The initial processes have already been done at the Cooper factory, fermenting in the 65-75F range is all that is required.

20C or less is per instructions, that is 68F, no problem for my storage room.

I'm fortunate to be able to get Smuttynose here. I should get it more often.

Cooper's lager used to be one of my favorites to make. You may have inspired me to dig out my gear.

I'm guessing that they're really providing an ALE yeast with the kit.

Stone released Vertical Epic 09.09.09 today. I tried to grab some today but my preferred (due to excellent selection) local beer store closed an hour earlier than I thought it did.

It is delicious.

I went to a Stone tasting at my (more excellent) beer store, where I also surmised that the 08.08.08 has gotten better over the last year. Ruination still rules. The Russian Imperial Stout has no equal.

Life is good.

Posted here from an AVS thread to avoid “hijacking” charges.



Sounds like you gave up an awesome setup. I haven’t done much brewing since moving back to Phoenix since I didn’t want to cart a freezer up 2 flights of stairs at my apartment.

At university in Madison, WI my housemate and I started brewing together on the stovetop but eventually got propane burners. We had a temp controlled freezer that held 8 x 7 gallon fermenters mostly for lagers since we could usually put ales in the basement to ferment and store. Keep a couple large plastic tote boxes one full of ale malt and the other lager malt. The shelves were full of every specialty grain we could find. The vegetable crisper in refrigerator was full of hops and yeast. And we had a large plastic garbage can full of chlorine water we just dropped bottles in to sanitize as we emptied them.

Never did any kegging but bottling was such a pain I won’t go back to doing it except for some specialty beer like triple bocks and some Trapist ales. My plan for the house it to set up a system in the garage where I have a NG hookup. I’ll use a couple temp controlled freezers to hold the kegs. At least one set for lager temp and the other for ale. When I lived in New Zealand we had two beers on tap at the Marine house set up by a local brewery. I’ve missed having beer on tap ever since then.

Cool to see you got a medal. An Imperial Rye IPA sounds tasty. If you still have it and get the chance send me the recipe I‘d love to try it. I’ve never entered an competitions but I have brewed quite a bit. I can’t find my brewing logs but I think I made at least 700 gallons when I lived in Madison. Just about every style imaginable but not to many fruit beers. Did make a wicked blueberry stout. I liked drinking real pilsners and lagers but hated having to wait for them to ferment and lager. Also liked making Trappist ales and IPAs, but if I’m planning on drinking a lot nothing beats quaffing pints of bitter.

Cheers,
Dean

After having just finished 22oz (minus a few shared sips) of the absolutely fantastic Stone's Vertical Epic 09 (a Belgian-style Imperial Porter), and having read the recipe for said beer, I'm about ready to start homebrewing. Mentally ready, that is. I still need to get the required equipment.

On that note, do you guys have any recommended sources for a beginning homebrewer to get said equipment? If I know myself, I won't be happy brewing basic ales for very long.

Ben's Home Brew is a decent website to get some info, there is always Youtube as well. I highly recommend Craigtube channel on Youtube, a hell of a nice guy from Canada that provides wealth of info on wine and beer making.