Bottling my Cherry Brown Ale tomorrow night.

[arbusto_baboso]

Wanted to do a Flemish Sour with cherries, but decided to walk before I run.

[Kali]

1. sounds good

Did you use real cherries? I have a recipe soemwhere that calls for sour cherries, but I have never seen them fresh or frozen anywhere around here. Tried a few batches of different beers with natural flavoring - but it wasn't very good.

My best fruit beer ever happened by accident - a freezer quit on us and I had to dump a couple gallons of frozen home grown apricots so I tossed 'em in an ale I had just started. Man did that foam up and go to town! And it turned out so good.:9

[arbusto_baboso]

3. Yes. 6 pounds of dark cherries for a 5 gallon batch of beer.

They were frozen cherries, of course. Would've preferred sour cherries (and fresh, of course), but this is my first experiment with fruit beer.

[kentauros]

2. What kind of bottles are you using?

I've known people that would drink lots of Grolsch just for the bottles and those wire & ceramic stoppers :D

[arbusto_baboso]

4. Standard bottles with metal crown caps.

Grolsch swing-top style bottle ARE very cool, but they don't preserve beer very long. They are not as airtight as a properly applied metal crown cap.

[kentauros]

5. Okay, I didn't know that about them.

There's a beer-making supplier just a few miles from here, probably Houston's oldest store for that. I wonder how their business has been doing in the downturn...

[arbusto_baboso]

6. I imagine they're probably doing okay.

If you already have the equipment (or can borrow it), it is actually cheaper per bottle to brew your own. Plus, you can brew a kind of beer you actually WANT, instead of just taking what your local liquor store has.

My last batch cost me an average of about $1 a bottle.

[kentauros]

7. How long does it keep?

I'd probably have to give away most if I made it as I just don't drink a lot of beer. A six-pack can last me weeks ;)

[arbusto_baboso]

8. If you get the caps on right and brew a strong enough beer (around 9% ABV and up)...

It can keep - and stay very good - for about a year.

Lighter beers with less alcohol will go off a bit quicker. It can depend on heavily you hop your brew, too, as hops are a natural preservative.

[kentauros]

10. That's cool :)

I've thought about doing it often enough, though I do get lazy even about cooking here. I'll take the plunge one of these days. I know they have good kits, and it was a kit that got my father into making beer for about a decade. He gave it up, though. I think it was becoming too much trouble for him or maybe he had done it long enough for his "tastes" :)

[arbusto_baboso]

12. It's fun, too. Let's you get in touch with your inner "mad scientist".

I enjoy making the beer almost as much as drinking it.

[arbusto_baboso]

9. Oh, I also refuse to call it a "brown cherry" ale.

The connotations are just too much.

[Orsino]

11. Bottling ale is just putting off the inevitable.

End procrastination now!

[arbusto_baboso]

13. I savor my beer, don't know about you.

I can make some and still have some bottles from the batch months later.

[Orsino]

14. Well, you can't savor it until the bottle's open.

Beer you keep is beer you're not drinking, and should be illegal. :toast:

[arbusto_baboso]

15. My problem is....

I'm a complete beer geek.

I'll brew my own and intend to drink only that, then I'll buy a 12-pack box of the latest Sam Adams assortment because they have 2 bottles of a new variety in it. Or I'll be driving in an out-of-the-way section of town and see a liquor store I haven't visited and pop in, and wind up walking out with an armful of obscure imports or domestic craft brews. I have a beer every day (more on the weekends, of course) and my cupboards still resemble a brewery warehouse.

[kentauros]

16. I'd say you're more of a beer-hunter

;)

[arbusto_baboso]

17. I aspire to be a Beer Hunter in the fashion of Michael Jackson.

No, not THAT Michael Jackson. I'm talking about the one who MATTERED. The English guy who wrote about beer.

[kentauros]

18. I have his book, but I've never read all of it.

I guess I'm not so much a beer-hunter as a beer-drinker ;)

Yeah, when the other Jackson died, my first thought was "Isn't he dead already?" :P

[arbusto_baboso]

19. Which book?

He wrote dozens. He was also a whisky afficionado. Wrote even more widely about distilleries.

I guess beer put the food on his table, but whisky fed his soul.

[kentauros]

20. You would make me get up and look!

"The New World Guide to Beer" c. 1988

I'm not getting up again! :P

[arbusto_baboso]

23. That was a good one, yes. The photos alone are great.

He also penned more than a few beer books that I use simply as catalogs, or more like checklists.

[kentauros]

30. Catalogs! *snerk*

:D

Unfortunately, some beers simply are not imported to us and will forever remain in the area of their brewery. You may have to travel the world to find all the ones in those "catalogs" ;)

[arbusto_baboso]

31. I'm up for that. Always wanted to visit Belgium.

[kentauros]

32. And visit with the monks?

;)

[arbusto_baboso]

33. There's a reason why they're always so serene, right?

It's just a strong beer-buzz!

[kentauros]

35. Either that or they're smoking the hops

[Taverner]

21. Couldn't you just save half of your batch, and referment with brett, pedo and lacto?

[arbusto_baboso]

24. Not a bad idea. Perhaps I will.

[Taverner]

26. Are you going to ferment in oak barrels?

Used ones were going pretty cheap up in Wine Country lately...

[arbusto_baboso]

27. The whole batch is only 5 gallons....

You don't think purchasing an oak barrel for refermenting about half of that would be a bit of overkill?

Besides, there are ways to cheat that. With oak chips in the fermenter, for instance.

[Taverner]

28. Ahhh that could work - if you're up for that whole 'ease of use' thing

:P

But yeah, that would work too, although if you get a used Pinot Wine Barrel, you can impart the pinot notes along with the cherries. You'd be making Supplication!

[alfredo]

22. I've been thinking of brewing too. I've learned what a good beer tastes like

and would be pleased as punch if I could make something close to Schlafly ESB. I'd be happy with a passible pale ale.

[arbusto_baboso]

25. You've probably got home-brew clubs in your area.

I'm sure someone in one of them would be happy to mentor you. That's how I got into it.

[alfredo]

29. I will look around. I live in Bourbon country, but there has to be HB'ers around.

[kentauros]

34. Beer music!

http://www.coconutmonkeyrocket.com/buy.htm

Scroll the list until you find "Square Beer" and give it a listen :D