularly in heavily-hopped and bittered beers (which are the ones I personally like most).

 

I had a look around at US homebrew places, and I noticed that there don't seem to be the 'Pre-hopped' types available, which is a pity - they are widely available in the UK, very easy to do (you basically just add water, sugar and yeast), and can produce very good results. I would agree, though, that it's better to start with the simplest (and therefore most 'reliable') method available and build up to more complicated things from there. Going through that process means you build up knowledge bit-by-bit, with a good chance of early success, rather than trying to learn the whole lot at once and ending up making brews that are undrinkable (and potentially getting disenchanted with the whole idea!).

 

Agreed, however Germany does a lot within the restrictions of the Reinheitsgebot, such as Rauchbier, one of my favorites.

 

I dont see where people got the impression that Europeans drink warm beer? At least not in England we dont.

Anyway, on topic, my all time favorite is Newcastle Brown

 

It's just that we (us and the Belgians, at least!) complain that most of the world drink their beer too cold (which they do, as has already been explained!), so they assume we must drink it 'warm' instead of just not half-frozen like them.

 

Man you really can't go wrong with that stuff. Great beer.

My friend and I did a blind taste test with some green beers. We got St. Pauli, Becks, Heineken, and Stella Artois.

Our results places Heine last, St. Pauli and Becks being about the same, and Stella on top.

Highly suggest trying it for yourselves. Great excuse to get some good beer.

 

Belgian beer tastes like malt liquor. I know some people who have developed an appreciation for it but really that stuff is just awful to me.

 

World Beer Awards 2011 -- results are in (27/10/'11):

Belgium has won 9 prizes!


http://www.worldbeerawards.com/2011/

 

Years ago I used to drink only millers beer. But then my first son was born and I then gave up drinking entirely. I thought that the money that I would be spending on booze could be put to a better use buying him clothes and food instead. That was over 40 years ago. I still don't drink.

 

Wow, that's a really sad story...

I feel bad for you! No Tintin and no beer?!

That really isn't a life worth living, OldTimer! LMAO!

 

Well I do the est I can under the circumstances. LOL

 

The UK's not done too badly either:

In the world categories:

World's Best Stout & Porter - Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout 9% (England)

World’s Best Mild Dark Ale - Brains Dark 3.5% (Wales)
World’s Best Flavoured Dark Ale - Thornbridge Bracia 9% (England)
World’s Best Strong Dark Dark Ale Dark Island Reserve 10% (Scotland)
World’s Best Bitter Pale Ale - Sharp’s Special 5% (Cornwall)
World’s Best Blonde / Golden Pale Ale - Stewart Brewing Hollyrood 5% (Scotland)
World’s Best Flavoured Pale Ale - Sharp’s Chalky’s Bite 10% (Cornwall)
World’s Best Premium Pale Ale - St Austell Admiral’s Ale 5% (Cornwall)
World’s Best Porter Stout & Porter - Fuller’s London Porter 5.4% (England)

European categories (other than those tht also won in the relevant world categories):

Best Best Bitter Pale Ale - Fuller’s Gales HSB 4.8% (England)
Best Flavoured Lager - Melville’s Raspberry Beer 4.1% (Scotland)
Best IPA Pale Ale - St Austell Proper Job 5.5% (Cornwall)
Best Porter - Flavoured Stout & Porter - Okell’s Aile 4.7% (Isle of Man)
Best Seasonal Pale Ale - Harvey’s Tom Paine 5.5% (England)
Best Stout - Dry Stout & Porter - Hook Norton Double Stout 4.8% (England)
Best Stout - Flavoured Stout & Porter - Saltaire Triple Chocoholic 4.8% (England)
Best Strong / Extra Special Pale Ale - Fuller’s ESB 5.9% (England)

The trouble with all of these kind of things is that you never know how many beers they are judging from in each category, or what has been entered and what hasn't. There's also some subjectivity of taste and judging criteria involved, of course - to me it looks (from the selection of the beers that I know, which is most of the UK ones) like they go for the most 'balanced', rather than those with stronger 'character'. Brains Dark, for example, although it's nice enough, I find to be 'balanced' to the point of being fairly bland compared with something like Rhymney Dark, which has far more 'character' and flavour to it. In fact, I find the same with almost all beers from either Brains or Fullers - they're nice and they're drinkable, but I wouldn't say they were anything special particularly - there are better ones about. Nice to see some UK beers in there, obviously, but there are better beers in the UK than those listed, IMO.

Looking at the CAMRA awards for 2011, the beers mentioned in these 'World Beer Awards' don't seem to figure at all, and the CAMRA choices don't figure in the World awards, even where there are UK winners in the same categories:
http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=cbob
Either they are looking for different attributes for what makes the 'best' beer, or they are looking at a different range of beer (and I guess CAMRA will be judging from a wider range of UK beers), or a combination of both.

Still an interesting read, though.

 

Just found this thread about my favorite thing in the world...
Wisconsin has many great craft breweries thanks to its large german heritage. Ignore Miller...
My current favorite beer is Bedlam made by Ale Asylum in Madison Wisconsin..
http://aleasylum.com/aboutus-info/brewerybeers/bedlam/
Its an IPA that uses Citra hops which provides a more citrus like flavor as opposed to the usual bitter taste added by hops. It is quite unique.

I also like Moon Man from New Glarus Brewing Company.
http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.cfm/beers/ourbeers/beer/moon-man

There spotted cow is also decent, I like to think of it as a beer Connoisseur's miller lite, as in a lighter beer that one can drink a lot of, but unlike Miller Lite it actually has some taste. Its a very popular beer in Wisconsin, and frankly got me through lots of good college nights at the bar as aside from Miller, Bud and Coors light it was the only decent thing on tap in the college town. I still don't understand on $5 pitcher night why people would choose those others over it.

I also like most of the beers I have brewed at home, except the octobefest, I don't have the proper equipment to ferment lagers, they require constant cooler temperatures and I need a decent fridge or something dedicated to fermenting.

Also a fan of three floyds brewing out of Indiana,
http://www.3floyds.com/our-beers-2/
haven't had many of their brews but the ones I had were good. Like Rabbid Rabbit.

 

I've heard good things about McChumley's Mauled Herring ale. Well reviewed in Modern Drunkard magazine.

 

Sounds good. I've had a few beers brewed using Citra, and it seems to be a very good hop variety for the kind of beers I like (good bitterness, with a bit of fruitiness).

 

I've never tasted this one. I like black leffe and Guiness.

I don't know any of the best beers, and I think that I've never seen any of them imported to Spain :-S